WEBVTT

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Well, good evening.

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And welcome to the first prose
reading series of the season,

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and our first reading
in this new venue.

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Those of you who missed Saturday
and Sunday's grand opening

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of the Poetry Center
really missed something.

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Those of you who were there know
that it was quite something.

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I'm going to make
a few announcements

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and thank a few people before
I have Elizabeth Evans come up

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only because you won't want to
listen to me after the reading.

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I'd like to thank the College
of Humanities and Dean

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Tatum, the English
department, Gail and Frances

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here at the Poetry
Center, Cybele, who's

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helping quite a bit.

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And I'd like to announce that
in March, right after Easter,

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Junot Diaz will be
reading next semester.

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So please keep that
on your calendar.

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Keep us in mind for that.

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And that tomorrow
morning, Lydia will

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be giving a colloquium up on the
second floor in the classroom

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upstairs in the Poetry
Center, at 9 o'clock tomorrow

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morning, which I know might
be early for some people,

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but the challenge
will be worth it.

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And I'd like to introduce
Elizabeth Evans whom most

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of you, many of you will know.

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She's teaches in
the MFA program here

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at the University of Arizona.

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She is a fiction writer.

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And she's going to say a
few words about Lydia Davis.

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So thank you very much.

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And give Elizabeth Evans.

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[APPLAUSE]

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Hi.

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I don't know, is this right?

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Is this OK?

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Well, this is a long,
anticipated event.

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Lydia Davis has been on the
list of writers we most wanted

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in our series for years.

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And I was honored to be
asked to introduce her.

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And quickly realized,
what I wanted

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to do by way of introducing
her was read from her work,

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listen to what she
wrote here and here.

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I know you've come to hear
her read so I'm only allowing

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myself one brief quote.

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My introduction to her work
was the dazzling novel,

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The End of the Story,
which is not only

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the finest examination of
an obsessive love affair

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that I know of, but
also a book that's

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capable of talking about its
own construction with absolutely

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no coyness or damage to the
story of the love affair.

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It's mortification raised to
the most crystalline purity.

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After the novel, I had
plenty of catching up

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to do when I turned
to the stories.

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And I found that,
in all of her work,

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the author brings her spotlight,
intelligence, and artistry

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to bear on the complexities
of our lives and language.

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What is exactly the
right word to clarify

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the shape and texture and
complications of the problem?

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She reflects and reflects again.

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The self examines the self so
closely that we feel ourselves

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examined and enlightened.

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The narrator's isolate and tease
out the intricacies of family

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and romance, the
tasks of attending

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to the world and
others, and words

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again, how to use the words.

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What are the best words?

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The narrator of
grammar questions

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wants to know for referring
to the dying father.

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"He is dying,"
sounds more active

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than, "he will be dead soon."

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That is probably because of the
word "be," we can be something

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whether we choose to or not,
whether he likes it or not,

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he will be dead soon."

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Lydia Davis's list of
accomplishments and honors

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makes a fat, stack of pages.

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She's taught widely both fiction
and translation workshops,

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and currently is on the
faculty of Suny Albany

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and a fellow of the New York
State Writers Institute.

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Her books include
Varieties of Disturbances,

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which is now a finalist
for the National Book

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Award, the novel, The End of
the Story and the collections

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Samuel Johnson Is
Indignant, Break It Down,

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and Almost No Memory.

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Her many distinguished awards
include the Whiting Writing

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award, the Lannan Literary
award, a Guggenheim,

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NEA grants in fiction
and translation,

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and a MacArthur Fellowship,
the fellowship widely known

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as the Genius award.

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Her work has appeared
in many magazines,

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including The Paris Review, The
New Yorker, and Conjunctions.

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And subsequently, in the
anthologies, The Pushcart

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Prize, Best American
Short Stories

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and Best American Poetry.

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She's translated or
co-translated some 30 works.

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Perhaps the most famous of
these being the 2003 translation

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of Proust's Swann's Way.

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And she's currently at work on
a translation of Madame Bovary.

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For her work as a
translator, she's

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received the French-American
foundation translation

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prize and the French insignia of
The Order of Arts and Letters.

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The late, great Grace Paley
who knew the real deal

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when she saw it said of
Lydia Davis, "Oh, at last.

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Brains, language,
energy, a playfulness

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with form, and what appears
to be a generous nature."

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[LAUGHTER]

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[APPLAUSE]

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Thank you.

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It's really nice to be here.

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I like Tucson a lot.

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I've been here twice before
and I love those mountains.

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And we're going to go out
to the desert tomorrow.

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And when I go back
East, the vegetation

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seems excessive and damp and wet
and crowded and not necessary.

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[LAUGHTER]

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I got my cowboy shoes on.

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So I'm going to read from
Varieties of Disturbance.

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Mostly, that's the latest book.

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And then one sequence of newer
works, just to try them out.

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So is this about right?

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Is this a good--

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I'm reading, mostly, very
short ones from this book,

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although, there are some long
ones and some excessively long

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ones.

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I got one that's over 40 pages.

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And my good friend
who's an editor

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advised me not to
include it, but I'm going

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to have him include it there.

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I've yet to find out whether
that was a good idea.

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But tonight I'll just
stick to the shorter ones.

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The first is called,
"A Man from Her Past."

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"I think mother is
flirting with a man

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from her past who is not father.

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I say to myself, mother ought
not to have improper relations

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with this man, Franz.

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Franz is a European.

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I say she should not
see this man improperly

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while father is away.

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But I'm confusing an old
reality with a new reality.

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Father will not
be returning home,

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he will be staying
on at Vernon Hall.

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As for mother, she
is 94 years old.

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How can there be improper
relations with a woman of 94.

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Yet my confusion must be
this, though her body is old,

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her capacity for betrayal
is still young and fresh."

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"Dog and Me."

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"An ant can look up
at you, too, and even

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threaten you with its arms.

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Of course, my dog does not know
I am human, he sees me as dog,

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though, I do not
leap up at a fence.

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I am a strong dog, but I do
not leave my mouth hanging open

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while I walk along.

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Even on a hot day, I do not
leave my tongue hanging out.

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But I bark at him, no, no."

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[LAUGHTER]

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"Enlightenment."

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"Enlightenment, I don't know if
I can remain friends with her.

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I've thought and thought about
it, she'll never know how much.

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I gave it one last try.

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I called her after a
year, but I didn't like

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the way the conversation went.

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The problem is that she
is not very enlightened.

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Or I should say, she is not
enlightened enough for me.

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She's nearly 50 years old
and no more enlightened

00:09:39.220 --> 00:09:42.100 align:middle line:84%
as far as I can see than
when I first knew her

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20 years ago when we
talked mainly about men.

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I did not mind how unenlightened
she was then, maybe because I

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was not so enlightened myself.

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I believe I am more
enlightened now, and certainly,

00:09:56.920 --> 00:10:00.400 align:middle line:84%
more enlightened than she
is, although, I know it's not

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very enlightened to say that.

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But I want to say it.

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So I'm willing to postpone
being more enlightened myself

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so that I can still say a thing
like that about a friend."

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[LAUGHTER]

00:10:15.424 --> 00:10:21.180 align:middle line:90%


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And after I figured
that one out,

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I realized it applied
to a lot of things.

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That you could postpone
being more honest

00:10:27.450 --> 00:10:30.147 align:middle line:90%
or postpone being faithful.

00:10:30.147 --> 00:10:31.605 align:middle line:84%
A lot of things
you could postpone.

00:10:31.605 --> 00:10:35.190 align:middle line:90%


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This called "The
Good Taste Contest."

00:10:39.150 --> 00:10:42.630 align:middle line:84%
"The husband and wife were
competing in a good taste

00:10:42.630 --> 00:10:46.800 align:middle line:84%
contest judged by a
jury of their peers, men

00:10:46.800 --> 00:10:50.040 align:middle line:84%
and women of good taste,
including a fabric

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designer, a rare book dealer,
a pastry cook, and a librarian.

00:10:55.980 --> 00:10:59.130 align:middle line:84%
The wife was judged to have
better taste in furniture,

00:10:59.130 --> 00:11:01.890 align:middle line:90%
especially antique furniture.

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The husband was judged to have
overall poor taste in lighting

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fixtures, tableware,
and glassware.

00:11:09.090 --> 00:11:12.270 align:middle line:84%
The wife was judged to have
indifferent taste in window

00:11:12.270 --> 00:11:13.350 align:middle line:90%
treatments.

00:11:13.350 --> 00:11:15.360 align:middle line:84%
But the husband
and wife both were

00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:18.900 align:middle line:84%
judged to have good taste
in floor coverings, bed

00:11:18.900 --> 00:11:21.810 align:middle line:84%
linen, bath linen,
large appliances,

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and small appliances.

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The husband was felt to
have good taste in carpets,

00:11:28.050 --> 00:11:31.860 align:middle line:84%
but only fair taste
in upholstery fabrics.

00:11:31.860 --> 00:11:34.200 align:middle line:84%
The husband was felt
to have very good taste

00:11:34.200 --> 00:11:36.810 align:middle line:84%
in both food and
alcoholic beverages,

00:11:36.810 --> 00:11:38.970 align:middle line:84%
while the wife
had inconsistently

00:11:38.970 --> 00:11:42.120 align:middle line:90%
good to poor taste in food.

00:11:42.120 --> 00:11:45.660 align:middle line:84%
The husband had better taste
in clothes than the wife,

00:11:45.660 --> 00:11:50.160 align:middle line:84%
though, inconsistent taste
in perfumes and colognes.

00:11:50.160 --> 00:11:52.200 align:middle line:84%
While both husband
and wife were judged

00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:55.440 align:middle line:84%
to have no more than fair
taste in garden design,

00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:58.500 align:middle line:84%
they were judged to have good
taste in number and variety

00:11:58.500 --> 00:12:00.930 align:middle line:90%
of evergreens.

00:12:00.930 --> 00:12:04.260 align:middle line:84%
The husband was felt to have
excellent taste in roses,

00:12:04.260 --> 00:12:07.170 align:middle line:90%
but poor taste in bulbs.

00:12:07.170 --> 00:12:10.080 align:middle line:84%
The wife was felt to have
better taste in bulbs,

00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:12.060 align:middle line:84%
and generally,
good taste in shade

00:12:12.060 --> 00:12:15.110 align:middle line:84%
plantings with the
exception of hostas.

00:12:15.110 --> 00:12:16.350 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:12:16.350 --> 00:12:20.130 align:middle line:84%
And her husband's taste was felt
to be good in garden furniture,

00:12:20.130 --> 00:12:23.910 align:middle line:84%
but only fair in
ornamental planters.

00:12:23.910 --> 00:12:27.150 align:middle line:84%
The wife's taste was
judged consistently poor

00:12:27.150 --> 00:12:30.210 align:middle line:90%
in garden statuary.

00:12:30.210 --> 00:12:32.550 align:middle line:84%
After a brief
discussion, the judges

00:12:32.550 --> 00:12:36.655 align:middle line:84%
gave the decision to the husband
for his higher, overall points

00:12:36.655 --> 00:12:37.155 align:middle line:90%
score."

00:12:37.155 --> 00:12:39.792 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:12:39.792 --> 00:12:43.180 align:middle line:90%


00:12:43.180 --> 00:12:46.920 align:middle line:84%
I think that grew out of
many years of married life,

00:12:46.920 --> 00:12:52.440 align:middle line:84%
where you wish there was a
jury in the next room to decide

00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:53.550 align:middle line:90%
some of these quarrels.

00:12:53.550 --> 00:13:00.820 align:middle line:90%


00:13:00.820 --> 00:13:03.340 align:middle line:90%
"The Senses."

00:13:03.340 --> 00:13:05.590 align:middle line:84%
"Many people treat
their five senses

00:13:05.590 --> 00:13:08.800 align:middle line:84%
with a certain respect
and consideration.

00:13:08.800 --> 00:13:12.160 align:middle line:84%
They take their eyes to a
museum, their nose to a flower

00:13:12.160 --> 00:13:15.610 align:middle line:84%
shoulder, their hands to a
fabric store for the velvet

00:13:15.610 --> 00:13:16.600 align:middle line:90%
and silk.

00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:19.480 align:middle line:84%
They surprise their
ears with a concert

00:13:19.480 --> 00:13:23.510 align:middle line:84%
and excite their mouth
with a restaurant meal.

00:13:23.510 --> 00:13:26.360 align:middle line:84%
But most people make their
senses work hard for them

00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:27.950 align:middle line:90%
day after day.

00:13:27.950 --> 00:13:32.390 align:middle line:84%
Read me this newspaper, pay
attention, nose, in case

00:13:32.390 --> 00:13:34.220 align:middle line:90%
the food is burning.

00:13:34.220 --> 00:13:38.780 align:middle line:84%
Ears, get together now and
listen for a knock at the door.

