From Today’s Daily Rumpus email (to read entire Daily Rumpuses you need to subscribe):

“A literary novelist writing a genre novel is like an intellectual dating a porn star.” So begins Glen Duncan’s review of Colson Whitehead’s new novel, Zone One. What does he mean? Can the porn star be an intellectual? What if an intellectual is dating another intellectual who is also a porn star? Let’s change the language and see how it sounds, “A literary novelist writing a genre novel is like an intellectual dating a poor black woman.” “A literary novelist writing a genre novel is like an intellectual dating someone sexy who can’t read.”

Whoever is opposite the intellectual is not an intellectual as the genre novel is not a literary novel. In the second paragraph Duncan writes, “With the human odd couples the answer stays behind closed doors…” It’s an odd coupling, the intellectual and the porn star, Duncan is saying. Why would someone who reads academic texts date someone who works in the porn industry? “A literary novelist writing a genre novel is like queers eating in a fancy restaurant.”

Why the needless swipe at sex workers? “A literary novelist writing a genre novel is like an intellectual dating a hotel employee.” Why single out a group as not intellectual. You couldn’t do a humanities degree these days without noticing all the graduate work focusing on sex work and all the sex worker graduates. “A literary novelist writing a genre novel is like an intellectual dating a feminist.” It’s surprising that someone writing a book review would choose to take a swipe at an entire group of people, but it’s weirder still that it got past an editor at the New York Times.

I say that as someone who is pro-New York Times, as someone who is pro-media, as someone who self-identifies as a member of the media, a former sex-worker, and queer, but does not self-identify as an intellectual. Because I think of intellectuals not necessarily as someone who is smart but rather someone engaged in academia for it’s own sake, someone who argues the finer points. I’m not someone who argues the finer points and I’m not someone who reads books that don’t hold my attention, no matter how important they are. I like to be challenged but I hate to be bored. I do know many sex workers who are very smart and many sex workers who are definitely intellectuals, even by my narrow definition. The term itself is kind of dumb, but not as dumb as branding an entire section of the population anti-intellectual.

What the fuck Glen Duncan, why the hate?

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In his Sunday Book Review of Colson Whitehead’s complex new zombie novel, Zone One, Duncan sets the parallel between dating porn stars and what he initially perceives as slumming in genre fiction, and lets the rest of the review ride on the back of this comparison.  While he’s busy offending sex workers, he also speculates that readers attracted to the story for its post-apocalyptic zombie tale will encounter so many big words as to be morally affronted.  Duncan praises the book and comes around to the idea of intellectually stimulating genre fiction, but never quite comes around to the idea of sex workers as intellectually stimulating people, concluding of his imaginary couple only that, “they look pretty good together.”

The piece came to our attention via a witty retort by Savvy stripper and staff writer over at Tits and Sass, Bubbles (whose thoughts on this issue you can read here):

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For Salon, Miller writes a weekly book column called “What to Read,” covers the publishing industry and book trends, and interviews authors in between. She’s a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review and her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal and other publications. She’s also the author of The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic’s Adventures in Narnia.

Curious about the act of reviewing and what goes into a compelling critique, I asked Laura about how she approaches her work, what she thinks of publishing today, and what she’s looking forward to reading this fall season.

***

The Rumpus: You mentioned that in writing nonfiction―reviewing in particular―personality plays a large role. How do you integrate your personality into your writing?

Laura Miller: It’s very ad-hoc. There are times when a more informal voice seems right―humor being the most common example―and the first-person often helps with that. Especially when you write for a very general audience, it’s important to use something like a personal tone to signal that you’re being humorous. Because, trust me, there is no joke so broad that there won’t be someone out there who’ll think you mean it seriously. Writers also tend to use the first person more when they’re less sure of themselves or when they don’t want to be authoritative or categorical. I’m not going to say X author has never written a decent book, especially if I’ve met smart, discerning people who love his or her work and I may not have read every single book. So I’ll lean towards something like “He’s never done it for me.”

Rumpus: When you approach your writing, I’ve heard you say you explore your response to the work and that your reaction becomes your instrument. That’s interesting. Have you found that your interaction with reading has grown over the course of your career?

