And here we are, by phone from New York to San Francisco, both probably wishing we were in Italy. , fact. Your book touches on love in so in guises, from transient passion to long-term comfort. Almost every book I love, if we define sequel as diving into the same language and storytelling. The surprise came later that night, when I had locked myself out of my car in a mall parking lot and my mother came to get me, sat in the front seat, and said, I think I am too. It was incredibly excitinglike finding out your mother is Spider-Man! GREER: Yes, were super prudish! Are there other road-trip narratives or travelogues you particularly admire? You simply have a distinctive . The follow-up to the Pulitzer-winning "Less" delights in the absurd and the mundane. Why dont you dress for a job? But the American that Less discovers in your novel does seem to me ultimately loving and affectionate. Another memory: A friend sent me out with the express command that I come back with a reasonably tasteful V-neck sweater. Who would have thought Hard-boiled Detective would be my thing? Andrew Sean Greer reflects on his San Francisco neighborhood, and the one thing a novelist has right now: his notes. I was training pugs to wear diapers, Greer says of the elderly, incontinent dogs that he was tasked with making presentable for guests at a writers retreat in Italy where he worked as a jack-of-all-trades. [4] He grew up in Rockville, Maryland. Then I did another in the deep South where I could only go to small towns and sit in diners and bars and talk to people. Greer modified the characters name and location and turned the depressing parts into comedy. And yet, the elephant being, that. Three generations of very different gay men. And I loved doing it. Im like, here we go, and then I looked at the pages and I thought, this is terrible. Im guessing the impulse of writing it was to try to unearth what the hell is going on in our own country? I dont need to do anything else. I separate fiction and nonfiction (whatever that is), then alphabetize. GREER: I didnt think so. Oh, I do avoid I Wrote an 800-Page Book About a Dude Im a Genius, Right? In The New Yorker, John Updike wrote of the novel as "enchanting, in the perfumed, dandified style of disenchantment brought to grandeur by Proust and Nabokov." I am the Block Captain . GREER: I didnt think so. I slept fitfully that night. And welcome. Just in case. A sign of her love, and also, how my mother must have mystified her. I suppose another way to put it is I dressed like a virgin. Years later Weesie invited my boyfriend to visit when he was passing through on business. I come back to San Francisco and Im thinking, why is everyone dressed like theyre going to a workout but theyre going to Google? He is an identical twin. I guess I should try again. Hell have avocado and eggs and things like that to put on them. Its not a book I would normally pick up, but I live on recommendations (Michael Chabon forced this one on me) and WOW. Poignant, smart and funny, the mix of elements Greer brings to the table here makes this an outstanding book thats part road trip, part love story and part keen observation of contemporary America. Since you published your first book some 20 years ago, society has seen a sea change in its attitude towards homosexuality and gay marriage. It wears itself so lightly and I find it much more moving because its making fun of this character. But with comedy, you can get really close to that fire because you pull back at the last second with a laugh. All Rights Reserved. and he mixed some of his doctors drugs by accident and started hallucinating. I reread a lot of American lit for Less Is Lost and I couldnt read more than a page of Last of the Mohicans. Not only is it wildly offensive, its unintelligible gibberish. I have had more events such as these, including a recent one in Palm Beach, Florida, where I was to speak, at breakfast, to a literary society. My point is: I was an awkward outsider in many ways. So is his mothers book, Chemistry for Cooks by Sandra C. Greer. That it was a funny novel about someone in pain. I dont get it. But I just cant do it. It was the winter I turned 19 when I came home from college and told my parents I was gayhardly a surprise. In a talk that would give any stand-up comedian a run for their money, Greer had the audience in stitches from his first words to his last. "Why did you come here?" THE GREAT OUTDOORS At that point, our friends will have come up with some ideas of what to do. Everyone was in lederhosen and dirndls. 2023 Cond Nast. I had all those notes just before the pandemic, so I think all of us were still like, what is going on in this country? 22 new books coming out during the second half of 2022 In one example, Greer said, instead of talking about how few older gay men are around today because of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, he simply wrote, Andrew Less is the first homosexual ever to grow old.. Well, so, I mean, to go to this question, though, a little bit more, he's asking how much you see society having changed. He was wrong. I had all those notes just before the pandemic, so I think all of us were still like, BOLLEN: I cant make any sense of it. You can only stay in a motel with a neon sign. He discussed deeply personal experiences with levity and aplomb. A wardrobe out of Ovid; a centaurs closet. In a word: a saint. Travels With My Aunt, by Graham Greene. These were fried pies so delicious that my Aunt Gwen would beg for them each year like a little girl. I have to tear myself away or Ill spend all day reading. Ill just write what I want. Will they still publish me or is this the final curtain? One more question, or