00:13:38.780 --> 00:13:43.010 align:middle line:84%
Their senses have jobs to
do and they do them mostly.

00:13:43.010 --> 00:13:48.590 align:middle line:84%
The ears of the deaf won't, and
the eyes of the blind won't.

00:13:48.590 --> 00:13:50.540 align:middle line:90%
The senses get tired.

00:13:50.540 --> 00:13:54.110 align:middle line:84%
Sometimes long before the
end they say, I'm quitting.

00:13:54.110 --> 00:13:57.050 align:middle line:90%
I'm getting out of this now.

00:13:57.050 --> 00:14:00.230 align:middle line:84%
And then the person is less
prepared to meet the world

00:14:00.230 --> 00:14:03.140 align:middle line:84%
and stays at home more
without some of what

00:14:03.140 --> 00:14:06.110 align:middle line:90%
he needs if he is to go on.

00:14:06.110 --> 00:14:08.120 align:middle line:84%
If it all quits on
him, he is really

00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:12.890 align:middle line:84%
alone in the dark, in
silence, numb hands,

00:14:12.890 --> 00:14:16.790 align:middle line:84%
nothing in his mouth,
nothing in his nostrils.

00:14:16.790 --> 00:14:20.840 align:middle line:84%
He asks himself, did
I treat them wrong?

00:14:20.840 --> 00:14:22.280 align:middle line:90%
Didn't I show them a good time?"

00:14:22.280 --> 00:14:27.480 align:middle line:90%


00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:30.390 align:middle line:84%
That actually goes
back quite a ways.

00:14:30.390 --> 00:14:33.360 align:middle line:84%
In each collection, I
try to bring forward

00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:35.490 align:middle line:84%
some stories that
have gone out of print

00:14:35.490 --> 00:14:46.850 align:middle line:84%
that were decades old sometimes
just to make it confusing.

00:14:46.850 --> 00:14:50.540 align:middle line:84%
This is a little bit longer
with a little bit more narrative

00:14:50.540 --> 00:14:54.230 align:middle line:90%
in it called, "The Caterpillar."

00:14:54.230 --> 00:14:58.070 align:middle line:84%
"I find a small caterpillar
in my bed in the morning.

00:14:58.070 --> 00:15:00.830 align:middle line:84%
There is no good window
to throw them from,

00:15:00.830 --> 00:15:03.200 align:middle line:84%
and I don't crush or
kill a living thing

00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:05.630 align:middle line:90%
if I don't have to.

00:15:05.630 --> 00:15:07.220 align:middle line:84%
I will go to the
trouble of carrying

00:15:07.220 --> 00:15:10.070 align:middle line:84%
this thin, dark, hairless,
little caterpillar

00:15:10.070 --> 00:15:13.370 align:middle line:84%
down the stairs and
out to the garden.

00:15:13.370 --> 00:15:17.270 align:middle line:84%
He is not an inch worm, though
he is the size of an inch warm.

00:15:17.270 --> 00:15:18.860 align:middle line:84%
He does not hump
up in the middle,

00:15:18.860 --> 00:15:23.450 align:middle line:84%
but travels steadily along
on as many pairs of legs.

00:15:23.450 --> 00:15:26.000 align:middle line:84%
As I leave the bedroom,
he is quite speedily

00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:29.810 align:middle line:84%
walking around the
slopes of my hand.

00:15:29.810 --> 00:15:32.840 align:middle line:84%
But halfway down the
stairs, he is gone.

00:15:32.840 --> 00:15:35.690 align:middle line:90%
My hand is blank on every side.

00:15:35.690 --> 00:15:38.690 align:middle line:84%
The caterpillar must
have let go and dropped.

00:15:38.690 --> 00:15:40.370 align:middle line:90%
I can't see him. .

00:15:40.370 --> 00:15:44.640 align:middle line:84%
The stairwell is dim and the
stairs are painted dark brown.

00:15:44.640 --> 00:15:47.690 align:middle line:84%
I could get a flashlight in
search for this tiny thing

00:15:47.690 --> 00:15:49.580 align:middle line:90%
in order to save his life.

00:15:49.580 --> 00:15:51.770 align:middle line:90%
But I will not go that far.

00:15:51.770 --> 00:15:55.130 align:middle line:84%
He will have to do
the best he can.

00:15:55.130 --> 00:15:57.800 align:middle line:84%
Yet how can he make his
way down to the back door

00:15:57.800 --> 00:16:00.320 align:middle line:90%
and out into the garden?

00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:02.180 align:middle line:90%
I go on about my business.

00:16:02.180 --> 00:16:05.360 align:middle line:84%
I think I've forgotten
him, but I haven't.

00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:07.610 align:middle line:84%
Every time I go
upstairs or down,

00:16:07.610 --> 00:16:10.670 align:middle line:90%
I avoid his side of the stairs.

00:16:10.670 --> 00:16:15.050 align:middle line:84%
I am sure he is there
trying to get down.

00:16:15.050 --> 00:16:16.340 align:middle line:90%
At last, I give in.

00:16:16.340 --> 00:16:17.960 align:middle line:90%
I get the flashlight.

00:16:17.960 --> 00:16:21.230 align:middle line:84%
Now the trouble is that
the stairs are so dirty.

00:16:21.230 --> 00:16:23.870 align:middle line:84%
I don't clean them because
no one ever sees them here

00:16:23.870 --> 00:16:25.250 align:middle line:90%
in the dark.

00:16:25.250 --> 00:16:28.790 align:middle line:84%
And the caterpillar
is or was so small.

00:16:28.790 --> 00:16:31.190 align:middle line:84%
Many things under the
beam of the flashlight

00:16:31.190 --> 00:16:35.570 align:middle line:84%
look rather like him, a
very slim, splinter of wood

00:16:35.570 --> 00:16:38.780 align:middle line:84%
or a thick piece of thread,
but when I poke them

00:16:38.780 --> 00:16:41.090 align:middle line:90%
they don't move.

00:16:41.090 --> 00:16:45.290 align:middle line:84%
I look on every step of
his side of the stairs

00:16:45.290 --> 00:16:47.630 align:middle line:90%
and then on both sides.

00:16:47.630 --> 00:16:49.910 align:middle line:84%
You get somewhat attached
to any living thing

00:16:49.910 --> 00:16:53.960 align:middle line:84%
once you try to help
it, but he is nowhere.

00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:57.500 align:middle line:84%
There is so much dust and
dog hair on the steps.

00:16:57.500 --> 00:16:59.540 align:middle line:84%
That dust may have
stuck to his little body

00:16:59.540 --> 00:17:02.510 align:middle line:84%
and made it hard for him
to move or, at least, to go

00:17:02.510 --> 00:17:07.220 align:middle line:84%
in the direction he wanted to go
in, it may have dried him out.

00:17:07.220 --> 00:17:10.369 align:middle line:84%
But why would he even
go down instead of up?

00:17:10.369 --> 00:17:13.640 align:middle line:84%
I haven't looked on the landing
above where he disappeared.

00:17:13.640 --> 00:17:16.430 align:middle line:90%
I will not go that far.

00:17:16.430 --> 00:17:18.950 align:middle line:84%
I go back to my
work, then I begin

00:17:18.950 --> 00:17:20.839 align:middle line:90%
to forget the caterpillar.

00:17:20.839 --> 00:17:22.940 align:middle line:84%
I forget him for
as long as one hour

00:17:22.940 --> 00:17:25.970 align:middle line:84%
until I happened to go
to the stairs again.

00:17:25.970 --> 00:17:28.950 align:middle line:84%
This time, I see that there is
something just the right size,

00:17:28.950 --> 00:17:33.410 align:middle line:84%
shape, and color on one of the
steps, but it is flat and dry.

00:17:33.410 --> 00:17:36.290 align:middle line:84%
It can't have
started out as him.

00:17:36.290 --> 00:17:41.000 align:middle line:84%
It must be a short, time needle
or some other plant part.

00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:43.640 align:middle line:84%
The next time I think of him,
I see that I have forgotten him

00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:45.140 align:middle line:90%
for several hours.

00:17:45.140 --> 00:17:48.830 align:middle line:84%
I think of him only when I
go up or down the stairs.

00:17:48.830 --> 00:17:51.800 align:middle line:84%
After all, he is really
there somewhere trying

00:17:51.800 --> 00:17:55.610 align:middle line:84%
to find his way to a
green leaf or dying.

00:17:55.610 --> 00:17:58.190 align:middle line:84%
But already, I
don't care as much.

00:17:58.190 --> 00:18:02.090 align:middle line:84%
Soon I'm sure I will
forget him entirely.

00:18:02.090 --> 00:18:04.370 align:middle line:84%
Later there is an
unpleasant, animal smell

00:18:04.370 --> 00:18:08.300 align:middle line:84%
lingering about the stairwell,
but it can't be him.

00:18:08.300 --> 00:18:11.390 align:middle line:84%
He is too small
to have any smell.

00:18:11.390 --> 00:18:14.000 align:middle line:90%
He has probably died by now.

00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:16.820 align:middle line:84%
He is simply too
small, really, for me

00:18:16.820 --> 00:18:18.260 align:middle line:90%
to go on thinking about him.

00:18:18.260 --> 00:18:21.010 align:middle line:90%


00:18:21.010 --> 00:18:23.110 align:middle line:84%
That's as exciting
as it gets at home."

00:18:23.110 --> 00:18:26.428 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:18:26.428 --> 00:18:29.280 align:middle line:90%


00:18:29.280 --> 00:18:33.780 align:middle line:84%
This is a lot shorter
called "Child Care."

00:18:33.780 --> 00:18:36.700 align:middle line:84%
"It's his turn to
take care of the baby.

00:18:36.700 --> 00:18:39.090 align:middle line:90%
He is cross.

00:18:39.090 --> 00:18:42.210 align:middle line:84%
He says, I never
get enough done.

00:18:42.210 --> 00:18:45.390 align:middle line:90%
The baby is in a bad mood, too.

00:18:45.390 --> 00:18:47.490 align:middle line:84%
He gives the baby
a bottle of juice

00:18:47.490 --> 00:18:51.120 align:middle line:84%
and sits him well back
in a big armchair.

00:18:51.120 --> 00:18:54.060 align:middle line:84%
He sits himself down
in another armchair

00:18:54.060 --> 00:18:56.370 align:middle line:90%
and turns on the television.

00:18:56.370 --> 00:18:59.868 align:middle line:84%
Together, they watch
The Odd Couple."

00:18:59.868 --> 00:19:02.712 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:19:02.712 --> 00:19:06.980 align:middle line:90%


00:19:06.980 --> 00:19:09.830 align:middle line:84%
And that was just taken
directly from life.

00:19:09.830 --> 00:19:12.080 align:middle line:84%
It's amazing how
much you can do just

00:19:12.080 --> 00:19:16.460 align:middle line:84%
by selecting, leaving
out a lot of it

00:19:16.460 --> 00:19:20.000 align:middle line:90%
and putting in what you like.

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:23.540 align:middle line:84%
There's this called
"Absentminded."

00:19:23.540 --> 00:19:28.220 align:middle line:84%
"The cat is crying at the
window, it wants to come in.

00:19:28.220 --> 00:19:31.580 align:middle line:84%
You think about how living with
a cat and the demands of a cat

00:19:31.580 --> 00:19:34.070 align:middle line:84%
make you think
about simple things,

00:19:34.070 --> 00:19:38.845 align:middle line:84%
like a cats need to come
indoors and how good that is.

00:19:38.845 --> 00:19:40.220 align:middle line:84%
You think about
this, and you are

00:19:40.220 --> 00:19:42.080 align:middle line:84%
too busy thinking
about this to let

00:19:42.080 --> 00:19:45.470 align:middle line:84%
the cat in so you
forget to let the cat in

00:19:45.470 --> 00:19:48.440 align:middle line:84%
and it is still at
the window crying.

00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:50.360 align:middle line:84%
You see that you
haven't let the cat in

00:19:50.360 --> 00:19:52.850 align:middle line:84%
and you think about
how odd it is that,

00:19:52.850 --> 00:19:55.370 align:middle line:84%
while you were thinking
about the cats needs

00:19:55.370 --> 00:19:58.970 align:middle line:84%
and how good it is to live
with the simple needs of a cat,

00:19:58.970 --> 00:20:01.640 align:middle line:84%
you were not letting
the cat in, but letting

00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:05.000 align:middle line:90%
it go on crying at the window.

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:08.390 align:middle line:84%
Then while you're thinking
about this and how odd it is,

00:20:08.390 --> 00:20:10.130 align:middle line:84%
you let the cat
in without knowing

00:20:10.130 --> 00:20:12.170 align:middle line:90%
you're letting the cat in.

00:20:12.170 --> 00:20:15.890 align:middle line:84%
Now the cat jumps up on the
counter and cries for food.