Miller: It’s not so much my reaction that’s the instrument―it’s more my sensibility. I think and hope I’m becoming more open. I’m more willing to believe that a book with, for example, a setting that doesn’t appeal to me (a Western, say), can still be a book I’ll love. I try to read outside my comfort zone, and as a result, I think that my sense of the potential of any given book has been enlarged.

Rumpus: How so?

Miller: The advantage of this is if I do read a Western or a novel about an obsessive mother-daughter relationship (another theme I don’t care for) and I like it, I can be pretty sure it’s an exceptional book. With other topics, ones that I’m pre-disposed to like (biographical works about the Romantic poets, for example), I have to be more vigilant. I don’t want my personal quirks to run away with my work

Rumpus: In a section that didn’t make it into The Magician’s Book you mention that many critics prefer a cerebral approach to reviewing rather than an emotional one. You go on to say that “If you rave, you can wind up looking like a pushover, while if you sneer at a book that almost everyone else likes, you come across as more selective. . . . Slap your heart on your sleeve for a book that other critics disdain and you may be accused not only of poor taste but of easy sentimentality.” Do you feel that critics who review only positively are taken less seriously than those who might enjoy skewering books?

Miller: Probably. However, the profession of criticism is in so much flux right now, it’s hard to say how significant that perception is or how widely held or how long it’s likely to last. I should clarify, though: it’s not so much that these other critics are more “cerebral” as that they adopt a lofty and detached critical persona, in part to invest their statements with more authority. That, traditionally, has been how we’ve expected critics, as arbiters of quality, to write. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t emotional about their subject. Some less-good critics, especially young ones, can fall in love with that detached and lofty persona because it pleases their vanity to think of themselves as very learned and discriminating. Intellectually insecure people worry about coming across as a lightweight and tend to be the most insistent on demonstrating how “serious” they are. An example of a great, lively, confident critic is Daniel Mendelsohn, who can write about both Cavafy and Mario Puzo with enthusiasm because he’s secure in his own taste and intelligence. When someone is particularly anxious about establishing the position of works in some rigid hierarchy of literary worth, their work is less interesting because then it’s primarily about their own insecurity.

Rumpus: I can imagine reviewing a book you dislike often feels unnecessary. How do you decide when to forgo writing a negative review and when to make your reaction public?

Miller: In my regular Salon gig, I don’t write negative reviews. It’s a column, called “What to Read,” and that’s exactly what it’s supposed to recommend. The critical part comes in the choosing of which book to write about―I reject a lot of well-received books and occasionally I’ll say why.

Rumpus: You often review for other publications where a book is assigned without your choosing, what happens when you’re handed something you wouldn’t have chosen for your own column?

Miller: Freelancing is slightly different: if I really don’t like the book, when I just don’t want to read it and don’t care where it’s going, I’ll usually bow out. However, there are books that have promise but don’t end up working for reasons that are worth talking about, and in that case I sometimes go ahead and review it. Every so often, when something is hugely popular or indicative of some dismaying trend, a proper hatchet job is warranted. But that’s pretty rare.

Rumpus: Do you feel pressure to forgo reviewing lesser-known books for what’s bound to be the next bestseller?

Miller: No. I don’t usually review bestsellers anyway. I do think about whether a book can be presented in such a way that its headline and deck will attract readers from the home page. It can be surprising which books work best―our readers have always been drawn to books about philosophy and physics, for example―but a quiet little memoir about a mostly unremarkable life, however well-written, is not going to pique their curiosity. Any book where the primary attraction is the quality of the prose style is not going to intrigue them much. They’re not going to care about something just because I tell them to! Often lesser-known works are like that―they’re lesser-known for the simple reason that they’re about subjects that fewer people are interested in. However, I do try to look at a variety of books because good ones can slip through the cracks.

Rumpus: In order for a review to be convincing, it must be enjoyable to read. How to you test your work?

Miller: As with every kind of writer, you have to try to read your own work as if it were written by someone else. It’s not quite possible, but you try, asking yourself if what you’ve written is the sort of thing you’d enjoy reading. There isn’t really a method for that, though.

Rumpus: Do you sit down to write with a specific audience or person in mind?

