WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.020 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.020 --> 00:00:05.610 align:middle line:84% Well, I was going to read the ending, but I let that go. 00:00:05.610 --> 00:00:10.140 align:middle line:84% And maybe if you're terribly interested in finding out 00:00:10.140 --> 00:00:16.432 align:middle line:84% how the book comes out, you can buy it. 00:00:16.432 --> 00:00:19.680 align:middle line:84% [INAUDIBLE QUESTION FROM AUDIENCE] 00:00:19.680 --> 00:00:20.220 align:middle line:90% Yeah, no. 00:00:20.220 --> 00:00:21.360 align:middle line:90% I can't tell you that. 00:00:21.360 --> 00:00:24.630 align:middle line:84% They have a daughter, by the way, who figures into it. 00:00:24.630 --> 00:00:28.200 align:middle line:84% A daughter is born with a caul around her head. 00:00:28.200 --> 00:00:31.320 align:middle line:84% I don't know whether you know what that is, 00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:34.770 align:middle line:84% but it's a little tissue that was 00:00:34.770 --> 00:00:39.000 align:middle line:84% supposed to give one magical powers for good or for evil. 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:40.980 align:middle line:84% The daughter's name is Lucretia, and she 00:00:40.980 --> 00:00:43.680 align:middle line:84% becomes engaged to a gentleman named Benjamin Franklin 00:00:43.680 --> 00:00:51.060 align:middle line:84% Gogarty, who is another Irishman who has come to this area. 00:00:51.060 --> 00:00:57.000 align:middle line:84% And they need Luther Calvin's land for the mines. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:59.670 align:middle line:84% Luther Calvin doesn't want to give it to them. 00:00:59.670 --> 00:01:01.165 align:middle line:90% And things work out from there. 00:01:01.165 --> 00:01:02.790 align:middle line:84% If you're really interested, you should 00:01:02.790 --> 00:01:04.050 align:middle line:90% look at the last few pages. 00:01:04.050 --> 00:01:06.377 align:middle line:90% But thank you very much. 00:01:06.377 --> 00:01:07.335 align:middle line:90% Is there any questions? 00:01:07.335 --> 00:01:10.110 align:middle line:90% [CLAPPING] 00:01:10.110 --> 00:01:15.800 align:middle line:90% 00:01:15.800 --> 00:01:21.870 align:middle line:84% [FROM AUDIENCE] You see lots of things [INAUDIBLE] 00:01:21.870 --> 00:01:30.890 align:middle line:84% I'm wondering if that [INAUDIBLE] to tell about 00:01:30.890 --> 00:01:33.560 align:middle line:84% people who leave their children [INAUDIBLE] that way 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:36.050 align:middle line:90% or [INAUDIBLE] 00:01:36.050 --> 00:01:39.050 align:middle line:84% It probably has some great cosmic significance. 00:01:39.050 --> 00:01:40.880 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHING] 00:01:40.880 --> 00:01:43.640 align:middle line:90% No, not necessarily. 00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:45.650 align:middle line:90% It's just fun. 00:01:45.650 --> 00:01:49.130 align:middle line:84% And I'm working with some very obvious irony. 00:01:49.130 --> 00:01:51.200 align:middle line:84% Many, many things I do in here, I 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:53.570 align:middle line:84% guess you've noticed as I was reading, 00:01:53.570 --> 00:01:55.920 align:middle line:90% are very obvious things. 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:59.240 align:middle line:84% And I wanted them to be that way. 00:01:59.240 --> 00:02:02.360 align:middle line:84% I'm playing with lots of obvious conventions. 00:02:02.360 --> 00:02:06.140 align:middle line:84% And that's an old 19th-century convention 00:02:06.140 --> 00:02:12.058 align:middle line:84% that can be used ironically and can be used to have some fun. 00:02:12.058 --> 00:02:13.990 align:middle line:84% [INAUDIBLE QUESTION FROM AUDIENCE] 00:02:13.990 --> 00:02:16.950 align:middle line:90% [CHUCKLING] 00:02:16.950 --> 00:02:18.240 align:middle line:90% A good bit of the time. 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:20.580 align:middle line:84% The ending of the book is kind of serious 00:02:20.580 --> 00:02:24.690 align:middle line:84% and is kind of not serious at the same time. 00:02:24.690 --> 00:02:29.190 align:middle line:84% You see, I'm a great believer in this thing of balance. 00:02:29.190 --> 00:02:33.540 align:middle line:84% And it's so very easy to get so serious 00:02:33.540 --> 00:02:35.370 align:middle line:84% that you're like on the edge of a cliff, 00:02:35.370 --> 00:02:37.290 align:middle line:84% and you fall off the edge of the cliff, 00:02:37.290 --> 00:02:39.390 align:middle line:84% and you have to continually keep undercutting 00:02:39.390 --> 00:02:43.920 align:middle line:84% yourself and jerking yourself back from that edge. 00:02:43.920 --> 00:02:46.830 align:middle line:84% If you're going to write a book that deals with emotions, 00:02:46.830 --> 00:02:53.130 align:middle line:84% the other perhaps easier out is to write a book that 00:02:53.130 --> 00:02:54.600 align:middle line:90% does away with emotions. 00:02:54.600 --> 00:02:57.060 align:middle line:84% That's, in a sense, what we did in revolting 00:02:57.060 --> 00:02:59.670 align:middle line:84% against 19th-century sentimentality. 00:02:59.670 --> 00:03:03.540 align:middle line:84% We did away with emotion almost entirely. 00:03:03.540 --> 00:03:07.290 align:middle line:84% Not all writers, but many writers did. 00:03:07.290 --> 00:03:10.710 align:middle line:84% And now the trick is to find out how 00:03:10.710 --> 00:03:16.890 align:middle line:84% to deal with emotion without becoming sentimental. 00:03:16.890 --> 00:03:22.140 align:middle line:84% And how not to be obvious without meaning to be obvious. 00:03:22.140 --> 00:03:25.680 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] anything else? 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:28.440 align:middle line:90% 00:03:28.440 --> 00:03:34.050 align:middle line:84% OK, I understand there's a reception in the terrace room. 00:03:34.050 --> 00:03:38.410 align:middle line:84% And I'll be there if any of you have anything else to ask. 00:03:38.410 --> 00:03:39.360 align:middle line:90% Thank you for coming. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:39.860 align:middle line:90% Good night. 00:03:39.860 --> 00:03:42.830 align:middle line:90% [CLAPPING] 00:03:42.830 --> 00:03:45.000 align:middle line:90%