00:20:15.890 --> 00:20:17.990 align:middle line:84%
You see that the cat
is crying for food,

00:20:17.990 --> 00:20:19.700 align:middle line:84%
but you don't
think of feeding it

00:20:19.700 --> 00:20:22.670 align:middle line:84%
because you are thinking how
odd it is that you have let

00:20:22.670 --> 00:20:25.470 align:middle line:90%
the cat in without knowing it.

00:20:25.470 --> 00:20:27.230 align:middle line:84%
Then you see that
it's crying for food

00:20:27.230 --> 00:20:28.850 align:middle line:90%
while you're not feeding it.

00:20:28.850 --> 00:20:31.550 align:middle line:84%
And as you see this and think
it's odd that you have not

00:20:31.550 --> 00:20:34.670 align:middle line:84%
heard it cry, you feed
the cat without knowing

00:20:34.670 --> 00:20:37.920 align:middle line:90%
that you're feeding it."

00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:42.450 align:middle line:84%
That just stops very abruptly
because that sort of thing

00:20:42.450 --> 00:20:45.520 align:middle line:90%
can go on all day.

00:20:45.520 --> 00:20:50.020 align:middle line:84%
It's the perils of
self-consciousness.

00:20:50.020 --> 00:20:53.140 align:middle line:84%
Finding yourself more
interesting than anything else.

00:20:53.140 --> 00:20:55.880 align:middle line:90%


00:20:55.880 --> 00:21:02.010 align:middle line:84%
Some more practical one
called "Reducing Expenses."

00:21:02.010 --> 00:21:04.800 align:middle line:84%
"This is a problem you
might have someday.

00:21:04.800 --> 00:21:07.320 align:middle line:84%
It's the problem
of a couple I know.

00:21:07.320 --> 00:21:08.580 align:middle line:90%
He's a doctor.

00:21:08.580 --> 00:21:10.740 align:middle line:90%
I'm not sure what she does.

00:21:10.740 --> 00:21:13.270 align:middle line:84%
I don't actually
know them very well.

00:21:13.270 --> 00:21:15.540 align:middle line:84%
In fact, I don't
know them any more.

00:21:15.540 --> 00:21:17.130 align:middle line:90%
This was years ago.

00:21:17.130 --> 00:21:20.790 align:middle line:84%
I was bothered by a bulldozer
coming and going next door so I

00:21:20.790 --> 00:21:22.980 align:middle line:90%
found out what was happening.

00:21:22.980 --> 00:21:25.440 align:middle line:84%
Their problem was that
their fire insurance

00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:27.610 align:middle line:90%
was very expensive.

00:21:27.610 --> 00:21:30.810 align:middle line:84%
They wanted to try to lower
the insurance premiums.

00:21:30.810 --> 00:21:32.220 align:middle line:90%
That was a good idea.

00:21:32.220 --> 00:21:34.560 align:middle line:84%
You don't want any of
your regular payments

00:21:34.560 --> 00:21:38.290 align:middle line:84%
to be too high or higher
than they have to be.

00:21:38.290 --> 00:21:40.740 align:middle line:84%
For example, you don't
want to buy a property

00:21:40.740 --> 00:21:42.570 align:middle line:84%
with very high taxes
since there will

00:21:42.570 --> 00:21:44.820 align:middle line:84%
be nothing you can
do to lower them

00:21:44.820 --> 00:21:47.400 align:middle line:90%
and you always have to pay them.

00:21:47.400 --> 00:21:49.870 align:middle line:90%
I try to keep that in mind.

00:21:49.870 --> 00:21:51.930 align:middle line:84%
You could understand
this couple's problem

00:21:51.930 --> 00:21:55.830 align:middle line:84%
even if you didn't have
high fire insurance.

00:21:55.830 --> 00:21:58.080 align:middle line:84%
If you did not have
exactly the same problem,

00:21:58.080 --> 00:22:01.470 align:middle line:84%
someday you might have a similar
problem of regular payments

00:22:01.470 --> 00:22:03.810 align:middle line:90%
that were going to be too high.

00:22:03.810 --> 00:22:06.750 align:middle line:84%
Their insurance was high because
they owned a large collection

00:22:06.750 --> 00:22:08.430 align:middle line:90%
of very good wine.

00:22:08.430 --> 00:22:11.310 align:middle line:84%
The problem was not so
much the collection per se,

00:22:11.310 --> 00:22:12.870 align:middle line:90%
but where they were keeping it.

00:22:12.870 --> 00:22:15.180 align:middle line:84%
They had, actually,
thousands of bottles

00:22:15.180 --> 00:22:17.850 align:middle line:90%
of very good and excellent wine.

00:22:17.850 --> 00:22:20.280 align:middle line:84%
They were keeping it in their
cellar which was certainly

00:22:20.280 --> 00:22:22.050 align:middle line:90%
the right thing to do.

00:22:22.050 --> 00:22:25.170 align:middle line:84%
They had an actual wine
cellar, but the problem

00:22:25.170 --> 00:22:28.890 align:middle line:84%
was this wine cellar wasn't
good enough or big enough.

00:22:28.890 --> 00:22:31.590 align:middle line:84%
I never saw it, though, I
once saw another one which

00:22:31.590 --> 00:22:33.120 align:middle line:90%
was very small.

00:22:33.120 --> 00:22:38.040 align:middle line:84%
It was the size of a closet,
but I was still impressed.

00:22:38.040 --> 00:22:40.590 align:middle line:84%
But I did taste some
of their wine one time.

00:22:40.590 --> 00:22:42.520 align:middle line:84%
I can't really tell
the difference, though,

00:22:42.520 --> 00:22:46.290 align:middle line:84%
between a bottle of wine
that costs $100 or even $30,

00:22:46.290 --> 00:22:49.230 align:middle line:90%
and a bottle that costs $500.

00:22:49.230 --> 00:22:51.390 align:middle line:84%
At that dinner, they might
have been serving wine

00:22:51.390 --> 00:22:53.280 align:middle line:90%
that cost even more than that.

00:22:53.280 --> 00:22:57.300 align:middle line:84%
Not for me, especially, but
for some of the other guests.

00:22:57.300 --> 00:23:00.570 align:middle line:84%
I'm sure that very
expensive wines are really

00:23:00.570 --> 00:23:03.930 align:middle line:84%
wasted on most people,
including myself.

00:23:03.930 --> 00:23:06.030 align:middle line:84%
I was very young at
the time, but even now

00:23:06.030 --> 00:23:10.230 align:middle line:84%
a very expensive wine would
be wasted on me, probably.

00:23:10.230 --> 00:23:13.110 align:middle line:84%
This couple learned that if
they enlarged the wine cellar

00:23:13.110 --> 00:23:16.440 align:middle line:84%
and improved it in certain
other specific ways,

00:23:16.440 --> 00:23:19.230 align:middle line:84%
their insurance
premiums would be lower.

00:23:19.230 --> 00:23:20.980 align:middle line:84%
They thought this
was a good idea,

00:23:20.980 --> 00:23:22.920 align:middle line:84%
even though it would
cost something initially

00:23:22.920 --> 00:23:24.840 align:middle line:90%
to make these improvements.

00:23:24.840 --> 00:23:27.090 align:middle line:84%
The bulldozer and other
machinery and labor

00:23:27.090 --> 00:23:28.950 align:middle line:84%
that I saw out the
window of the place

00:23:28.950 --> 00:23:32.010 align:middle line:84%
where I was living at the time,
which was a house borrowed

00:23:32.010 --> 00:23:34.680 align:middle line:84%
from a friend who was
also a friend of theirs,

00:23:34.680 --> 00:23:37.210 align:middle line:84%
must have been costing
them in the thousands.

00:23:37.210 --> 00:23:38.910 align:middle line:84%
But I'm sure the
money they spent on it

00:23:38.910 --> 00:23:42.210 align:middle line:84%
was earned back within a
few years or even one year

00:23:42.210 --> 00:23:44.800 align:middle line:84%
by their savings
on the premiums.

00:23:44.800 --> 00:23:48.180 align:middle line:84%
So I can see that this was a
prudent move on their part.

00:23:48.180 --> 00:23:50.400 align:middle line:84%
It was a move that
anyone could make

00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:54.180 align:middle line:84%
concerning some other thing
not necessarily a wine cellar.

00:23:54.180 --> 00:23:55.650 align:middle line:84%
The point is that
any improvement

00:23:55.650 --> 00:23:58.680 align:middle line:84%
that will eventually save
money is a good idea.

00:23:58.680 --> 00:24:01.080 align:middle line:90%
This is long in the past by now.

00:24:01.080 --> 00:24:03.330 align:middle line:84%
They must have saved
quite a lot altogether

00:24:03.330 --> 00:24:05.850 align:middle line:84%
over the years from
the changes they made.

00:24:05.850 --> 00:24:07.860 align:middle line:84%
So many years have
gone by, though,

00:24:07.860 --> 00:24:10.590 align:middle line:84%
that they have probably
sold the house by now. .

00:24:10.590 --> 00:24:13.770 align:middle line:84%
Maybe the improved wine cellar,
raised the price of the house,

00:24:13.770 --> 00:24:16.260 align:middle line:84%
and they earned back
even more money.

00:24:16.260 --> 00:24:18.420 align:middle line:84%
I was not just
young, but very young

00:24:18.420 --> 00:24:21.300 align:middle line:84%
when I watched the
bulldozer out my window.

00:24:21.300 --> 00:24:22.950 align:middle line:84%
The noise did not
really bother me

00:24:22.950 --> 00:24:26.370 align:middle line:84%
very much because there were so
many other things bothering me

00:24:26.370 --> 00:24:28.210 align:middle line:90%
when I tried to work.

00:24:28.210 --> 00:24:31.680 align:middle line:84%
In fact, I probably welcomed
the sight of the bulldozer.

00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:35.100 align:middle line:84%
I was impressed by their wine,
and by the good paintings

00:24:35.100 --> 00:24:36.630 align:middle line:90%
they also owned.

00:24:36.630 --> 00:24:38.310 align:middle line:84%
They were nice,
friendly people, but I

00:24:38.310 --> 00:24:41.160 align:middle line:84%
didn't think much of their
clothes or furniture.

00:24:41.160 --> 00:24:43.260 align:middle line:84%
I spend a lot of time
looking out the window

00:24:43.260 --> 00:24:44.940 align:middle line:90%
and thinking about them.

00:24:44.940 --> 00:24:46.800 align:middle line:90%
I don't know what it was worth.

00:24:46.800 --> 00:24:49.380 align:middle line:84%
It was probably a
waste of my time.

00:24:49.380 --> 00:24:54.323 align:middle line:84%
Now I'm a lot older, but here
I am still thinking about them.

00:24:54.323 --> 00:24:56.490 align:middle line:84%
There are a lot of other
things that I've forgotten,

00:24:56.490 --> 00:24:59.850 align:middle line:84%
but I haven't forgotten them
or their fire insurance.

00:24:59.850 --> 00:25:02.280 align:middle line:84%
I must have thought I could
learn something from them."

00:25:02.280 --> 00:25:06.650 align:middle line:90%


00:25:06.650 --> 00:25:10.010 align:middle line:84%
Often with this story I
kind of get into a persona.

00:25:10.010 --> 00:25:13.880 align:middle line:84%
And, I guess, that was a very
earnest and somewhat limited,

00:25:13.880 --> 00:25:16.970 align:middle line:84%
maybe not even
that smart person.

00:25:16.970 --> 00:25:19.560 align:middle line:90%


00:25:19.560 --> 00:25:22.580 align:middle line:84%
I just like to
keep digging it in.

00:25:22.580 --> 00:25:26.080 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:25:26.080 --> 00:25:27.580 align:middle line:90%


00:25:27.580 --> 00:25:29.620 align:middle line:90%
But the advice isn't wrong.

00:25:29.620 --> 00:25:32.980 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:25:32.980 --> 00:25:34.900 align:middle line:90%


00:25:34.900 --> 00:25:40.360 align:middle line:84%
And this one was the one
quoted from in an introduction

00:25:40.360 --> 00:25:42.340 align:middle line:84%
called-- it's a little
more somber called

00:25:42.340 --> 00:25:45.770 align:middle line:90%
"Grammar Questions."

00:25:45.770 --> 00:25:48.040 align:middle line:84%
"Now, during the
time he is dying,

00:25:48.040 --> 00:25:51.880 align:middle line:84%
can I say, this
is where he lives?

00:25:51.880 --> 00:25:55.270 align:middle line:84%
If someone asks me
where does he live?

00:25:55.270 --> 00:26:00.760 align:middle line:84%
Should I answer, well, right now
he is not living, he is dying.

00:26:00.760 --> 00:26:04.240 align:middle line:84%
If someone asks me,
where does he live?