Miller: When you’re writing literary criticism, you do need to think about your audience, and it sometimes helps to envision a particular person as the reader you’re aiming the piece at. It’s different depending on the venue―a book about Narnia, the New York Times, Salon, etc. Will this reader understand a reference to Edmund Spenser? Some won’t. It’s particularly important to keep this in mind with American readers because they tend to get angry when they don’t understand references, which is unfortunate, but once you’ve put someone’s back up by indicating that you know something they don’t, they tend to be unreceptive to whatever else you’ve got to say. And to be fair to those readers, some critics really are just interested in showing off.

Rumpus: You’ve taught courses on book reviewing, what’s a good first step towards learning to read critically?

Miller: By the time someone’s decided to take a class in book reviewing, they’ve already got some sort of critical sense; that’s why they enrolled. You first learn to read critically in elementary or secondary school, although of course you go on developing your skills. What you CAN teach in a book reviewing class is some vocabulary, mental tools and a way for people to formulate why something is or isn’t working for them. You can teach them words like “expository,” for example, or point out that a novel bogs down because the characters have been stuck talking in a room for two chapters. But their ability to have a critical response to a book is already there, and the class is simply to help them find a better way to articulate it.

Rumpus: Since Harry Potter won the hearts and minds of children and adults alike in the late 1990s there’s been a growing appreciation for fantasy. Both Harry Potter and the Twilight series are young adult novels. What does the YA fiction reading experience offer grown-ups that adult novels don’t?

Miller: Actually, the earlier volumes in the Harry Potter series are more MG (middle grade), but I take your point. If you ask the adult fans of these books, they’ll say that the storytelling is superior and that adult fiction tends to get bogged down in displays of literary style. That can be true, but I also think that literary fiction strikes many readers as too gloomy, and with YA, there’s more likely to be a reasonably happy ending. This can come across as formulaic or forced, so I’m not saying I’m always on board with that preference. YA also tends to be much more forthright about its themes; a big complaint about literary fiction, especially short stories, is that readers find them cryptic. I do think that a lot of literary writers are not very good at sustaining a reader’s interest because they often come out of workshops, where people are obliged to read your work and pay close attention to it. Children’s authors are under no illusion that their readers will indulge them. They can’t afford to be boring, which is something (according to my teacher friends) that a lot of writing students don’t quite understand.

Rumpus: Who are some great YA fantasy authors writing today?

Miller: I really like Ysabeau Wilce and her Flora books, but I’m not able to keep up as well as I’d like because I only really review adult books and that takes up most of my reading time. I’m in a YA book group, but we tend to pick older or classic titles. I can recommend Polly Shulman’s The Grimm Legacy. But if you want good tips, find the web site of Gwenda Bond and do whatever she tells you. She will not steer you wrong.

Rumpus: What about adult fiction authors? Have you found that there’s been a significant uptick in genre-infused adult novels?

Miller: Yes, clearly. Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem have been doing this for years. George Saunders is published in the New Yorker. Kelly Link is revered by writers across genres. The most recent Tom Perotta novel―we’re talking about a very naturalistic novelist―is about a world from which millions of people inexplicably disappeared one day. These motifs are now everywhere.

Rumpus: You’ve been writing about books and the publishing industry for 20 years. What do you see as the major challenge facing book publishing today?

Miller: My greatest concern is that the whole stratum of expertise embodied by agents and editors and booksellers might be lost in the disintermediation currently going on. I know a lot of people who have felt shut out by the publishing industry are spitefully glad about that, but I for one know that my work has been made a lot better by the first two groups and that many, many readers won’t discover books they might love in the absence of the third. The editors and agents I know care passionately about books and have devoted their careers to finding and nurturing good authors and their work. A really good editor (and that includes many agents these days) has skills that take years to hone, and that’s not going to happen if the book business can’t generate enough profit to support it. It’s my experience that most of the people who grouse about how useless and out of touch the publishing industry is, how no one edits anymore, how all publishers care about are celebrity bios, and blah, blah, blah don’t in fact know very much about publishing or how it works and the particular challenges it faces. They are far too willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Rumpus: Fall is a big season in the publishing world, what books have your eye?