last question for our first section here. My name is David Kessler from Oakland, California. About Andrew Sean Greer | Book Analysis Now that some time has passed, Greer is trying to revel in the honor and remind himself that he is worthy. Dont do it. Well, I tried 20 years ago to write a book about a contemporary gay life, and I just couldn't do it, couldn't figure out how to write the story. Do you count any books as guilty pleasures? Fenimore. In LA, like they are in junior high. When I attended collegethis was during the George H.W. What moves you most in a work of literature? So I'm clearly not the guy with the answers. Andrew Sean Greer Issue 153, Winter 1999. GREER: The one Evelyn Waugh I like is called The Ordeal of Gilbert Penfold, which I read while I was working on this book. And, before we go, let me announce our Book Club pick for July. I was a suffering teen whose gayness, unacknowledged even to himself, expressed itself through ill-advised (and quite ordinary) fashion choices: giant sweatshirts, acid-washed jeans, Beach Boys T-shirts. What if Terrys advice had grown stale over the past few months and now I would not seem in control of the joke at all? More horrific? My grandmother (we called her Weesie) would nod as if considering the effort. Its delightful. We were in conversation with each other about this kind of feeling when our last books came out that it might be the last one, especially once youve published a bunch of books. Its interesting, there are so many novels in this novelin. And which do you avoid? I guess the Times was too. And if theyre not best sellers, the publisher starts to look for a much younger writer who might be a better bet or a much older one to rediscover. How have your reading tastes changed over time? Butter and flour, rolled out round, half filled with cooked peaches, folded over and fried (both sides) on an electric skillet until crisp. Less is Lost is a gay odyssey for our weird, divided age. Theyre all such wonderful storytellers and kind souls. And sadly, the greatest pain people had was economic distress and failed dreams because they had either had a child too soon or had been a child that was had too soon and they were given up for adoption and entered a difficult world, Now, with the new abortion rulings ts just deeply depressing because that was the source of everyones pain and the source of their rage and anger and here we go. Once a year I have a cocktail and write to New York Review Books on social media to bring it back in print and they say Yeah yeah thanks but it never happens. I understand its an athleisure moment but if youre going to go athleisure can you go, BOLLEN: I want to ask you about comedy. It is the story of a group of astronomers who from 1965 to 1989 met every six years to observe a comet discovered by one of them. GREER: Since I live out West, a road trip is sometimes necessary just to get somewhere. Greer was the guest speaker before about 150 people attending the MorseLife Literary Society breakfast Thursday at The Colony. Less is not lost! I spent about a year on it as a sort of poignant novel. She took my hand and added, in her sweetest, most Julie Andrews voice: You want a red suit., Now, if you like, take a look at my Wikipedia page. Which subjects do you wish more authors would write about? Im still at the stage of my career as a writer where I think, oh god, is this my last novel? For instance, Id love to see a sequel to The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, because I just want to be in that world some more. And here we are, by phone from New York to San Francisco, both probably wishing we were in Italy. It might be going to Sonoma to pick apples to make cider. and he mixed some of his doctors drugs by accident and started hallucinating. Greer has taught at a number of universities, including Stanford and the Iowa Writers Workshop, been a TODAY show pick, a New York Public Library Cullman Center Fellow, a judge for the National Book Award, and a winner of the California Book Award and the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. Right after that election I was baffled as was most of the people I knew and I just thought, apparently I dont understand this country. I just thought, I think I bought myself 10 years of not worrying about that. And while swimming, I decided to change it. But what I would say after those trips is that everyone I met was in incredible pain and that they were sure that there was no one who could help them, certainly not the government. Not those characters or places necessarily, but that style and epic sweep. He looks a lot like my brother who is my identical twin which means he looks a lot like me. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. It felt like it was the same project of playing with language, it just was playing with it in this comic way. Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel as if you were supposed to like, and didnt? Andrew Sean Greer. Its been a rough year for everybody, Greer said about the state of political affairs in this country. But even maybe in spite of Nabokov ridiculing this character, we really feel for him more than most of his monsters. Oh, I think Marlon James, Cathy Park Hong and Elaine Castillo would be a hoot together! I would say in every book, I do that, too. Well, we didn't say, but he's a gay character. "[18] The Washington Post called it "thoughtful, complex and exquisitely written. I want to write another book with Arthur Less and my agent wont like it and my publisher probably will but none of that matters. And you know what? Henry Prize Stories 2009. Because Im aware careers go up and down. Gone were the virginal sweatshirts.