00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:07.660 align:middle line:84%
Can I say he lives in
Vernon Hall or should

00:26:07.660 --> 00:26:11.260 align:middle line:84%
I say, he is dying
in Vernon Hall.

00:26:11.260 --> 00:26:15.140 align:middle line:84%
When he is dead, I will be
able to say in the past tense,

00:26:15.140 --> 00:26:17.620 align:middle line:90%
he lived in Vernon Hall.

00:26:17.620 --> 00:26:22.060 align:middle line:84%
I will also be able to say,
he died in Vernon Hall.

00:26:22.060 --> 00:26:24.130 align:middle line:84%
When he is dead
everything to do with him

00:26:24.130 --> 00:26:27.580 align:middle line:84%
will be in the past tense
or rather the sentence,

00:26:27.580 --> 00:26:30.730 align:middle line:84%
he is dead, will be
in the present tense.

00:26:30.730 --> 00:26:35.380 align:middle line:84%
And also questions such as,
where are they taking him?

00:26:35.380 --> 00:26:37.540 align:middle line:90%
Or where is he now?

00:26:37.540 --> 00:26:41.320 align:middle line:84%
But then I won't know if
the words "he" and "him" are

00:26:41.320 --> 00:26:44.350 align:middle line:90%
correct in the present tense.

00:26:44.350 --> 00:26:48.010 align:middle line:90%
Is he, once he is dead still he?

00:26:48.010 --> 00:26:52.930 align:middle line:84%
And if so, for how
long is he still he?

00:26:52.930 --> 00:26:58.030 align:middle line:84%
People may say, the body,
and then call it "it."

00:26:58.030 --> 00:27:01.210 align:middle line:84%
I will not be able to
say, the body in relation

00:27:01.210 --> 00:27:04.330 align:middle line:84%
to him because to me, he
is still not something

00:27:04.330 --> 00:27:07.390 align:middle line:90%
you would call "the body."

00:27:07.390 --> 00:27:10.930 align:middle line:84%
People may say,
"his body," but that

00:27:10.930 --> 00:27:13.240 align:middle line:90%
does not seem right either.

00:27:13.240 --> 00:27:16.540 align:middle line:84%
It is not his body
because he does not

00:27:16.540 --> 00:27:22.990 align:middle line:84%
own it if he is no longer active
or capable of owning anything.

00:27:22.990 --> 00:27:27.430 align:middle line:84%
I don't know if there is a "he,"
even though people will say,

00:27:27.430 --> 00:27:29.470 align:middle line:90%
he is dead.

00:27:29.470 --> 00:27:33.580 align:middle line:84%
But it does seem correct
to say, he is dead.

00:27:33.580 --> 00:27:36.100 align:middle line:84%
This may be the last
time he will still

00:27:36.100 --> 00:27:40.660 align:middle line:84%
be he in the present tense or
it will not be the last time

00:27:40.660 --> 00:27:45.220 align:middle line:84%
because I will also say,
he is lying in his coffin.

00:27:45.220 --> 00:27:50.800 align:middle line:84%
I will not say and no one will
say, it is lying in the coffin

00:27:50.800 --> 00:27:55.120 align:middle line:90%
or it is lying in its coffin.

00:27:55.120 --> 00:27:58.240 align:middle line:84%
I will continue to say my
father in relation to him

00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:02.500 align:middle line:84%
after he dies, but I will
say it only in the past tense

00:28:02.500 --> 00:28:05.710 align:middle line:90%
or also in the present tense.

00:28:05.710 --> 00:28:09.490 align:middle line:84%
He will be put in
a box not a coffin.

00:28:09.490 --> 00:28:12.340 align:middle line:84%
Then when he is in
that box will I say,

00:28:12.340 --> 00:28:18.790 align:middle line:84%
that is my father in that box or
that was my father in that box.

00:28:18.790 --> 00:28:24.010 align:middle line:84%
Or will I say, that in
the box was my father.

00:28:24.010 --> 00:28:26.440 align:middle line:84%
I will still say my
father, but maybe I

00:28:26.440 --> 00:28:29.740 align:middle line:84%
will say it only as long
as he looks like my father

00:28:29.740 --> 00:28:32.260 align:middle line:90%
or approximately like my father.

00:28:32.260 --> 00:28:35.830 align:middle line:84%
Then when he is in the form of
ashes will I point to the ashes

00:28:35.830 --> 00:28:41.890 align:middle line:84%
and say, that is my father, or
will I say, that was my father

00:28:41.890 --> 00:28:46.600 align:middle line:84%
or those ashes were my
father or those ashes

00:28:46.600 --> 00:28:50.230 align:middle line:90%
are what was my father.

00:28:50.230 --> 00:28:53.500 align:middle line:84%
When I later visit the
graveyard will I point and say,

00:28:53.500 --> 00:28:56.620 align:middle line:84%
my father is buried
there, or will I say,

00:28:56.620 --> 00:28:59.710 align:middle line:84%
my father's ashes
are buried there.

00:28:59.710 --> 00:29:02.770 align:middle line:84%
But the ashes will not
belonged to my father,

00:29:02.770 --> 00:29:04.210 align:middle line:90%
he will not own them.

00:29:04.210 --> 00:29:08.380 align:middle line:84%
They will be the ashes
that were my father.

00:29:08.380 --> 00:29:11.590 align:middle line:84%
In the phrase, "he is
dying," the words "he is"

00:29:11.590 --> 00:29:15.070 align:middle line:84%
with the present participle
suggest that he is actively

00:29:15.070 --> 00:29:17.110 align:middle line:90%
doing something.

00:29:17.110 --> 00:29:19.450 align:middle line:90%
But he is not actively dying.

00:29:19.450 --> 00:29:23.380 align:middle line:84%
The only thing he is still
actively doing is breathing.

00:29:23.380 --> 00:29:25.810 align:middle line:84%
He looks as if he is
breathing on purpose

00:29:25.810 --> 00:29:29.890 align:middle line:84%
because he is working hard
at it and frowning slightly.

00:29:29.890 --> 00:29:33.820 align:middle line:84%
He is working at it, but
surely, he has no choice.

00:29:33.820 --> 00:29:36.940 align:middle line:84%
Sometimes it's from
deepens for just an instant

00:29:36.940 --> 00:29:38.710 align:middle line:84%
as though something
is hurting him

00:29:38.710 --> 00:29:42.010 align:middle line:84%
or as though he is
concentrating harder.

00:29:42.010 --> 00:29:43.720 align:middle line:84%
Even though I can
guess that he is

00:29:43.720 --> 00:29:46.150 align:middle line:84%
frowning because of
some pain inside him

00:29:46.150 --> 00:29:47.770 align:middle line:90%
or some other change.

00:29:47.770 --> 00:29:51.010 align:middle line:84%
He still looks as though
he is puzzled or dislikes

00:29:51.010 --> 00:29:53.380 align:middle line:90%
or disapproves of something.

00:29:53.380 --> 00:29:56.770 align:middle line:84%
I've seen this expression on
his face often in my life,

00:29:56.770 --> 00:30:00.280 align:middle line:84%
though, never before combined
with these half open eyes

00:30:00.280 --> 00:30:03.010 align:middle line:90%
in this open mouth.

00:30:03.010 --> 00:30:08.200 align:middle line:84%
"He is dying" sounds more active
than "he will be dead soon."

00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:11.050 align:middle line:84%
That is probably because
of the word "be."

00:30:11.050 --> 00:30:14.990 align:middle line:84%
We can be something whether
we choose to or not.

00:30:14.990 --> 00:30:18.850 align:middle line:84%
Whether he likes it or
not, he will be dead soon.

00:30:18.850 --> 00:30:21.470 align:middle line:90%
He is not eating.

00:30:21.470 --> 00:30:24.520 align:middle line:84%
He is not eating
sounds active, too.

00:30:24.520 --> 00:30:26.710 align:middle line:90%
But it is not his choice.

00:30:26.710 --> 00:30:29.630 align:middle line:84%
He is not conscious
that he is not eating.

00:30:29.630 --> 00:30:31.840 align:middle line:90%
He is not conscious at all.

00:30:31.840 --> 00:30:37.330 align:middle line:84%
But "is not eating" sounds more
correct for him than "is dying"

00:30:37.330 --> 00:30:39.340 align:middle line:90%
because of the negative.

00:30:39.340 --> 00:30:42.130 align:middle line:84%
"Is not" seems correct
for him at the moment

00:30:42.130 --> 00:30:46.000 align:middle line:84%
anyway because he looks as
though he is refusing something

00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:47.380 align:middle line:90%
because he is frowning."

00:30:47.380 --> 00:30:54.590 align:middle line:90%


00:30:54.590 --> 00:30:59.640 align:middle line:84%
The next thing I want
to read is a sequence

00:30:59.640 --> 00:31:06.560 align:middle line:90%
of newer pieces based on dreams.

00:31:06.560 --> 00:31:12.800 align:middle line:84%
And the very word "dream"
used to bother me a lot.

00:31:12.800 --> 00:31:18.824 align:middle line:84%
It was boring before
I even heard anymore,

00:31:18.824 --> 00:31:21.260 align:middle line:84%
other people's
dreams or what they

00:31:21.260 --> 00:31:25.460 align:middle line:84%
thought were good dreams or
interesting dreams or my dreams

00:31:25.460 --> 00:31:28.280 align:middle line:84%
that I would try to
tell other people that

00:31:28.280 --> 00:31:31.370 align:middle line:84%
were fascinating to me
because there is so real,

00:31:31.370 --> 00:31:36.350 align:middle line:84%
but that no one else
wanted to hear about.

00:31:36.350 --> 00:31:40.070 align:middle line:84%
But then I had a couple
of things happen.

00:31:40.070 --> 00:31:43.430 align:middle line:84%
Well, there's this
writer, Michel Leiris--

00:31:43.430 --> 00:31:47.930 align:middle line:84%
does anybody know his work,
Michel Leiris's Busy and Rules

00:31:47.930 --> 00:31:50.960 align:middle line:90%
of the Game, Manhood.

00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:54.530 align:middle line:84%
Well, he's an interesting French
writer and early surrealist.

00:31:54.530 --> 00:32:00.290 align:middle line:84%
And he wrote a book in
which he combined accounts

00:32:00.290 --> 00:32:04.430 align:middle line:84%
of actual dreams he
had dreamed at night,

00:32:04.430 --> 00:32:08.990 align:middle line:84%
and then daytime experiences
that were dreamlike.

00:32:08.990 --> 00:32:15.120 align:middle line:84%
And he identified which
were which, which I think

00:32:15.120 --> 00:32:17.220 align:middle line:84%
is less interesting
than not identifying.

00:32:17.220 --> 00:32:19.687 align:middle line:90%


00:32:19.687 --> 00:32:22.020 align:middle line:84%
So I had that book and I
hadn't really thought about it,

00:32:22.020 --> 00:32:23.670 align:middle line:90%
but then I had a--

00:32:23.670 --> 00:32:25.090 align:middle line:90%
I mean, in years.

00:32:25.090 --> 00:32:27.810 align:middle line:84%
And then I had an
experience in waking life

00:32:27.810 --> 00:32:32.760 align:middle line:84%
that was so like a dream that
I thought, my goodness, be

00:32:32.760 --> 00:32:37.500 align:middle line:84%
interesting to write these
narratives-awaking experiences

00:32:37.500 --> 00:32:40.730 align:middle line:90%
as though they were dreams.

00:32:40.730 --> 00:32:45.080 align:middle line:84%
And vise versa, to
take night dreams

00:32:45.080 --> 00:32:48.080 align:middle line:84%
and write them as though
they were possibly

00:32:48.080 --> 00:32:49.350 align:middle line:90%
waking experiences.

00:32:49.350 --> 00:32:52.160 align:middle line:90%


00:32:52.160 --> 00:32:56.340 align:middle line:84%
So I got quite caught
up with doing that.

00:32:56.340 --> 00:32:59.780 align:middle line:84%
And I also thought it would
be very good assignment

00:32:59.780 --> 00:33:02.750 align:middle line:84%
for writing students because
it would make them look

00:33:02.750 --> 00:33:06.260 align:middle line:84%
at their lives,
their daily lives

00:33:06.260 --> 00:33:09.470 align:middle line:84%
and with a different eye to
looking for what was strange

00:33:09.470 --> 00:33:14.180 align:middle line:84%
and in it, what could be
made into a dream narrative.

00:33:14.180 --> 00:33:17.060 align:middle line:84%
And then also learn to
narrate their dreams

00:33:17.060 --> 00:33:18.950 align:middle line:90%
in a way that wasn't boring.

00:33:18.950 --> 00:33:23.900 align:middle line:90%
And that was selective.

00:33:23.900 --> 00:33:27.680 align:middle line:84%
So I intend to inflict that on
the next class that I teach.