Miller: The Murakami and the Eugenides novels, which I mentioned earlier. I like the new Ali Smith novel and the Helen Oyeyemi novel. Alan Hollinghurst is another favorite of mine and I’m looking forward to Colson Whitehead’s Zone One. In nonfiction, I’m excited about Claire Tomalin’s biography of Dickens, a forthcoming bio of the movie star/scientist Hedy Lamarr by Richard Rhodes, the Pauline Kael and Steve Jobs biographies. I can’t wait to read Debbie Nathan’s investigation of how the book Sybil came to be fabricated. I also love good narrative history, but there’s nothing on my list for the next couple of months that jumps out at me.

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That is novelist Colson Whitehead explaining how his sixth book, Zone One, came about. The interview also reveals his movie inspirations, love of twitter, and his plan for when the zombies attack.

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But perhaps we need to stop abstractly generalizing and focus on specifics instead.

Case in point: Colson Whitehead’s upcoming novel about zombies. Which partly resembles a Joy Division song apparently.

Since I have a young adult novel in progress, Confessions Of Tween-Wolf — a harrowing account of a barely pubescent girl’s struggle to control her excessive body hair and abnormal eating habits — I’m encouraged that established writers are not afraid to tackle the monsters that we carry inside ourselves. I’m also aware that books about werewolves, vampires and the paranormal tend to make money. (And now I’m generalizing.)

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• Lie Down, Patriot. Don’t Ask.
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MONDAY 5/24: The Art of the Novella. Lore Segal reads from Lucinella, her savvy take on the New York literary scene. Greenlight Books. 686 Fulton St. 7:30pm.

Out of Our Minds: Melissa Auf der Maur, former bassist for Hole and Smashing Pumpkins presents her latest multimedia project with music, film and comics. Housing Works Bookstore Cafe. 7pm.

TUESDAY 5/25: As part of New York Book Week, a new series at BookExpo America, Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) discusses the cocktail hour, that most civilized ritual, and offers up “cocktail therapy” and literary suggestions in honor of the reprint of the classic ode to drinking properly, The Hour. Word. 7pm.

Poets Timothy Donnelly, Matthew Rohrer, Rachel Zucker and Geoffrey Nutter read. ACA Galleries. 6:00pm.

WEDNESDAY 5/26: BEA 2010 Tweet-Up. Meet your book and publishing friends that you’ve previously only known with an “@” sign in front of them, and let your hair down in the spacious, relaxed atmosphere at the BEA 2010 Tweet Up! There will be Drinks, Food and DJs Dana Trombley (aka DJ danaSkully) + Russ Marshalek (aka DJ RussComm ) playing the fun party jams of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Powerhouse Books. 7:00-10:00pm.

Why Documentaries Matter. A conversation with DA Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, Al Maysles, Rosie O’Donnell and more modereated by Sheila Nevins, President of HBO Documentary Films. 92Y. 8:15.

Two Men Laughing: Edward Koren and Jules Feiffer Discuss the Art of Humor. In conjunction with Ed Koren’s (Cartoonist for The New Yorker) exhibit The Capricious Line at Wallach Art Gallery he will hold a panel discussion with Feiffer. Wallach Art Gallery. 6:30pm.

THURSDAY 5/27: Jonathan Franzen and David Means read at the Brooklyn Public Library. Prospect Heights. 7:00pm.

Goodreads Literary Pub Crawl with Colson Whitehead, Emily St. John Mandel and Amy King. Channel John Cheever and Dorothy Parker with a night of fun in SoHo, Nolita and the East Village. Starts at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe with a drink on them. 7:00pm.

FRIDAY 5/28: Take in one, two or three installments of Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle, which is being offered in full and continues its run at the IFC Center.

SUNDAY 5/30: Julie Orringer reads from her new novel The Invisible Bridge. McNally Jackson. 7:00pm.

***

News about notable happenings in New York can be sent to rozalia-AT-therumpus.net

Original Notable New York Illustration © André da Loba. Inset image: Photograph of Norman Mailer as Harry Houdini in Matthew Barney’s Cremaster 2.

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**

On Friday, May 21, literati gathered in Brooklyn’s Old American Can Factory to support a good cause: One Story magazine. The “Literary Debutante Ball,” One Story’s first benefit, celebrated emerging writers, and the longevity of the journal founded in 2002 by publisher Maribeth Batcha and editor Hannah Tinti.

