Rick Simonson

A PRIMER ON PARALLEL LIVES / 2
May 20, 2007

... from before ...

Two years ago this past winter, Roberto Calasso undertook a U.S. tour (who else but Knopf would go along with this) for his newest book, K. That's K. as in Kafka. We were lucky enough to be included. Word then came that he wanted to spend extra time in Seattle, a full day and evening beyond (before) his reading date. He wanted to see the city, he wanted to see the bookstore, he wanted to ... visit. Well and good, but the night before his reading we were on tap for Marilynne Robinson offsite, and in the afternoon of his reading (which would take place at the Seattle Art Museum), we had our hands full with Malcolm Gladwell and an anticipated packed house for his then newly-published Blink. How would all this be juggled? With no plans for a publisher-hired media escort, I recruited one of my own: Peter Lewis, a good friend who knows hospitality (a decorated veteran and star of the restaurant world), knows writers and publishers, and is extremely well-read. He and I have also been through some escapades together.

Not knowing Mr. Calasso's wishes, I asked Peter to look after him, feed him if need be, while I tended other matters, then would catch up with them. As it turned out, Calasso came to Marilynne Robinson ('Jonathan Galassi says I should know her'), jet lag and all. nursed a beer during her signing, then was taken to dinner by Peter, myself in tow.

Twenty-four hours later, after his own lovely, lively reading and lecture - one of leaps and bounds - Calasso, with Peter again taking the lead, was off to dinner, this time with more people included. Conversation was all over the place. I remember, leading into this, Peter saying he was familiar with Calasso's work - though I would also say I don't recall his having brought his name or work up much before this. By the second night in Calasso's company, Peter had bought whatever books he hadn't yet read, clearly infected by a deeper enthusiasm and affection for the books and their author.

Two writers that Peter knows are Jim Harrison and Dan Gerber. If the Calasso epigraph had only been in Dan Gerber's new book, I might not have tried to see a connection. Eight months after this Seattle visit by Calasso, I opened a galley of Saving Daylight, a new book of poems by Jim Harrison. Most known as a fiction writer, he is also a fabulous poet. And a surprising one.

On page 49, there is a poem called "Reading Calasso." Its first two lines: "I'm the pet dog of a family of gods / who never gave me any training."

Two months after seeing that, I was in Santa Fe where Harrison and Ted Kooser were giving a reading. During the day a group of us found him ensconced in his room, cigarette and yellow pad going, hard at work on the novel that would in time be Returning to Earth. I saw a copy of Literaure and the Gods by his bedstand. Between that and the poem, I asked him. He fixed me with one eye or the other - either the one that sees this world, or the one that sees others - and remembered the links: to him from Peter from me. "You ..." he said.

That night, in front of a packed hall of 800, Harrison dropped a quote of Calasso's about art being what slips through the cracks, did it so adroitly and effectively, that the whole place shuddered on hearing it. What was that? and who? At a reception following, a few, knowing my bookmonger tendencies, pressed me. I told them. Two of the women were from suburban Chicago. What bookstore do you go to? I asked. The Book Stall, in Winnetka. Roberta's place? You know Roberta [Rubin]? ... and such. I said that she should have them (and meant to call, sorry, Roberta), and if not, would have any one of them. They're most all from Vintage ... they're available.

I don't know if those two women or anyone else from that night was moved enough to go find, buy (or check out), and read anything by Calasso. I do know that it is by keeping writers' words alive, such as that (and writers talking about other writers' work in the q&a's), that work does endure ... and has a better chance to be bought and read by others. Having a strong affect not only on readers, but two mature, knowing writers - enough to provoke their art - is not something that shows up in those day after grids.

Here's to the slower going.

Posted by Rick Simonson on May 20, 2007 | Comments (0)