00:33:27.680 --> 00:33:34.810 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:33:34.810 --> 00:33:38.440 align:middle line:84%
And it works out even if you
never remember your dreams

00:33:38.440 --> 00:33:41.830 align:middle line:84%
because then, at least, you
have the option of using

00:33:41.830 --> 00:33:47.870 align:middle line:84%
your real life and you have to
see material in your real life.

00:33:47.870 --> 00:33:53.800 align:middle line:84%
So I did some of these and
I'm going to read them.

00:33:53.800 --> 00:33:56.860 align:middle line:90%
And they are mixed.

00:33:56.860 --> 00:34:00.220 align:middle line:84%
Some are actual dreams and
some are waking experiences.

00:34:00.220 --> 00:34:04.390 align:middle line:84%
And then I went a bit farther
and broke some of my own rules

00:34:04.390 --> 00:34:08.080 align:middle line:84%
and say, combined a few
fragments from different night

00:34:08.080 --> 00:34:16.510 align:middle line:84%
dreams into one, and even
combined different waking

00:34:16.510 --> 00:34:18.580 align:middle line:90%
experiences sometimes.

00:34:18.580 --> 00:34:21.940 align:middle line:90%
"Swimming in Egypt."

00:34:21.940 --> 00:34:24.010 align:middle line:90%
"We are in Egypt.

00:34:24.010 --> 00:34:26.889 align:middle line:84%
We are about to go
deep sea diving.

00:34:26.889 --> 00:34:29.139 align:middle line:84%
They've erected a
vast tank of water

00:34:29.139 --> 00:34:32.199 align:middle line:84%
on land next to the
Mediterranean Sea.

00:34:32.199 --> 00:34:37.179 align:middle line:84%
We strapped oxygen to our backs
and descend into this tank.

00:34:37.179 --> 00:34:39.520 align:middle line:90%
We go all the way to the bottom.

00:34:39.520 --> 00:34:42.820 align:middle line:84%
Here, there is a cluster of blue
lights shining on the entrance

00:34:42.820 --> 00:34:44.020 align:middle line:90%
to a tunnel.

00:34:44.020 --> 00:34:45.550 align:middle line:90%
We enter the tunnel.

00:34:45.550 --> 00:34:47.650 align:middle line:90%
We swim and swim.

00:34:47.650 --> 00:34:51.969 align:middle line:84%
At the far end of the tunnel,
we see more lights, white ones.

00:34:51.969 --> 00:34:53.770 align:middle line:84%
When we've passed
through the lights,

00:34:53.770 --> 00:34:55.810 align:middle line:84%
we come out of the
tunnel suddenly

00:34:55.810 --> 00:34:58.990 align:middle line:84%
into the open sea, which
drops away beneath us

00:34:58.990 --> 00:35:01.370 align:middle line:90%
a full kilometer or more.

00:35:01.370 --> 00:35:04.660 align:middle line:84%
There are fish all around
and above us and reefs

00:35:04.660 --> 00:35:06.160 align:middle line:90%
on all sides.

00:35:06.160 --> 00:35:09.160 align:middle line:84%
We think we are
flying over the deep.

00:35:09.160 --> 00:35:13.690 align:middle line:84%
We forget for now that we must
be careful not to get lost,

00:35:13.690 --> 00:35:16.510 align:middle line:84%
but must find our way back
to the mouth of the tunnel.

00:35:16.510 --> 00:35:20.730 align:middle line:90%


00:35:20.730 --> 00:35:23.790 align:middle line:90%
"The Moon."

00:35:23.790 --> 00:35:26.640 align:middle line:84%
"I get up out of bed in the
night to go to the bathroom.

00:35:26.640 --> 00:35:29.580 align:middle line:84%
The room I am n
is large and dark,

00:35:29.580 --> 00:35:33.090 align:middle line:84%
but for the white
dog on the floor.

00:35:33.090 --> 00:35:36.390 align:middle line:84%
The hallway is wide and long and
filled with an underwater sort

00:35:36.390 --> 00:35:38.310 align:middle line:90%
of twilight.

00:35:38.310 --> 00:35:40.240 align:middle line:84%
When I reach the
doorway of the bathroom,

00:35:40.240 --> 00:35:42.960 align:middle line:84%
I see that it is filled
with bright light.

00:35:42.960 --> 00:35:46.200 align:middle line:84%
There is a full moon
far above overhead.

00:35:46.200 --> 00:35:48.600 align:middle line:84%
Its beam is coming
in through the window

00:35:48.600 --> 00:35:51.870 align:middle line:84%
and falling directly
onto the toilet seat

00:35:51.870 --> 00:35:55.620 align:middle line:90%
as if sent by a helpful guide.

00:35:55.620 --> 00:35:57.810 align:middle line:84%
Then I'm back in
bed, and I've been

00:35:57.810 --> 00:36:00.120 align:middle line:90%
lying there awake for a while.

00:36:00.120 --> 00:36:02.370 align:middle line:90%
The room is lighter than it was.

00:36:02.370 --> 00:36:04.920 align:middle line:84%
The moon is coming around to
this side of the building,

00:36:04.920 --> 00:36:05.970 align:middle line:90%
I think.

00:36:05.970 --> 00:36:08.415 align:middle line:84%
But no, it is the
beginning of dawn.

00:36:08.415 --> 00:36:13.470 align:middle line:90%


00:36:13.470 --> 00:36:17.780 align:middle line:84%
"The School Children
in the Large Building."

00:36:17.780 --> 00:36:19.730 align:middle line:84%
"I live in a very
large building,

00:36:19.730 --> 00:36:23.430 align:middle line:84%
the size of a warehouse
or an opera house.

00:36:23.430 --> 00:36:25.310 align:middle line:90%
I am there alone.

00:36:25.310 --> 00:36:27.860 align:middle line:84%
Now, some school
children arrive.

00:36:27.860 --> 00:36:30.650 align:middle line:84%
I see their quick little legs
coming through the front door.

00:36:30.650 --> 00:36:32.960 align:middle line:84%
And I ask in some
fear, who is it?

00:36:32.960 --> 00:36:34.310 align:middle line:90%
Who is it?

00:36:34.310 --> 00:36:36.290 align:middle line:90%
But they don't answer.

00:36:36.290 --> 00:36:40.610 align:middle line:84%
The class is very numerous,
all boys with two teachers.

00:36:40.610 --> 00:36:42.350 align:middle line:84%
They pour into the
painting studio

00:36:42.350 --> 00:36:44.150 align:middle line:90%
at the back of the building.

00:36:44.150 --> 00:36:48.440 align:middle line:84%
The ceiling of this studio is
two or even three stories high.

00:36:48.440 --> 00:36:52.730 align:middle line:84%
On one wall is a vast mural
of dark-complexioned faces.

00:36:52.730 --> 00:36:55.040 align:middle line:84%
The schoolboys crowd in
front of the painting

00:36:55.040 --> 00:36:58.400 align:middle line:84%
fascinated, pointing,
and talking.

00:36:58.400 --> 00:37:00.470 align:middle line:84%
On the opposite wall
is another mural

00:37:00.470 --> 00:37:02.450 align:middle line:90%
of green and blue flowers.

00:37:02.450 --> 00:37:06.530 align:middle line:84%
Only a handful of school
boys is looking at this one.

00:37:06.530 --> 00:37:08.930 align:middle line:84%
The class would like to spend
the night here because they

00:37:08.930 --> 00:37:11.930 align:middle line:90%
do not have funds for a hotel.

00:37:11.930 --> 00:37:14.750 align:middle line:84%
Wouldn't their hometown raise
the money for this field trip?

00:37:14.750 --> 00:37:16.640 align:middle line:90%
I ask one of the teachers.

00:37:16.640 --> 00:37:19.310 align:middle line:84%
"No," he says
sadly with a smile.

00:37:19.310 --> 00:37:21.830 align:middle line:84%
"They wouldn't because of the
fact that he, the teacher,

00:37:21.830 --> 00:37:23.900 align:middle line:90%
is homosexual."

00:37:23.900 --> 00:37:26.810 align:middle line:84%
After saying this he turns
and gently puts his arms

00:37:26.810 --> 00:37:29.900 align:middle line:90%
around the other teacher.

00:37:29.900 --> 00:37:32.420 align:middle line:84%
Later I'm in the same building
with the school children,

00:37:32.420 --> 00:37:36.770 align:middle line:84%
but it is no longer my home
or I am not familiar with it.

00:37:36.770 --> 00:37:40.880 align:middle line:84%
I ask a boy where the bathrooms
are and he shows me one.

00:37:40.880 --> 00:37:45.140 align:middle line:84%
It's a nice bathroom with old
fixtures and wood paneling.

00:37:45.140 --> 00:37:47.960 align:middle line:84%
As I sit on the
toilet, the room rises

00:37:47.960 --> 00:37:51.050 align:middle line:90%
because it is also an elevator.

00:37:51.050 --> 00:37:54.080 align:middle line:84%
I wonder briefly as I flush,
how the plumbing works

00:37:54.080 --> 00:37:55.370 align:middle line:90%
in that case.

00:37:55.370 --> 00:37:57.500 align:middle line:84%
And then assume it
has been figured out."

00:37:57.500 --> 00:38:01.000 align:middle line:90%


00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:03.610 align:middle line:90%
The Woman in Red."

00:38:03.610 --> 00:38:07.420 align:middle line:84%
"Standing near me is a tall
woman in a dark, red dress.

00:38:07.420 --> 00:38:11.170 align:middle line:84%
She has a dazed, rather
blank expression on her face.

00:38:11.170 --> 00:38:15.640 align:middle line:84%
She might be drugged or this is
simply her habitual expression.

00:38:15.640 --> 00:38:17.890 align:middle line:90%
I'm a little afraid of her.

00:38:17.890 --> 00:38:20.860 align:middle line:84%
A red snake in front of me
rears up and threatens me,

00:38:20.860 --> 00:38:24.010 align:middle line:84%
at the same time changing
form once or twice,

00:38:24.010 --> 00:38:27.760 align:middle line:84%
acquiring tentacles
like a squid, et cetera.

00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:29.890 align:middle line:84%
Behind it is a large
puddle of water

00:38:29.890 --> 00:38:32.500 align:middle line:90%
in the middle of a broad path.

00:38:32.500 --> 00:38:34.930 align:middle line:84%
To protect me from the
snake, the woman in red

00:38:34.930 --> 00:38:37.780 align:middle line:84%
lays three,
broad-brimmed, red hats

00:38:37.780 --> 00:38:40.300 align:middle line:84%
down on the surface of
the puddle of water.

00:38:40.300 --> 00:38:45.320 align:middle line:90%


00:38:45.320 --> 00:38:47.390 align:middle line:90%
"The Dog."

00:38:47.390 --> 00:38:50.330 align:middle line:84%
"We are about to leave a
place that has a large flower

00:38:50.330 --> 00:38:52.460 align:middle line:90%
garden and a fountain.

00:38:52.460 --> 00:38:54.920 align:middle line:84%
I look out the car
window and see our dog

00:38:54.920 --> 00:38:58.520 align:middle line:84%
lying on a gurney in the
doorway of a sort of shed.

00:38:58.520 --> 00:39:00.440 align:middle line:90%
His back is to us.

00:39:00.440 --> 00:39:02.180 align:middle line:90%
He is lying still.

00:39:02.180 --> 00:39:04.730 align:middle line:90%
He is probably dead.

00:39:04.730 --> 00:39:07.160 align:middle line:84%
There are two cut flowers
placed on his neck,

00:39:07.160 --> 00:39:09.200 align:middle line:90%
one red and one white.

00:39:09.200 --> 00:39:11.240 align:middle line:90%
I look away and then look back.

00:39:11.240 --> 00:39:14.030 align:middle line:90%
I want to see him one last time.

00:39:14.030 --> 00:39:16.400 align:middle line:84%
But in that one moment,
he has vanished.

00:39:16.400 --> 00:39:18.890 align:middle line:84%
The doorway of
the shed is empty.

00:39:18.890 --> 00:39:21.920 align:middle line:84%
A moment too soon, they
have wheeled him away.

00:39:21.920 --> 00:39:26.600 align:middle line:90%


00:39:26.600 --> 00:39:29.240 align:middle line:90%
"In The Gallery."

00:39:29.240 --> 00:39:31.880 align:middle line:84%
"A woman I know
who is a writer has

00:39:31.880 --> 00:39:34.250 align:middle line:90%
created a piece of visual art.

00:39:34.250 --> 00:39:37.910 align:middle line:84%
She is trying to hang
her work for a show.

00:39:37.910 --> 00:39:41.150 align:middle line:84%
Her work is a single line
of text pasted on the wall

00:39:41.150 --> 00:39:45.270 align:middle line:84%
with a transparent curtain
suspended in front of it.