One Story publishes one short story every three weeks—and never publishes an author more than once. The magazine is always on the lookout for new talent, and many of its 135 issues have been written by authors who had never before published fiction. Nine of these “debutantes” were presented on Friday night, each escorted by an established writer who is a mentor or friend. Sam Allingham was escorted by Dan Chaon; Cheston Knapp was escorted by Karen and Jim Shepard; Amelia Kahaney was escorted by Michael Cunningham; Grant Munroe was escorted by Jonathan Lethem; Nell Casey by Tamara Jenkins; Arlaina Tibensky by Victor LaValle; Ramona Ausubel by Michelle Latiolais and Ron Carlson; Cote Smith by Deb Olin Unferth; and Patrick Somerville was escorted by Hannah Tinti. Comedian and author John Hodgman served as the evening’s master of ceremonies.

The Rumpus made sure the Old American Can Factory was crawling with correspondents, editors, photographers, videographers, publicists, elegists, and hangers-on, all determined to cover the season’s most glamorous literary bash. Here are some of the highlights, provided by the Rumpus Glimmer Twins, Elliott Holt and Laura van den Berg.

John Hodgman prepares to break hearts with the iPad raffle.

Power duo alert! Super agent P.J. Mark & client Josh “King of the Novella” Weil share a moment.

Spirits—and flowers—were in full bloom at the One Story ball, as evidenced by Katie Holt & Reif Larsen.

Poker geniuses Colson Whitehead & Jonathan Lethem.

Over four hundred people turned out for the lively party at the Can Factory, an industrial complex where many artists and small presses—including One Story—have office space. Writers, editors, and literary agents were among the dazzling throng, many having flown in from the other side of the country. Debutante Cheston Knapp flew in from Portland, OR; recent One Story author Molly Antopol was in from San Francisco; and Cote Smith came from Lawrence, KS. Eloquently summing up the draw of the event, Smith was overheard to say, “I just couldn’t miss this.”

The Rumpus Glimmer Twins strike a pose.

Debutant Cote Smith & escort Deb Olin Unferth aren’t in Kansas anymore.

Michael Cunningham shares style tips with former students Anne Ray & Thomas Grattan.

Editors from other literary magazines were in attendance, including Rob Spillman of Tin House and Andy Hunter of Electric Literature. Literary agents Julie Barer, P.J. Mark, and Renee Zuckerbrot—each of whom represents several One Story authors—also considered the party a can’t-miss.

Writers we spotted included (in no particular order) Dani Shapiro, Josh Weil, Reif Larsen, Jennifer Vanderbes, Robin Black, Jeffrey Rotter, Rene Steinke, Elizabeth Mitchell, Aryn Kyle, Joshua Furst, Allison Amend, Joshua Henkin, Marie-Helene Bertino, James Scott, Naomi J. Williams, Helen Phillips, Rumpus Books Editor Andrew Foster Altschul, Mohan Sikka, Thomas Grattan, Meghan Kenny, Rachel Cantor, Elyssa East, David Goodwillie, and Colson Whitehead. Everyone looked fabulous—writers should dress up more often!—but at this event, instead of “Who are you wearing?” the question most likely to be asked was, “Who are you reading?”

Dani Shapiro & Michael Maren show their “Devotion” to each other.

Rob Spillman & Elissa Schappell bring some Tin House glam to the Can Factory.

Debutante Arlaina Tibensky takes flight.

Super-agent Nicole Aragi dazzled in white, One Story co-founder and publisher Maribeth Batcha was chic in black, and One Story Associate Editor Marie-Helene Bertino was in a gorgeous floor-length lavender gown. One Story Managing Editor Tanya Rey was in a stunning floral gown that turned lots of heads, and Hannah Tinti opted for a short floral number that showed off her lovely literary legs.

Josh “King of the Novella” Weil gives Meghan Kenny & Laura van den Berg the long and the short of it.

Andrew Foster Altschul and Joshua Furst kiss and make up after an epic literary duel.

Elijah Jenkins & Deena Drewis do their best Sean Penn.

Outside in the courtyard, where guests congregated at various points in the evening, we heard many variations of the same refrain: “That party was awesome!”

**

Photos by Meghan Kenny.

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A NIGHT TOGETHER: Presented by The Rumpus, Tin House and Flavorpill

On April 6, The Rumpus, Tin House and Flavorpill joined forces and presented a night of fiction, music, comedy and general mayhem at the Highline Ballroom. Despite the large size of the Highline, it was a remarkably cozy evening.

