Let me preface this excerpt from a preface with: 'No, not that Shakepeare.'
Today, I visited B&N (yet again). I decided to plop myself in front of the B section, but there was nothing to my liking. In fact, most of the books seemed to be romance novels etc. I migrated then to the S section. Just like in Hangman, Ms and Ss are safe bets. After looking at this book, this one, and this one, I finally found one that seemed more like my kind of thing.
A book called Shakespeare's kitchen? I thought it was some kind of clever little thing that re-imagined what 'ol Will Shakespeare had in his cupboards. After reading the back cover, I found out that one of the character's surnames just happens to be Shakespeare. Well, guess I was wrong on that count.
I became more interested when I saw the NYT snippet of "Lore Segal is an astute and gentle observer." Aha, seems like my kind of thing.
And so I opened the book, with the intention of reading the first few pages. But lo, to my surprise, there was a preface by the author herself! I really enjoy reading author's personal opinions on their works--if only to gain more insight into the writing. This was also the case when I read the personal statements made by Budd Schulberg in What Makes Sammy Run?, a book from the 1940s exposing the wheelings and dealings of Hollywood execs.
But back to Lore Segal's book. In the collection of short stories (my favorite genre!), the main character finds herself among members of an intellectual think tank.
A quote from Booklist:
'Her entry into the claustrophobic academic setting, combined with Segal's wonderfully funny power washing of conversational dynamics, is a perfect way to explore the roles we play and the truths and lies we tell ourselves about ourselves. Yes, at some level it's a comedy of manners set in academia, but given the light touch with which Segal shares her immense powers of observation'
When I was reading the preface, I found this statement to be particularly striking:
'I want to translate Gothe's Wahlverwandeschaften as 'elective cousins,' the cousins we choose. I was thinking about the sometime-comedy of providing oneself with such a new set. How do we meet people we don't knove? How do acquaintances become intimates? And I was thinking of the sadness when we divorce friends and they turn back into acquaintances who are less than strangers because they can never become future intimates.'
I thought that last line was so sad.
This book should be an interesting read. It's a little more than a dozen short stories, but they fit together nicely to make a novel. Originally, the stories appeared in various magazines.
Check it out here.