00:39:45.270 --> 00:39:47.870 align:middle line:84%
She is at the top of a
ladder and cannot get down

00:39:47.870 --> 00:39:52.370 align:middle line:84%
because she's facing the
wrong way, out instead of in.

00:39:52.370 --> 00:39:54.770 align:middle line:84%
The people down below
tell her to turn around

00:39:54.770 --> 00:39:57.530 align:middle line:90%
but she does not know how.

00:39:57.530 --> 00:40:00.530 align:middle line:84%
When I see her next she
is down from the ladder.

00:40:00.530 --> 00:40:03.800 align:middle line:84%
She's going from one person
to the next asking for help

00:40:03.800 --> 00:40:05.570 align:middle line:90%
in hanging her artwork.

00:40:05.570 --> 00:40:08.420 align:middle line:84%
But no one will help
her because they say

00:40:08.420 --> 00:40:10.130 align:middle line:90%
she is such a difficult woman.

00:40:10.130 --> 00:40:14.400 align:middle line:90%


00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:16.830 align:middle line:90%
"The Piano."

00:40:16.830 --> 00:40:19.380 align:middle line:84%
"Our piano has a
crack all the way

00:40:19.380 --> 00:40:23.040 align:middle line:84%
across the soundboard
and other problems.

00:40:23.040 --> 00:40:26.970 align:middle line:84%
We will have to go to the
piano store and buy a new one.

00:40:26.970 --> 00:40:30.570 align:middle line:84%
We would like the piano store to
take our old one and resell it,

00:40:30.570 --> 00:40:34.860 align:middle line:84%
but they say it is too
badly damaged to be resold.

00:40:34.860 --> 00:40:37.980 align:middle line:84%
They will have to get rid of
it by pushing it over a cliff.

00:40:37.980 --> 00:40:39.810 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:40:39.810 --> 00:40:41.880 align:middle line:90%
The way they do it is this.

00:40:41.880 --> 00:40:44.850 align:middle line:84%
Two drivers take it
out to a remote spot

00:40:44.850 --> 00:40:47.160 align:middle line:90%
with a high elevation.

00:40:47.160 --> 00:40:50.610 align:middle line:84%
One turns his back and
walks away down the lane.

00:40:50.610 --> 00:40:52.935 align:middle line:84%
The other pushes the
piano over the cliff.

00:40:52.935 --> 00:40:57.110 align:middle line:90%


00:40:57.110 --> 00:40:59.770 align:middle line:90%
"The Piano Lesson."

00:40:59.770 --> 00:41:01.840 align:middle line:90%
"I'm with my friend, Christine.

00:41:01.840 --> 00:41:05.890 align:middle line:84%
I have not seen her for a
long time, perhaps 17 years.

00:41:05.890 --> 00:41:08.830 align:middle line:84%
We talk about music and we
agree that when we meet again,

00:41:08.830 --> 00:41:11.230 align:middle line:90%
she will give me a piano lesson.

00:41:11.230 --> 00:41:12.880 align:middle line:84%
In preparation for
the lesson, she

00:41:12.880 --> 00:41:15.220 align:middle line:84%
says I must select
and then study

00:41:15.220 --> 00:41:18.550 align:middle line:84%
one Baroque piece, one
classical, one romantic,

00:41:18.550 --> 00:41:20.380 align:middle line:90%
and one modern.

00:41:20.380 --> 00:41:22.270 align:middle line:84%
I am impressed by
her seriousness

00:41:22.270 --> 00:41:24.980 align:middle line:84%
and by the difficulty
of the assignment.

00:41:24.980 --> 00:41:26.920 align:middle line:90%
I'm ready to do it.

00:41:26.920 --> 00:41:29.950 align:middle line:84%
We will have the lesson
in one year, she says.

00:41:29.950 --> 00:41:32.500 align:middle line:90%
She will come to my house.

00:41:32.500 --> 00:41:34.390 align:middle line:84%
But then later,
she says she is not

00:41:34.390 --> 00:41:38.380 align:middle line:84%
sure she will be returning to
this country, maybe instead,

00:41:38.380 --> 00:41:41.470 align:middle line:84%
we will have the
lesson in Italy.

00:41:41.470 --> 00:41:44.860 align:middle line:84%
Or if not Italy, then,
of course, Casablanca.

00:41:44.860 --> 00:41:50.020 align:middle line:90%


00:41:50.020 --> 00:41:52.300 align:middle line:90%
"The Grandmother."

00:41:52.300 --> 00:41:56.020 align:middle line:84%
"A person has come to my house
carrying a very large peach

00:41:56.020 --> 00:41:57.310 align:middle line:90%
tart.

00:41:57.310 --> 00:41:59.920 align:middle line:84%
He has also brought with him
some other people, including

00:41:59.920 --> 00:42:03.370 align:middle line:84%
a very old woman who
complains about the gravel,

00:42:03.370 --> 00:42:07.330 align:middle line:84%
and is then carried into the
house with great difficulty.

00:42:07.330 --> 00:42:11.440 align:middle line:84%
These people sit down with
us to some sort of a meal.

00:42:11.440 --> 00:42:13.450 align:middle line:84%
At the table, the
old woman observes

00:42:13.450 --> 00:42:15.610 align:middle line:84%
to one man by way
of conversation

00:42:15.610 --> 00:42:18.130 align:middle line:90%
that she likes his teeth.

00:42:18.130 --> 00:42:20.740 align:middle line:84%
Another man keeps
shouting in her face,

00:42:20.740 --> 00:42:22.420 align:middle line:90%
but she is not frightened.

00:42:22.420 --> 00:42:25.810 align:middle line:90%
She only looks at him balefully.

00:42:25.810 --> 00:42:29.140 align:middle line:84%
Later, she has been eating
many cashews from a bowl.

00:42:29.140 --> 00:42:33.730 align:middle line:84%
And she has also
eaten her hearing aid.

00:42:33.730 --> 00:42:37.090 align:middle line:84%
She is chewed on it
for nearly two hours,

00:42:37.090 --> 00:42:39.730 align:middle line:84%
but she cannot reduce it
to particles small enough

00:42:39.730 --> 00:42:41.860 align:middle line:90%
to swallow.

00:42:41.860 --> 00:42:45.550 align:middle line:84%
At bedtime, she spits it out
into the hand of her caregiver

00:42:45.550 --> 00:42:47.620 align:middle line:84%
and tells him, this
nut was no good."

00:42:47.620 --> 00:42:52.070 align:middle line:90%


00:42:52.070 --> 00:42:54.890 align:middle line:90%
"In The Train Station."

00:42:54.890 --> 00:42:57.450 align:middle line:84%
"The train station
is very crowded.

00:42:57.450 --> 00:43:00.440 align:middle line:84%
People are walking in
every direction at once.

00:43:00.440 --> 00:43:02.960 align:middle line:90%
Some are standing still.

00:43:02.960 --> 00:43:05.450 align:middle line:84%
A Tibetan, Buddhist
monk with a shaved head

00:43:05.450 --> 00:43:09.920 align:middle line:84%
and a long, wine-colored robe
is in the crowd looking worried.

00:43:09.920 --> 00:43:12.650 align:middle line:84%
I am standing
still watching him.

00:43:12.650 --> 00:43:15.710 align:middle line:84%
I have plenty of time before my
train leaves because I've just

00:43:15.710 --> 00:43:18.080 align:middle line:90%
missed the train.

00:43:18.080 --> 00:43:20.030 align:middle line:90%
The monk sees me watching him.

00:43:20.030 --> 00:43:21.710 align:middle line:84%
He comes up to me
and tells me he

00:43:21.710 --> 00:43:24.530 align:middle line:84%
is looking for
track number three.

00:43:24.530 --> 00:43:26.660 align:middle line:90%
I know where the tracks are.

00:43:26.660 --> 00:43:27.920 align:middle line:90%
I show him the way.

00:43:27.920 --> 00:43:31.710 align:middle line:90%


00:43:31.710 --> 00:43:34.200 align:middle line:90%
"The Churchyard."

00:43:34.200 --> 00:43:38.130 align:middle line:84%
"I have the key to the
churchyard and unlock the gate.

00:43:38.130 --> 00:43:42.460 align:middle line:84%
The church is in the city
and it has a large enclosure.

00:43:42.460 --> 00:43:44.280 align:middle line:84%
Now that the gate
is open, many people

00:43:44.280 --> 00:43:47.940 align:middle line:84%
come in and sit on the
grass to enjoy the sun.

00:43:47.940 --> 00:43:49.950 align:middle line:84%
Meanwhile, girls at
the street corner

00:43:49.950 --> 00:43:52.440 align:middle line:84%
are raising money for
their mother-in-law

00:43:52.440 --> 00:43:55.470 align:middle line:90%
who was called La Bella.

00:43:55.470 --> 00:43:58.200 align:middle line:84%
I have offended or
disappointed two women,

00:43:58.200 --> 00:44:02.230 align:middle line:84%
but I am cradling
Jesus who is alive.

00:44:02.230 --> 00:44:03.840 align:middle line:90%
A minute cozy pile of people."

00:44:03.840 --> 00:44:13.400 align:middle line:90%


00:44:13.400 --> 00:44:16.590 align:middle line:90%
I think I'll just--

00:44:16.590 --> 00:44:22.120 align:middle line:84%
let's see, I'll read one more
shortish one from the book.

00:44:22.120 --> 00:44:25.860 align:middle line:90%


00:44:25.860 --> 00:44:30.580 align:middle line:84%
And then end with some
very, very short ones.

00:44:30.580 --> 00:44:32.010 align:middle line:90%
This is called, "Passing Wind."

00:44:32.010 --> 00:44:40.880 align:middle line:90%


00:44:40.880 --> 00:44:45.050 align:middle line:84%
"She didn't know if
it was him or the dog.

00:44:45.050 --> 00:44:47.150 align:middle line:90%
It wasn't her.

00:44:47.150 --> 00:44:50.450 align:middle line:84%
The dog was lying there on the
living room rug between them.

00:44:50.450 --> 00:44:54.320 align:middle line:84%
She was on the sofa and
her visitor, rather tense,

00:44:54.320 --> 00:44:57.140 align:middle line:90%
was sunk deep in a low armchair.

00:44:57.140 --> 00:45:01.250 align:middle line:84%
And the smell, rather
gentle, came into the air.

00:45:01.250 --> 00:45:02.930 align:middle line:84%
She thought at first
that it was him

00:45:02.930 --> 00:45:04.700 align:middle line:84%
and she was surprised
because people

00:45:04.700 --> 00:45:07.880 align:middle line:84%
don't pass wind and company
very often or, at least,

00:45:07.880 --> 00:45:10.580 align:middle line:90%
not in a noticeable way.

00:45:10.580 --> 00:45:14.420 align:middle line:84%
As they went on talking, she
went on thinking it was him.

00:45:14.420 --> 00:45:16.640 align:middle line:84%
She felt a little sorry
for him because she thought

00:45:16.640 --> 00:45:18.660 align:middle line:84%
he was embarrassed and
nervous to be with her,

00:45:18.660 --> 00:45:21.450 align:middle line:84%
and that was why
he had passed when.

00:45:21.450 --> 00:45:23.390 align:middle line:84%
Then it occurred to
her very suddenly

00:45:23.390 --> 00:45:25.670 align:middle line:84%
that it might not
have been him at all,

00:45:25.670 --> 00:45:29.600 align:middle line:84%
it might have been the dog, and
worse, if it had been the dog,

00:45:29.600 --> 00:45:33.110 align:middle line:90%
he might think it had been her.

00:45:33.110 --> 00:45:36.140 align:middle line:84%
It was true that the dog had
stolen an entire loaf of bread

00:45:36.140 --> 00:45:38.870 align:middle line:84%
that morning and
eaten it and might now

00:45:38.870 --> 00:45:43.890 align:middle line:84%
be passing wind, something
he did not otherwise do.

00:45:43.890 --> 00:45:46.190 align:middle line:84%
She wanted immediately
to let him know somehow

00:45:46.190 --> 00:45:48.680 align:middle line:90%
that, at least, it was not her.

00:45:48.680 --> 00:45:50.930 align:middle line:84%
Of course, there was a chance
that he had not noticed,

00:45:50.930 --> 00:45:52.700 align:middle line:90%
but he was smart and alert.

00:45:52.700 --> 00:45:54.530 align:middle line:84%
And since she had
noticed, he probably

00:45:54.530 --> 00:45:58.430 align:middle line:84%
had, too, unless he was too
nervous to have noticed.

00:45:58.430 --> 00:46:01.430 align:middle line:90%
The problem was how to tell him.

00:46:01.430 --> 00:46:04.850 align:middle line:84%
She could say something
about the dog to excuse it,

00:46:04.850 --> 00:46:09.290 align:middle line:84%
but it might not have been the
dog, it might have been him.