Photographed by Shoko Takayasu.

PART I

Our magnanimous host Stephen Elliott who kicked off the night with a short personal essay about a hook-up with someone that someone in the room knew.

***

Lorelei Lee, fiction writer, NYU student and porn star read from a short story on which her novel is based.

***

Comedian Michael Showalter who somehow managed to make hilarious routines based on old car games like 20-questions.

***

Writer Colson Whitehead who read a satirical piece about a fictional product that would prevent the novel, the short story and fiction, in general, from ever dying.

***

Comedian Eugene Mirman who brought on stage a Russian Animal Sounds Pad that he bought in Brighton Beach. At one point he simulated the sounds of an animal orgy.

***

Alina Simone, and variously, Conrad Doucette, Shawn Setaro and Satish.

***

INTERMISSION

Lorelei Lee and Chris Corrigan

Rob Spillman of Tin House

Rob Spillman and Colson Whitehead

Dave Hill and Kay Sarlin

Andrew Bulger and Rozalia Jovanovic

Stephen Elliott and Lorelei Lee

Stephen Elliott and friends

Merch Table

Nikhil Melnechuk, Rozalia Jovanovic, Lincoln Michel, Kristen O’Toole, Caroline Seklir and Ann DeWitt

Sam Lipsyte and Colson Whitehead

Sara Marcus, Kimberly Parsons and Mark Doten

Alina Simone, Conrad Doucette, Shawn Setaro and Satish

***

PART II

THE SAM LIPSYTE PLAYERS: Four winners of the Jump-Off Contest, An Homage to Sam Lipsyte, read short stories using a sentence from Sam Lipsyte’s novel, The Ask.

Shya Scanlon

Snowden Wright

Maureen Miller

Lincoln Michel

***

Sam Lipsyte reading a scene from The Ask where the main character Milo meets Ben Franklin in a dream.

***

Comedian Dave Hill

A short film that Dave Hill made composed using John Lennon’s “Imagine.” The film was a montage of scenes of New York interspersed with images like the above, of Dave Hill “masturbating” in public places.

***

Singer songwriter Jeffrey Lewis performed some favorites, like Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror and showed some short films he made using his cartoons, like one about Sitting Bull and another about a crazy red hand on the loose that gets mistaken for the hand of the devil by some nuns.

***

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New York writers, win a chance to read your work alongside Sam Lipsyte at our NYC event on April 6. Lipsyte is one of our featured guests at A Night Together, an event The Rumpus is co-hosting with Tin House and Flavorpill, which will also feature, among others, Michael Showalter, Lorelei Lee, Dave Hill, Colson Whitehead, Alina Simone and Jeffrey Lewis.

In honor of Sam Lipsyte, and in an effort to bring some new writers into the mix, we’re offering four writers an opportunity to read your work on stage along with Sam Lipsyte, Colson Whitehead and Lorelei Lee. We ask only that you spin your short fictional prose piece from one line of Lipsyte’s new novel The Ask.

Select one sentence or sentence fragment from The Ask–we’ve provided some below for your convenience, but you may choose one of your own from the novel–and use it as a jump-off point for your own fictional prose piece. The sentence or sentence fragment may be placed anywhere in your piece. Entries should be 300 words or less. Four pieces will be selected to be read by the authors onstage at the Highline Ballroom. The winners will be announced on the eve of the event.

Fees and Dates:

There is no fee to enter and no limit to the number of entries you may submit. The contest closes April 5 at 12:00 noon.

(If you’d like to buy tickets, contest entrants will get a reduced rate ($6). Just let us know if and when you enter).

Send entries and inquiries to:

rozalia@therumpus.net. (Please put “Jump-Off” in the subject header)

Selected Sentences from The Ask:

“There was something melon-y and inviting about Raskov’s head.”

“Odds were good I was, in the final analysis, nothing but a scat gobbler from the House of Wanker.”

“He walked into the cage, rubbed his hair dry with a dishtowel.”

“I was glad I’d remembered to shucksify my vocabulary in the company of children.”

“It’s when they stop trying to destroy you, my mother said, that you should really start to worry.”

“The children shivered in the grass, their hair and skin faintly iridescent.”

