Tell Me What You're Reading No. 53: Jenni Knight discusses Autoportrait by Édouard Levé
Publishing just now in November a podcast I recorded six months ago with one of the very interesting people I meet walking on Upper Byrdcliffe Road in Woodstock. One day as we were passing the Byrdcliffe Theater, our friend Neil introduced me to Jenni Knight, an artist in residence at the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony. Jenni is a Bard MFA grad with a background in sculpture, drawing, painting as well as working with New York City experimental culture institutions. Previously Jenni’s been in residence at the Mount Lebanon Residency at the Shaker Museum in New York, and in Sweden in a program funded by the Swedish Arts Council. Jenni also teaches periodically and has run an artist space in the City. Jenni is currently writing about bodily integrity.
As often happens, one thing led to another and I asked Jenni if there was a book she was reading that she would like to discuss on the podcast. Jenni chose Autoportrait by Édouard Levé, a book consisting of 112 pages of mostly unconnected sentences, both very long and very short sentences, all in just one paragraph; a stream of consciousness exercise perhaps. Absolutley fascinating and absolutely unconventional. I recvommend it.
A few samples of Leve’s path, his self portrait.
I am against the death penalty
I will never be done with literature
The prospect of a long walk in the mountains on a sunny day makes me euphoric
There was a compulsive collector in my family, at her death they found a shoebox labeled in painstaking calligraphy: “little bits of string that have no use.”
My intelligence is uneven
I love summer rain
I have never missed a flight that then exploded in midair
Although I am self-employed, I observe the weekend
I have never considered sleeping with a nun
Buying clothes is a trial, wearing them a pleasure
I do not foresee, making love with an animal
I want this epitaph engraved on my tombstone: “see you soon.“
My memory embellishes
in my period of depression, I visualize the funeral after I kill myself, there are lots of friends there, lots of sadness and beauty, the event is so moving that it makes me want to live through it, so it makes me want to live.
A friend of mine attributes, his suicide attempts to his having been a battered child
My death will change nothing
The best day of my life may already be behind me
It takes me a long while to realize that certain people bore me, such as people who are witty but tell stories slowly with lots of useless details. At first I admire the precision of their memories, then I get tired, and finally I can't stand to wait 15 minutes to find out the upshot of the story that should have taken one minute to tell. (I'm afraid that's me.)
Lots of laughter in this book, but ultimately sadness.
(Photos above by the incomparable Dion Ogust.)
What Jenni is Reading
Autoportrait, by Édouard Levé
The Tempest, by William Shakespeare
The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Short stories of Clarice Lispector
What Howard is Reading
Before it was published, I read about “James”, which is Percival Everett‘s new novel. It was described as a retelling or reimagining of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the point of view of Jim, the runaway slave who accompanied Huck throughout most of Huck’s adventures. I realized that I had never read Huckleberry Finn, and so I did, and then I read James; really great, really moving. Highly recommended.
I also recently read and loved Elizabeth Gilbert‘s The Signature of All Things. This one was published a few years ago and my daughter Melanie strongly recommended it to me. Melanie actually insisted that I read it. Glad she did. And glad I did. It’s Philadelphia in the 19th century, slavery and abolition, botany, Darwin, Tahiti, coming of age. Lots going on, and it’s a great story with vivid characters.
In the last year or so, I read The Underground Railroad and the Nickel Boys, which are beautifully written and devastatingly sad novels by Colson Whitehead. Also well written, but fun, was Whitehead's caper novel, Harlem Shuffle. I love a caper, and I loved Ray Carney. I look forward to spending more time with Ray, when I get to the Harlem Shuffle sequels. Whitehead is an extraordinarily gifted and versatile writer.
I also read A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles several years ago, and it’s among my favorites of all time. More recently, I read and loved Rules of Civility by Towles. It’s about striving and surviving in Depression-era Manhattan. Brilliant characters and dialogue. It starts on New Year’s Eve in a Greenwich Village jazz bar, and then we run through 1938 New York City … Wall Street, the Village and the Upper East Side, New York society, and Condé Nast, accompanied by a variety of colorful characters. One of Towles’ many great characters, Evelyn Ross, goes right from Rules of Civility to his new book, Table for Two, which I look forward to reading soon. I love following great characters.
Then, Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ang, a haunting and extraordinarily moving novel. The narrative is driven by the oppressive, racist, inhumane implications of a federal law - The Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act - enacted in response to a financial crisis that demanded a villain. We have some hero’s as well but overall this is a very chilling novel. Thanks to my friend Kali for this one.
And finally, a book from our friend Bonnie Hammer. Bonnie is Vice Chairman of NBCUniversal and for many years was Chairman of the Universal Studio Group. In her book, 15 lies that women are told at work and the truth we need to succeed, Bonnie shares much of what she experienced and learned in her stellar more than 40 year career in the television business.
Bonnie is one hard charging business leader and a creative force of nature,
I’m not a self-help book kind of guy, but Bonnie provides a wide variety of truly useful advice, and certainly not just for women. So much of what Bonnie said was familiar to me, especially her discussion of the benefits of real mentors.
I loved it all and was most impressed by Bonnie’s conclusory observation,
“Put a premium on kindness. Live with humility. Learn how to joke at your own expense. Be the kind of person you’d want to be around.”
Thank you Bonnie.
Jenni’s favorite bookstores
The Golden Notebook (Woodstock)
The Strand (NYC)