00:46:09.290 --> 00:46:11.640 align:middle line:84%
She could not be
direct and simply say,

00:46:11.640 --> 00:46:14.960 align:middle line:84%
look if you just farted,
that's all right.

00:46:14.960 --> 00:46:19.100 align:middle line:84%
I just want to be clear
that it wasn't me.

00:46:19.100 --> 00:46:21.710 align:middle line:84%
She could say that the dog
ate a whole loaf of bread

00:46:21.710 --> 00:46:24.320 align:middle line:84%
this morning and I
think he's farting.

00:46:24.320 --> 00:46:28.640 align:middle line:84%
But if it was him and not the
dog, this would embarrass him.

00:46:28.640 --> 00:46:30.470 align:middle line:90%
Although, maybe it wouldn't.

00:46:30.470 --> 00:46:33.930 align:middle line:84%
Maybe he was already
embarrassed if it was him.

00:46:33.930 --> 00:46:37.430 align:middle line:84%
And this would be a way
out of his embarrassment.

00:46:37.430 --> 00:46:40.490 align:middle line:84%
But by now the
smell was long gone.

00:46:40.490 --> 00:46:44.720 align:middle line:84%
Maybe the dog would fart
again if it was the dog.

00:46:44.720 --> 00:46:46.790 align:middle line:84%
That was the only thing
she could think of,

00:46:46.790 --> 00:46:50.420 align:middle line:84%
the dog would fart
again if it was the dog.

00:46:50.420 --> 00:46:53.180 align:middle line:84%
And then she would simply
apologize for the dog

00:46:53.180 --> 00:46:55.250 align:middle line:90%
whether or not it was the dog.

00:46:55.250 --> 00:46:57.860 align:middle line:84%
And that would relieve
him of his embarrassment

00:46:57.860 --> 00:46:59.254 align:middle line:90%
if it was him.

00:46:59.254 --> 00:47:02.712 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:47:02.712 --> 00:47:03.980 align:middle line:90%


00:47:03.980 --> 00:47:05.870 align:middle line:90%
One of these social situations.

00:47:05.870 --> 00:47:09.032 align:middle line:90%


00:47:09.032 --> 00:47:10.490 align:middle line:84%
So the last thing
I'm going to read

00:47:10.490 --> 00:47:14.840 align:middle line:84%
are the very, very
short ones that

00:47:14.840 --> 00:47:17.510 align:middle line:90%
are scattered through the book.

00:47:17.510 --> 00:47:23.900 align:middle line:84%
They're just a title and a line
or two or sometimes a few more

00:47:23.900 --> 00:47:29.390 align:middle line:84%
that I think I wrote in reaction
to translating the Proust.

00:47:29.390 --> 00:47:33.550 align:middle line:84%
Because, for one thing,
that was a long daily labor.

00:47:33.550 --> 00:47:37.580 align:middle line:84%
I really didn't have much time
to do my own writing at all,

00:47:37.580 --> 00:47:39.410 align:middle line:90%
and yet I didn't want to stop.

00:47:39.410 --> 00:47:42.110 align:middle line:84%
And, for another,
I really did enjoy

00:47:42.110 --> 00:47:45.320 align:middle line:84%
translating the long sentences
and getting into that,

00:47:45.320 --> 00:47:49.280 align:middle line:84%
but I think I needed the
counterbalance of very, very

00:47:49.280 --> 00:47:50.630 align:middle line:90%
short statements.

00:47:50.630 --> 00:47:53.780 align:middle line:90%


00:47:53.780 --> 00:47:58.340 align:middle line:84%
This first is called,
"Collaboration with Fly."

00:47:58.340 --> 00:48:02.630 align:middle line:84%
"I put that word on the page,
but he added the apostrophe."

00:48:02.630 --> 00:48:06.806 align:middle line:90%


00:48:06.806 --> 00:48:09.980 align:middle line:90%
"The Tropical Storm."

00:48:09.980 --> 00:48:13.270 align:middle line:84%
Like a tropical storm,
I, too, may one day

00:48:13.270 --> 00:48:15.130 align:middle line:90%
become better organized."

00:48:15.130 --> 00:48:19.270 align:middle line:90%


00:48:19.270 --> 00:48:22.570 align:middle line:84%
"Idea for a Short
Documentary Film."

00:48:22.570 --> 00:48:26.440 align:middle line:84%
"Representatives of different
food products' manufacturers

00:48:26.440 --> 00:48:28.720 align:middle line:84%
try to open their
own packaging."

00:48:28.720 --> 00:48:33.550 align:middle line:90%


00:48:33.550 --> 00:48:35.140 align:middle line:90%
"Hand."

00:48:35.140 --> 00:48:38.260 align:middle line:84%
"Beyond the hand holding
this book that I'm reading,

00:48:38.260 --> 00:48:41.320 align:middle line:84%
I see another hand lying
idle and slightly out

00:48:41.320 --> 00:48:43.630 align:middle line:90%
of focus, my extra hand."

00:48:43.630 --> 00:48:49.110 align:middle line:90%


00:48:49.110 --> 00:48:51.640 align:middle line:90%
"Getting to Know Your Body."

00:48:51.640 --> 00:48:53.730 align:middle line:84%
"If your eyeballs
move, this means

00:48:53.730 --> 00:48:57.370 align:middle line:84%
that you're thinking, or
about to start thinking.

00:48:57.370 --> 00:49:00.150 align:middle line:84%
If you don't want to be thinking
at this particular moment,

00:49:00.150 --> 00:49:01.920 align:middle line:84%
try to keep your
eyeballs still."

00:49:01.920 --> 00:49:06.440 align:middle line:90%


00:49:06.440 --> 00:49:08.240 align:middle line:90%
"Lonely."

00:49:08.240 --> 00:49:09.920 align:middle line:90%
No one is calling me.

00:49:09.920 --> 00:49:11.810 align:middle line:84%
I can't check the
answering machine

00:49:11.810 --> 00:49:14.450 align:middle line:84%
because I've been
here all this time.

00:49:14.450 --> 00:49:17.810 align:middle line:84%
If I go out, someone
may call while I'm out,

00:49:17.810 --> 00:49:21.110 align:middle line:84%
then I can check the answering
machine when I come back in."

00:49:21.110 --> 00:49:26.660 align:middle line:90%


00:49:26.660 --> 00:49:28.700 align:middle line:90%
"Nature."

00:49:28.700 --> 00:49:32.600 align:middle line:84%
"Oh, poor dad, I'm
sorry I made fun of you.

00:49:32.600 --> 00:49:35.270 align:middle line:84%
Now I'm spelling
nature wrong, too."

00:49:35.270 --> 00:49:40.560 align:middle line:90%


00:49:40.560 --> 00:49:42.750 align:middle line:90%
"Insomnia."

00:49:42.750 --> 00:49:46.980 align:middle line:84%
"My body aches, so it must
be this heavy bed pressing up

00:49:46.980 --> 00:49:47.790 align:middle line:90%
against me."

00:49:47.790 --> 00:49:54.270 align:middle line:90%


00:49:54.270 --> 00:49:57.150 align:middle line:90%
"The Way to Perfection."

00:49:57.150 --> 00:50:02.790 align:middle line:84%
"Practicing at the piano, my
Alberti basses were not even.

00:50:02.790 --> 00:50:05.520 align:middle line:84%
But did my movement
float this morning?

00:50:05.520 --> 00:50:06.300 align:middle line:90%
Yes."

00:50:06.300 --> 00:50:09.618 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:50:09.618 --> 00:50:12.470 align:middle line:90%


00:50:12.470 --> 00:50:15.050 align:middle line:90%
"The Fellowship."

00:50:15.050 --> 00:50:17.390 align:middle line:90%
"The fellowship one.

00:50:17.390 --> 00:50:19.490 align:middle line:84%
It is not that you
are not qualified

00:50:19.490 --> 00:50:22.880 align:middle line:84%
to receive the fellowship,
it is that each year,

00:50:22.880 --> 00:50:26.180 align:middle line:84%
your application
is not good enough.

00:50:26.180 --> 00:50:29.060 align:middle line:84%
When at last your
application is perfect then

00:50:29.060 --> 00:50:33.090 align:middle line:90%
you will receive the fellowship.

00:50:33.090 --> 00:50:36.720 align:middle line:84%
Two, it is not that
you are not qualified

00:50:36.720 --> 00:50:39.720 align:middle line:84%
to receive the fellowship,
it is that your patience

00:50:39.720 --> 00:50:42.630 align:middle line:90%
must be tested first.

00:50:42.630 --> 00:50:46.440 align:middle line:84%
Each year, you are patient
but not patient enough.

00:50:46.440 --> 00:50:48.000 align:middle line:84%
When you have truly
learned what it

00:50:48.000 --> 00:50:50.820 align:middle line:84%
is to be patient, so
much so that you forget

00:50:50.820 --> 00:50:52.890 align:middle line:84%
all about the
fellowship, then you

00:50:52.890 --> 00:50:54.679 align:middle line:90%
will receive the fellowship."

00:50:54.679 --> 00:51:01.170 align:middle line:90%


00:51:01.170 --> 00:51:06.380 align:middle line:84%
"Example of the Continuing
Past Tense in a Hotel Room."

00:51:06.380 --> 00:51:09.065 align:middle line:84%
"Your housekeeper
has been Shelly."

00:51:09.065 --> 00:51:15.890 align:middle line:90%


00:51:15.890 --> 00:51:17.300 align:middle line:90%
"Almost Over.

00:51:17.300 --> 00:51:19.520 align:middle line:90%
What's the word?"

00:51:19.520 --> 00:51:22.460 align:middle line:84%
He says, when I first
met you, I didn't

00:51:22.460 --> 00:51:24.920 align:middle line:84%
think you would turn
out to be so strange.

00:51:24.920 --> 00:51:29.540 align:middle line:90%


00:51:29.540 --> 00:51:33.170 align:middle line:84%
"Mother's Reaction
to my Travel Plans."

00:51:33.170 --> 00:51:36.875 align:middle line:84%
"Gainesville, it's too
bad your cousin is dead."

00:51:36.875 --> 00:51:41.560 align:middle line:90%


00:51:41.560 --> 00:51:42.160 align:middle line:90%
Thank you.

00:51:42.160 --> 00:51:45.569 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:51:45.569 --> 00:51:51.413 align:middle line:90%


00:51:51.413 --> 00:51:53.361 align:middle line:84%
You want to close with
two questions maybe?

00:51:53.361 --> 00:51:54.230 align:middle line:90%
Oh, sure.

00:51:54.230 --> 00:51:56.350 align:middle line:90%
Yeah, OK.

00:51:56.350 --> 00:51:59.717 align:middle line:84%
We'll just have a
couple questions

00:51:59.717 --> 00:52:01.050 align:middle line:90%
and then she'll sign some books.

00:52:01.050 --> 00:52:07.100 align:middle line:90%


00:52:07.100 --> 00:52:09.350 align:middle line:90%
You don't have two questions?

00:52:09.350 --> 00:52:11.120 align:middle line:90%
Yeah.

00:52:11.120 --> 00:52:15.346 align:middle line:84%
I realized your fondness
for small words.

00:52:15.346 --> 00:52:16.600 align:middle line:90%
Will you speak about that?

00:52:16.600 --> 00:52:19.960 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:52:19.960 --> 00:52:26.110 align:middle line:84%
Well, it stuck out at me that,
in the grandmother piece,

00:52:26.110 --> 00:52:29.540 align:middle line:84%
in the dream sequence, I used
the word balefully, which

00:52:29.540 --> 00:52:30.040 align:middle line:90%
is a--

00:52:30.040 --> 00:52:31.498 align:middle line:84%
I think that was
the only hard word

00:52:31.498 --> 00:52:33.430 align:middle line:90%
I caught the whole reading.

00:52:33.430 --> 00:52:34.900 align:middle line:90%
It stuck out to me.

00:52:34.900 --> 00:52:37.350 align:middle line:90%
I liked it, though, bailfully.

00:52:37.350 --> 00:52:40.450 align:middle line:90%


00:52:40.450 --> 00:52:42.690 align:middle line:90%
I don't know.

00:52:42.690 --> 00:52:48.070 align:middle line:84%
I've always just been biased
towards the Anglo-Saxon.

00:52:48.070 --> 00:52:52.870 align:middle line:84%
I'm just happier with
small, simple words.

00:52:52.870 --> 00:52:55.720 align:middle line:84%
And, I guess, I always
appreciated Beckett

00:52:55.720 --> 00:53:00.670 align:middle line:84%
because he would have
very interesting ideas

00:53:00.670 --> 00:53:05.230 align:middle line:84%
behind these very small
ideas, I mean, words.

00:53:05.230 --> 00:53:08.890 align:middle line:84%
He would have his characters
doing very small, simple

00:53:08.890 --> 00:53:11.530 align:middle line:84%
things, but fulfilling
patterns that were

00:53:11.530 --> 00:53:16.870 align:middle line:90%
very complex and interesting.

