Seattle Arts and Lectures presents
Jonathan Franzen. He read a modified script that he wrote for another talk in Germany. I actually preferred the prepared script to spontaneous speech or a short note. Much thought has gone into preparing a long talk. He answered 4 typical questions in the speech: Which writers are your influences? When and how you write? Do your characters sometime take over? Are your books autobiographical? He answered 1st and last question in more detail, especially the last one, so much so, that he related his writing years (using mostly his book
The Correction
) to his life events / moments (marriage, affairs, mother's last words, using something happened to his brother). He claimed that he had to be a different person in order to write a new book every time, and each time striking to reach a deeper, a broader or a new sense of some meaning. Seemed quite heart-felt.
The Q&A session was not as interesting. The presenter talked too much (over 10 minutes at the beginning and more later).
Another book talk at 6pm was by Jennifer Jordan, about her new book
The Last Man on the Mountain: The Death of an American Adventurer on K2. A fascinating story about a 1939 K2 expedition, where Dudley Wolfe and 3 Sherpas lost their lives, and the aftermath of finger pointing, including the trip leader
Fritz Wiessner. It was in 2002, Jordan accidentally discovered Wolfe's body.
