WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.670 align:middle line:90%


00:00:02.670 --> 00:00:05.670 align:middle line:84%
When I read Lydia Millet's
most recent novel Sweet

00:00:05.670 --> 00:00:09.210 align:middle line:84%
Lamb of Heaven, I was struck
by the way she guides us

00:00:09.210 --> 00:00:12.090 align:middle line:84%
in exploring language,
or more specifically,

00:00:12.090 --> 00:00:14.520 align:middle line:84%
something that might be
called deep language if you

00:00:14.520 --> 00:00:16.440 align:middle line:90%
ask the right people.

00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:20.190 align:middle line:84%
I was struck by the way the
story moves along dynamically

00:00:20.190 --> 00:00:23.640 align:middle line:84%
while also keeping language at
the forefront of the narrative

00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:26.970 align:middle line:90%
in the form of questions.

00:00:26.970 --> 00:00:29.550 align:middle line:84%
Is there a pre-verbal
voice or essence

00:00:29.550 --> 00:00:32.280 align:middle line:84%
that connects every
living growing creature?

00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:37.530 align:middle line:84%
Is that God or at least part of
what we might call the divine?

00:00:37.530 --> 00:00:40.710 align:middle line:84%
Early on in the book,
Anna, the narrator,

00:00:40.710 --> 00:00:44.820 align:middle line:84%
watches her daughter protect
a ratty mouse, a dog eared,

00:00:44.820 --> 00:00:47.760 align:middle line:84%
broken spined, finger
smeared, picture book,

00:00:47.760 --> 00:00:51.240 align:middle line:84%
and thinks it's almost possible
to believe that everything

00:00:51.240 --> 00:00:55.080 align:middle line:84%
in the world is precious, that
each humble item that exists

00:00:55.080 --> 00:00:58.740 align:middle line:84%
has a delicate and
singular value.

00:00:58.740 --> 00:01:01.200 align:middle line:84%
It's possible to believe
that all matter should

00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:03.840 align:middle line:90%
be treated tenderly.

00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:06.270 align:middle line:84%
And as the story
continues, we consider

00:01:06.270 --> 00:01:08.280 align:middle line:84%
what it means to
be protected, what

00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:10.920 align:middle line:84%
it means to treat
all manner tenderly,

00:01:10.920 --> 00:01:14.310 align:middle line:84%
what it means to be connected
even for a short period of time

00:01:14.310 --> 00:01:16.770 align:middle line:90%
to something like a divine.

00:01:16.770 --> 00:01:19.320 align:middle line:84%
There's a skill in bringing
in all these threads.

00:01:19.320 --> 00:01:22.260 align:middle line:84%
And so definitely
weaving them together.

00:01:22.260 --> 00:01:24.090 align:middle line:84%
I picked up on
language and trust

00:01:24.090 --> 00:01:25.530 align:middle line:84%
because those are
things I've been

00:01:25.530 --> 00:01:27.600 align:middle line:90%
thinking about in my own work.

00:01:27.600 --> 00:01:31.200 align:middle line:84%
But of course, people's
experiences cannot be easily

00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:34.080 align:middle line:84%
reduced to one or
two through lines.

00:01:34.080 --> 00:01:36.660 align:middle line:84%
And as portrayals
of experiences,

00:01:36.660 --> 00:01:39.780 align:middle line:84%
neither can Lydia
Millet stories.

00:01:39.780 --> 00:01:43.270 align:middle line:84%
She is the author of 11
works of literary fiction,

00:01:43.270 --> 00:01:48.930 align:middle line:84%
including Mermaids in Paradise,
2014, the novel Magnificence,

00:01:48.930 --> 00:01:52.080 align:middle line:84%
2012, a story
collection called Love

00:01:52.080 --> 00:01:56.310 align:middle line:84%
in Infant Monkeys, 2010, a
finalist for the Pulitzer

00:01:56.310 --> 00:01:59.910 align:middle line:84%
Prize, and the novel
My Happy Life, 2002.

00:01:59.910 --> 00:02:03.300 align:middle line:84%
She received a Guggenheim
Fellowship in 2012 and lives

00:02:03.300 --> 00:02:06.690 align:middle line:84%
in Tucson, where she also writes
op-ed columns for the New York

00:02:06.690 --> 00:02:09.840 align:middle line:84%
Times and works at the
nonprofit Center for Biological

00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:11.100 align:middle line:90%
Diversity.

00:02:11.100 --> 00:02:14.510 align:middle line:84%
Please join me in
welcoming Lydia Millet.