00:53:16.870 --> 00:53:19.730 align:middle line:90%
I resist abstract language.

00:53:19.730 --> 00:53:22.240 align:middle line:84%
I am getting better
now and actually

00:53:22.240 --> 00:53:25.810 align:middle line:84%
forcing myself to read
very abstract texts.

00:53:25.810 --> 00:53:29.710 align:middle line:84%
And my friend, Bob
Perelman the poet--

00:53:29.710 --> 00:53:31.540 align:middle line:90%
does anybody know Bob Perelman?

00:53:31.540 --> 00:53:34.360 align:middle line:90%


00:53:34.360 --> 00:53:36.820 align:middle line:84%
Well, he once-- just
when I was complaining

00:53:36.820 --> 00:53:39.640 align:middle line:84%
about an abstract sentence,
he said, no, it's very simple,

00:53:39.640 --> 00:53:41.632 align:middle line:84%
you just take it
one word at a time.

00:53:41.632 --> 00:53:43.090 align:middle line:84%
He read the first
two, and he said,

00:53:43.090 --> 00:53:45.460 align:middle line:84%
you will understand what
that word, those mean?

00:53:45.460 --> 00:53:48.550 align:middle line:84%
And then he just went to
the next ones and the next.

00:53:48.550 --> 00:53:49.810 align:middle line:90%
I saw, yeah, yeah.

00:53:49.810 --> 00:53:53.295 align:middle line:84%
OK, if you take it slow
and read it several times

00:53:53.295 --> 00:53:53.920 align:middle line:90%
you can get it.

00:53:53.920 --> 00:53:58.750 align:middle line:84%
But I just love like
Anglo-Saxon poetry

00:53:58.750 --> 00:54:03.390 align:middle line:90%
and just the sounds of it.

00:54:03.390 --> 00:54:06.600 align:middle line:84%
I was also prejudiced against
Henry James for a long time,

00:54:06.600 --> 00:54:11.670 align:middle line:84%
but now I'm also coming to
appreciate his amazing sentence

00:54:11.670 --> 00:54:15.840 align:middle line:84%
structures and his abstract
language, some of them.

00:54:15.840 --> 00:54:19.420 align:middle line:90%


00:54:19.420 --> 00:54:23.680 align:middle line:84%
Maybe I'll start sticking a
few more complicated words

00:54:23.680 --> 00:54:24.190 align:middle line:90%
in there.

00:54:24.190 --> 00:54:27.676 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:54:27.676 --> 00:54:31.500 align:middle line:90%


00:54:31.500 --> 00:54:33.810 align:middle line:84%
Is there really any
particular place

00:54:33.810 --> 00:54:37.530 align:middle line:84%
where you do most
of your writing?

00:54:37.530 --> 00:54:38.970 align:middle line:90%
At what time?

00:54:38.970 --> 00:54:40.920 align:middle line:90%
Place or time.

00:54:40.920 --> 00:54:45.690 align:middle line:84%
Well, with the novel, that was
an exception in all my work.

00:54:45.690 --> 00:54:48.540 align:middle line:84%
And for that, I really had to
go to the study every morning

00:54:48.540 --> 00:54:52.170 align:middle line:84%
and spend hours there
at the computer.

00:54:52.170 --> 00:54:54.190 align:middle line:84%
And it was an old,
Kaypro computer,

00:54:54.190 --> 00:54:56.880 align:middle line:90%
so that was very laborious.

00:54:56.880 --> 00:55:00.090 align:middle line:84%
With the shorter pieces,
I'm much more at liberty

00:55:00.090 --> 00:55:02.790 align:middle line:84%
to start them anywhere
and work on them anywhere.

00:55:02.790 --> 00:55:08.400 align:middle line:84%
And I do work in my
study, but I really

00:55:08.400 --> 00:55:11.430 align:middle line:84%
like to work on
public transportation.

00:55:11.430 --> 00:55:14.160 align:middle line:90%
A train is a good place to work.

00:55:14.160 --> 00:55:17.070 align:middle line:84%
And even an airplane
is not impossible,

00:55:17.070 --> 00:55:22.140 align:middle line:90%
even though you're narrowed in.

00:55:22.140 --> 00:55:25.970 align:middle line:84%
I think I like the
enforced focus of it.

00:55:25.970 --> 00:55:28.830 align:middle line:90%
You're made to sit in one place.

00:55:28.830 --> 00:55:32.020 align:middle line:84%
You can't go to the
kitchen or anywhere else.

00:55:32.020 --> 00:55:34.710 align:middle line:84%
And yet there's a
slight distraction.

00:55:34.710 --> 00:55:36.480 align:middle line:90%
You can look up.

00:55:36.480 --> 00:55:39.970 align:middle line:84%
I read Ashbery's
Other Traditions.

00:55:39.970 --> 00:55:42.450 align:middle line:84%
Has anyone read that
book by any chance.

00:55:42.450 --> 00:55:44.550 align:middle line:90%
It's not a book of poems.

00:55:44.550 --> 00:55:49.590 align:middle line:84%
It's his Norton lectures and
John Ashbery, Other Traditions.

00:55:49.590 --> 00:55:53.100 align:middle line:84%
And it's about six poets
that he finds interesting.

00:55:53.100 --> 00:55:56.160 align:middle line:90%
And it's a terrific book.

00:55:56.160 --> 00:55:58.860 align:middle line:84%
He's writes about them
very intelligently.

00:55:58.860 --> 00:56:02.100 align:middle line:84%
And the perfect place to
read that was on a bus

00:56:02.100 --> 00:56:05.460 align:middle line:84%
because, maybe it's
the same thing as

00:56:05.460 --> 00:56:06.700 align:middle line:90%
with abstract language.

00:56:06.700 --> 00:56:10.320 align:middle line:84%
I would need to look up
from what I was reading

00:56:10.320 --> 00:56:12.900 align:middle line:90%
and take a minute to absorb it.

00:56:12.900 --> 00:56:16.920 align:middle line:84%
And so the landscape
between Boston and my home

00:56:16.920 --> 00:56:20.430 align:middle line:84%
was not very interesting
really, in that

00:56:20.430 --> 00:56:23.100 align:middle line:90%
through way, the Mass Pike.

00:56:23.100 --> 00:56:26.340 align:middle line:84%
So it wasn't interesting
enough to distract me from what

00:56:26.340 --> 00:56:29.040 align:middle line:90%
I was trying to understand.

00:56:29.040 --> 00:56:33.990 align:middle line:84%
So, yeah, I start them in
a notebook and work on them

00:56:33.990 --> 00:56:35.550 align:middle line:90%
in a notebook.

00:56:35.550 --> 00:56:38.460 align:middle line:90%
Anywhere is OK.

00:56:38.460 --> 00:56:43.710 align:middle line:84%
And sometimes I start
them around the house,

00:56:43.710 --> 00:56:45.930 align:middle line:84%
especially if I've
been working and then

00:56:45.930 --> 00:56:48.240 align:middle line:84%
I have to stop to do
the dishes or something.

00:56:48.240 --> 00:56:50.130 align:middle line:84%
My brain will keep
on working and then

00:56:50.130 --> 00:56:55.650 align:middle line:84%
I will go over and keep
on writing things down.

00:56:55.650 --> 00:56:58.155 align:middle line:84%
And I like to keep it
that way, very flexible.

00:56:58.155 --> 00:57:03.595 align:middle line:90%


00:57:03.595 --> 00:57:07.119 align:middle line:84%
Is that different from
you're translating process?

00:57:07.119 --> 00:57:09.390 align:middle line:90%
The schedule?

00:57:09.390 --> 00:57:10.800 align:middle line:90%
Pretty much.

00:57:10.800 --> 00:57:14.790 align:middle line:84%
She asked if it was different
from my translating process.

00:57:14.790 --> 00:57:18.720 align:middle line:84%
Again, I'm not being as quite
as diligent with Madame Bovary.

00:57:18.720 --> 00:57:20.320 align:middle line:90%
I hadn't really got into it yet.

00:57:20.320 --> 00:57:22.950 align:middle line:84%
But with the Proust, I
had to be very diligent

00:57:22.950 --> 00:57:26.070 align:middle line:84%
and really do it on
the computer and do it.

00:57:26.070 --> 00:57:31.000 align:middle line:84%
Although, I went back to
work on a bus actually.

00:57:31.000 --> 00:57:33.698 align:middle line:84%
And I have to admit, I
xeroxed pages of Madame Bovary

00:57:33.698 --> 00:57:34.740 align:middle line:90%
and brought them with me.

00:57:34.740 --> 00:57:40.890 align:middle line:84%
And did a little on
the airplane because I

00:57:40.890 --> 00:57:45.090 align:middle line:84%
like the idea of doing it very
carefully by hand in that very

00:57:45.090 --> 00:57:47.730 align:middle line:84%
slow way, periodically
going back

00:57:47.730 --> 00:57:51.180 align:middle line:84%
to a very slow way
of working on it.

00:57:51.180 --> 00:57:53.807 align:middle line:84%
But there are such long
projects that I can't.

00:57:53.807 --> 00:57:55.890 align:middle line:84%
It's a little hard to do
the whole thing that way.

00:57:55.890 --> 00:58:01.190 align:middle line:90%


00:58:01.190 --> 00:58:03.400 align:middle line:90%
So I try to just get through it.

00:58:03.400 --> 00:58:07.810 align:middle line:84%
I try to have more regular
hours every afternoon.

00:58:07.810 --> 00:58:12.710 align:middle line:90%


00:58:12.710 --> 00:58:14.520 align:middle line:84%
Seems like a lot of
your work is inspired

00:58:14.520 --> 00:58:17.640 align:middle line:84%
from everyday
interaction, and seem

00:58:17.640 --> 00:58:19.970 align:middle line:84%
put a different perspective
on your writing.

00:58:19.970 --> 00:58:22.478 align:middle line:84%
And I was just wondering if
maybe that's why you like

00:58:22.478 --> 00:58:23.645 align:middle line:90%
to write such public places?

00:58:23.645 --> 00:58:25.250 align:middle line:84%
Like from transportation
because you

00:58:25.250 --> 00:58:28.340 align:middle line:84%
get to look around and put a
different perspective on what's

00:58:28.340 --> 00:58:29.690 align:middle line:90%
really going on?

00:58:29.690 --> 00:58:32.390 align:middle line:90%
That is anything correlation?

00:58:32.390 --> 00:58:34.460 align:middle line:84%
Was there a correlation
between my writing

00:58:34.460 --> 00:58:36.170 align:middle line:84%
about everyday
things and my life

00:58:36.170 --> 00:58:41.930 align:middle line:84%
to writing everyday
public situations?

00:58:41.930 --> 00:58:45.320 align:middle line:84%
I think it could be, getting
a different perspective

00:58:45.320 --> 00:58:48.270 align:middle line:90%
on the life around me.

00:58:48.270 --> 00:58:51.075 align:middle line:84%
Not being in the
ivory tower so much.

00:58:51.075 --> 00:58:54.660 align:middle line:90%


00:58:54.660 --> 00:58:57.900 align:middle line:84%
But I'd like just to feel
more relaxed about it.

00:58:57.900 --> 00:59:00.270 align:middle line:84%
I mean, writing can make
you very, very tense,

00:59:00.270 --> 00:59:04.140 align:middle line:84%
and you do need
different ways to make

00:59:04.140 --> 00:59:07.560 align:middle line:90%
yourself feel relaxed about it.

00:59:07.560 --> 00:59:10.590 align:middle line:84%
And so, for example,
the notebook I work in

00:59:10.590 --> 00:59:15.300 align:middle line:84%
is not a beautiful,
hand-made, rag-paper notebook.

00:59:15.300 --> 00:59:18.330 align:middle line:84%
It's just an ordinary,
cheap notebook.

00:59:18.330 --> 00:59:20.250 align:middle line:84%
And it has pages
you can tear out.

00:59:20.250 --> 00:59:22.660 align:middle line:84%
And so there's nothing
sacred about it.

00:59:22.660 --> 00:59:26.800 align:middle line:84%
And what I write in there
could be thrown away

00:59:26.800 --> 00:59:28.750 align:middle line:84%
or it could be
kept and worked on.

00:59:28.750 --> 00:59:33.070 align:middle line:84%
So there's nothing
sacred there either.

00:59:33.070 --> 00:59:37.120 align:middle line:84%
And then working on different
things at the same time

00:59:37.120 --> 00:59:40.810 align:middle line:84%
is another thing I do so
that all the pressure isn't

00:59:40.810 --> 00:59:43.060 align:middle line:90%
on one piece.

00:59:43.060 --> 00:59:46.410 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:59:46.410 --> 00:59:52.000 align:middle line:90%