The following blog was written by PEN World Voices correspondent Judith Benét Richardson.
A.M. Homes seemed to enjoy drawing Fran Lebowitz’s fire for all to enjoy. In other words, they seemed to be friends.
Fran Lebowitz, famously witty and acerbic, showed that side of herself, but her remarks reflected a search for truth. She says herself that she is an observer. She pays attention, as fewer and fewer people seem to do.
Freedom of speech? Yes, but we should also have the freedom of not listening.
Bravery, the theme of this year’s PEN festival? Americans think they are brave if they are in a triathalon.
Micro-apartments Mayor Bloomberg hopes to build? We don’t need a billionaire to decide how big an apartment we need. Already the reason you see so much furniture on the streets is that there is no room for it in New Yorkers’ tiny apartments. But it does give tourists somewhere to sit, which Bloomberg loves because he does everything in NYC for tourists.
What is forgiveness? Forgiving people is Christian. The Jewish God is a judge. Lebowitz played a judge on TV and now in movies. She is hoping to become a Supreme Court judge, which is possible, as they don’t need to have gone to law school. (Insert here mean remarks about Clarence Thomas). The Supreme Court is the fountain of youth; they all live to be really old. Their cases are really easy, but even then, they get them wrong. Bush vs. Gore? Should we have counted the votes? Yes. That’s what democracy is. You count the votes.
Public school system? White people need to send their kids, and we need to forget about the business model. Business is only about making money, and schools are much more complicated.
There were many more riffs - weather channels, insomnia, Hurricane Sandy, writer’s block. And a story about going camping for one night so she could be on the cover of OUTSIDE MAGAZINE.
Gay marriage? She would vote for it, as many of her friends would like it, but she would not like it for herself, personally. Being gay used to have two perks: you didn’t have to get married and you didn’t have to go in the military. Why give these up?
Art world? There is no longer an art world, only an art market.
Contemporary art? Nothing new for 35 years.
Grammar? Only Catholics learned grammar, as the nuns were allowed to hit their students, which is the only way to teach a subject that has no logic, only rules.
Writing is so hard, she said, that the only worse thing is being a coal-miner. What she does mostly is read. But we should be glad she also likes to talk, as we came away refreshed from an encounter with a lively and insightful mind.
A.M.Homes did a wonderful job as Leibowitz’s companion on this whirlwind tour, goading and encouraging her to ever greater flights, not of fancy, but reality.
