December
5, 2003
Today is the day to precede everything you say with "Hear ye, hear ye."
What doesn't today's interviewee do? Having emigrated
to the States from Romania in 1966, he is poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter;
columnist on National Public Radio, editor of Exquisite
Corpse, and MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English at Louisiana State
University in Baton Rouge. Of course, with all this, he is also incredibly
busy, so didn't have time for the usual amount of questions, so a mini-interview
for you today.
The Andrei Codrescu Interview: Several Less Than Twenty Questions
In the Rotten Tomatoes.com synopsis
of "Road Scholar," it describes that you set out to "to
discover all that is eccentric about America." So what is all that is
eccentric about America?
There is nothing eccentric about America if
you're watching
TV. If you're not, EVERYTHING
is eccentric, including your very own self. We spend jillions in this country
to make ourselves "normal," but since nobody knows what that is,
the money really just goes to make us weirder.
You met up with Allen Ginsburg in the film. What about him struck you
the most?
His generosity. I first met Allen when I came to America, in 1967. Here is
this kid who barely speaks English, shows up at his house with a bunch of
poems in Romanian, and Allen Ginsberg, the President of Poetry, invites him
in, makes him tea, indulges him in funny French, loads him down with books,
and finds him a place to crash at one of his painter friends' loft. I loved
and adored him ever since. By the time we made "Road Scholar" I
considered him a dear friend.
I know some people consider the Corpse's Body
Bag, (where columnist Laura Rosenthal pokes fun at rejected pieces) to
be downright sadistic. Is the Body Bag making a point or is it just good,
sharpened fun?
"The Body Bag," Laura says from the couch, "has joined the
peace movement." I have no idea what she means by that (She adds "you
always bag the ones you love."), but I know that hundreds of people loved
reading her lessons in poetry and life, including some of the rejected. Toward
the end of "Body Bag"s tenure, people vied to get in the "bag,"
and even begged piteously to be flogged as hard as possible. Mistress Laura
quit when the grovelling got in the way of her enjoyment.
What's the best thing you've read of late?
The
Mysteries of New Orleans by Baron Von Reizenstein (Johns Hopkins University
Press). Written in the mid-nineteenth century, this is a magic-realist masterpiece
that oozes with the je-ne-sais-quoi of New
Orleanian juju and poesy.
How do you think Jack Kerouac's writing should be interpreted or appreciated
today, other than by high school boys trying to impress people by pointedly
reading On the Road?
Kerouac is a fine writer, and he's even more wonderful on tape, reading his
own work. I think it's OK that the kids read him, but as a guide to a life-style
he's worthless. He lived with his mother most of the time and died a raving
right-wing alcoholic. Anyone who finds that romantic is a bad reader.
You write poems, essays, novels,
radio commentary, memoirs,
translations, and more. What's the most difficult, and what comes most naturally?
Everything comes naturally, but some things come more naturally, like poetry.
Much of the other stuff is work, for love or money.
Do you write differently for radio than you do for the printed page?
Yes. I make sure there are a lot of "r"s so that my accent will
have work to do. I'm also briefer and meaner because the ear is a snobbish
organ.
What were some of the highlight landmarks of your
trip across the country?
I go places all the time and there are highlights everywhere. Sometimes there
are even highlights when the lights are out, and sometimes I just like watching
a woman put highlights in her hair. Everything I wrote about is highlights
-- the other stuff I just forgot.
Are there any stylistic trends in literature today that you won't be sad
to see go?
There are certain people in positions of slicing the tiny pie of American
literature while championing certain trends that I won't be sorry to see go.
Complete list on request for 100 grand.
Do you feel that the sixties were "the fountainhead of
everything bad and good in America today"? What are some of these things,
good and bad?
Hardly. The 1860s were just as productive. The best thing about the 1960s
is that things were very slow for the majority and very fast for the young.
That made for some casualties, but in general, social and technical innovation
cascaded from the gap. It costs you to take a breath now.
How does it feel to have the first serious mini-interview on Zulkey.com?
Honey, I never heard of Zulkey.com before you wrote to me, but it feels kind
of nice, like having a syren blow cool air over an erect nipple.