“A solitudinous roil, my bitterness.”

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This week in New York 2010: Whitney Biennial opens, Gigantic holds a launch party for Issue 2: Gigantic America, Anderbo Reading at KGB, Mary Karr talks with Philip Gourevitch, MOMA premieres documentary about Mikhail Khodorkovsky–Russia’s wealthiest man and one if its most controversial figures, Ted Conover reads, André Aciman talks to Paul Leclerc, and Sam Mendes directs The Tempest at BAM.

MONDAY 2/22: Author Mary Karr talks with Paris Review editor Philip Gourevitch about her process as part of the magazine’s Art of Memoir interview series. Mary Karr is the author of several books, including The Liars’ Club, Cherry and, most recently, Lit, which made The New York Times best books of 2009. Joe’s Pub. 425 Lafayette St. $20. 7:00pm.

Ted Conover reads from The Routes of Man, a spirited, urgent book that reveals the costs and benefits of being connected—how, from ancient Rome to the present, roads have played a crucial role in human life, advancing civilization even as they set it back. The Half King. 505 W. 23rd. 7:00pm.

Documentary Fortnight, 2010 MOMA’s International Festival of Nonfiction Film continues with Vlast (Power), 2010. USA. Directed by Cathryn Collins. In 2003, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia’s wealthiest man, was arrested at gunpoint on a Siberian runway. Having openly challenged President Vladimir Putin, Khodorkovsky was convicted, his oil company, YUKOS, seized, and his pro-democracy efforts curtailed. He remains defiantly imprisoned. In unprecedented interviews with Khodorkovsky’s family, his associates, and prominent politicians and journalists, director Cathryn Collins reveals how liberty and the rule of law have become casualties in modern Russia. Vlast (Power) takes an unvarnished look at the consolidation of power in an oil-dependent Russia, revealing a frightening picture of repression and retribution reminiscent of Stalin’s regime. In Russian, English; English subtitles. 88 min. MOMA. 11 W. 53rd St. 8:30pm.

The Tenth Muse with John Ashbery. Living legend John Ashbery carries on a long-standing Poetry Center tradition by curating and introducing an evening of readings by three less-established poets. Readings by Marcella Durand, Robert Elstein and John Gallaher. 92Y. Lexington Ave. @92nd St. 8:15pm.

TUESDAY 2/23: André Aciman and Paul Leclerc in Conversation. André Aciman discusses his new novel Eight White Nights with Paul Leclerc, President and CEO of the New York Public Library. André Aciman is the author of Call Me by Your Name, Out of Egypt, and False Papers, and is the editor of The Proust Project. South Court Auditorium of the New York Public Library (Enter on Fifth Ave. bet. 40th and 42nd Sts.). $25 ($15 students). 7:00pm (doors at 6:15).

The Films of Robert Gardner at Light Industry. In twenty-nine completed works, surveying the daily life and rituals of societies from every inhabited continent, Robert Gardner probes acutely at the delicate borders that have always defined documentary film—the porous and slippery boundaries between objective facts and their subjective telling. 177 Livingston Street. 7:30pm.

Craft Work with Colson Whitehead. Have an idea kicking around in your head for a story, but not sure where to start? Join the Center for Fiction for an intimate talk by best-selling author Colson Whitehead as he discusses his creative process and the art of fiction. Colson Whitehead is an award winning author of numerous books including John Henry Days and most recently, Sag Harbor. The Mercantile Library Center for Fiction. 17 E. 47th St. 7:00pm.

WEDNESDAY 2/24: Anderbo Reading at KGB. For one night online literary journal Anderbo descends on KGB to present six outstanding readers, poet Kathleen Kraft, Anderbo Fiction writers Kristen O’Toole and Erika Swyler, and Anderbo “fact” contributors Tove Danovich, Paul Vigna and Anne Fiero.  Anderbo (http://anderbo.com) was founded by author Rick Rofihe. KBG. 85 E. 4 (bet. 2nd and 3rd Aves.). 7:00pm.

Winter Anti-folk Festival 2010 continues at Sidewalk Cafe with the Lisps, Nan Turner, Dufus and Major Matt Mason.  94 Ave. A.

