WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.558 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.558 --> 00:00:01.100 align:middle line:90% Good evening. 00:00:01.100 --> 00:00:03.540 align:middle line:90% That's loud. 00:00:03.540 --> 00:00:08.400 align:middle line:84% Before I begin, I would like to mention as a preface that prior 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:13.020 align:middle line:84% to this reading there was a rather heated discussion about 00:00:13.020 --> 00:00:17.766 align:middle line:84% the pronunciation of the word spelled P-L-A-N-T-A-I-N. 00:00:17.766 --> 00:00:20.580 align:middle line:84% And we almost came to blows about it. 00:00:20.580 --> 00:00:24.300 align:middle line:84% So it was decided, excuse me, that for the purpose 00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:27.030 align:middle line:84% of tonight's reading, it will be pronounced plantain 00:00:27.030 --> 00:00:29.850 align:middle line:84% for anyone who has questions, speak up now. 00:00:29.850 --> 00:00:30.786 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:30.786 --> 00:00:32.659 align:middle line:90% It's fine. 00:00:32.659 --> 00:00:33.773 align:middle line:90% OK? 00:00:33.773 --> 00:00:35.190 align:middle line:84% Tonight we're honored to be joined 00:00:35.190 --> 00:00:38.430 align:middle line:84% by two extraordinary writers, Pete Rock and David Foster 00:00:38.430 --> 00:00:39.720 align:middle line:90% Wallace. 00:00:39.720 --> 00:00:42.180 align:middle line:84% Well, Rock and Wallace read out of different traditions. 00:00:42.180 --> 00:00:44.100 align:middle line:84% They share a common unsentimentality 00:00:44.100 --> 00:00:46.320 align:middle line:84% in their exploration of human weakness. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:47.820 align:middle line:84% They are masterful in their ability 00:00:47.820 --> 00:00:49.950 align:middle line:84% to play with point of view to serve 00:00:49.950 --> 00:00:53.070 align:middle line:84% reader expectation of traditional linear narrative. 00:00:53.070 --> 00:00:55.475 align:middle line:84% They do so seamlessly, opening up their text, 00:00:55.475 --> 00:00:56.850 align:middle line:84% and asking the reader to question 00:00:56.850 --> 00:00:58.800 align:middle line:90% the boundaries of narrative. 00:00:58.800 --> 00:01:00.870 align:middle line:84% Pete Rock, who will read first, was 00:01:00.870 --> 00:01:02.700 align:middle line:90% born in Salt Lake City, Utah. 00:01:02.700 --> 00:01:05.519 align:middle line:84% He attended Deep Springs College and Yale University where 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:07.500 align:middle line:90% he received his BA in English. 00:01:07.500 --> 00:01:10.740 align:middle line:84% He was the 1996 recipient of a Henfield Award, 00:01:10.740 --> 00:01:14.580 align:middle line:84% completed a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford in 1997 00:01:14.580 --> 00:01:16.860 align:middle line:84% and received a National Endowment for the Arts 00:01:16.860 --> 00:01:18.607 align:middle line:90% Fellowship in 2000. 00:01:18.607 --> 00:01:20.940 align:middle line:84% He currently lives in Portland, Oregon, where he teaches 00:01:20.940 --> 00:01:23.340 align:middle line:90% fiction at Reed College. 00:01:23.340 --> 00:01:25.020 align:middle line:84% Rock has been described as having 00:01:25.020 --> 00:01:27.270 align:middle line:84% a polished talent one might expect 00:01:27.270 --> 00:01:30.000 align:middle line:84% of a grizzled 70-year-old writing veteran. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:31.830 align:middle line:84% He's the author of three novels, This 00:01:31.830 --> 00:01:36.060 align:middle line:84% is the Place, Carnival Wolves, and The Ambidextrist. 00:01:36.060 --> 00:01:37.890 align:middle line:84% The characters in Rock's fictional worlds 00:01:37.890 --> 00:01:41.070 align:middle line:84% are often people on the margins of society, drifters, 00:01:41.070 --> 00:01:44.130 align:middle line:84% jaded blackjack dealers, pedophiles, drug addicts, 00:01:44.130 --> 00:01:45.960 align:middle line:90% and misguided teenagers. 00:01:45.960 --> 00:01:48.600 align:middle line:84% The landscape of this world echoes their isolation 00:01:48.600 --> 00:01:52.560 align:middle line:84% whether it is rural Alaska or an urban Philadelphia riverbank. 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:54.840 align:middle line:84% The heart of Rock's work lies in the moral struggles 00:01:54.840 --> 00:01:56.670 align:middle line:84% the characters face and the grave mistakes 00:01:56.670 --> 00:01:59.882 align:middle line:84% they make in order to find human connection. 00:01:59.882 --> 00:02:02.340 align:middle line:84% Once again, it's an honor to have both writers here with us 00:02:02.340 --> 00:02:02.840 align:middle line:90% tonight. 00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:05.990 align:middle line:84% And please help me welcome Pete Rock to the podium. 00:02:05.990 --> 00:02:07.000 align:middle line:90%