Filmmakers present films made in collaboration with their subjects using various techniques of participation, performance, and observation. Followed by a discussion with Patty Chang, Liza Johnson and participants in In the Air; Sharon Lockhart, Jeannie Simms. Organized and moderated by Sally Berger.

Selected Shorts: The Sixties. Take a trip to that swinging decade of questioning, experimentation, and change as actors Cynthia Nixon, Michael O’Keefe, Jill Eikenberry, host Isaiah Sheffer and Def Jam Poetry artist Staceyann Chin perform stories, poetry and nonfiction by James Baldwin, Joyce Johnson, Norman Mailer, Robert Lowell and an excerpt from Joan Didion’s classic essay “The White Album.” Symphony Space.

THURSDAY 2/25: 2010: Whitney Biennial opens. This year marks the seventy-fifth edition of the Whitney’s signature exhibition. While Biennials are always affected by the cultural, political, and social moment, this exhibition “simply titled 2010” embodies a cross section of contemporary art production rather than a specific theme. To underscore the idea of time as an element of the Biennial and to demonstrate the influence of the past on 2010, familiar and less well-known artists from previous exhibitions are brought together in Collecting Biennials, an accompanying installation. Through May 30, 2010. Whitney Museum of American Art. 75th and Madison Ave.

Antifolk Festival 2010 continues at Sidewalk Cafe with Brook Pridemore, Huggabroomstick and Crabs on Banjo among others. Sidewalk Cafe. 94 Ave. A.

Bulge, Glaze, Pause, Shock: Wayne Koestenbaum Lecture. Wayne Koestenbaum has published five books of poetry, a novel, and five books of nonfiction including The Queen’s Throat (a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist). His newest book, Hotel Theory, a hybrid of fiction and nonfiction, was published in 2007. 2960 Broadway, Dodge Hall, Room 501. Columbia University (@116th St.). 7:00pm.

FRIDAY 2/26: The Tempest directed by Sam Mendes. Back with its second season at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, this spring season, the Bridge Project presents two Shakespeare classics, The Tempest and As You Like It, both directed by Sam Mendes, acclaimed director of the films American Beauty, Road to Perdition and Revolutionary Road. See Saturday for an artist’s talk with Mendes. Brooklyn Academy of Music. 30 Lafayette Ave. 7:30pm.

SATURDAY 2/27: Gigantic Issue 2 Launch Party. Come celebrate the launch of Gigantic Issue 2, Gigantic America. Issue 2 features interviews with Lydia Millet, Adrian Tomine and Sam Lipsyte; new fiction from Robert Coover and Leni Zumas; art by Thomas Doyle and Thomas Allen; along with collectible biographies of famous Americans as written by, among others, Deb Olin Unferth, Michael Kimball, Clancy Martin and Stephen O’Connor. The release party will include short readings from Gigantic #2 contributors Deb Olin Unferth, Stephen O’Connor and Sasha Fletcher; a dance performance by artist Lydia Bell; an installation by Dinh Q. Lê; a special “surrogate” reading by Mike Topp in place of Brian Beatty; cheap drinks and all the fun and miscellaneous delights you’ve come to expect from things Gigantic. PPOW Gallery. 511 W. 25th St. #301. 6:30-11:00pm.

Artist talk with Sam Mendes and The Bridge Project cast. In a unique public conversation between director and actors, Sam Mendes and members of The Bridge Project cast will discuss the exceptional adventure that they embarked on, bringing audiences into their creative process. Brooklyn Academy of Music. 5:00pm.

SUNDAY 2/28: Metal Mad. An army of artists pay tribute to Heavy Metal. Giant Robot. 437 E. 9th St. Through March 3.

ART: Image of work by Michael Asher at the 2010 Whitney Biennial.

***

News about notable happenings in New York can be sent to rozalia-AT-therumpus.net

Original Notable New York Illustration © André da Loba

Other images in order of appearance: Ecstatic Resistance (schema), 2009, by Emily Roysdon at the Whitney Biennial; still from Aki Sasamoto’s Secrets of My Mother’s Child, 2009 (detail) Performance and Installation at the Whitney Biennial; section from”Until I Find It,” a segment from an illustrated book based on the full-length animated film DIECI TESTE, with words by Leni Zumas and art by Luca Dipierro (the full segment will appear on Gigantic online on Monday 3/1).

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