Emma and I enjoyed the novelist Margaret Drabble’s recent observation that depression is useful “for stripping off ways of getting through life that prevent you from having to think.” “Happy and buoyant don’t force you into action on the page,” Drabble (pictured, in an earlier era) told Daphne Merkin. These kinds of arguments in favor of depression as a creative . . .
If there’s anything autobiographical in Dan Chaon’s fiction, he says, it’s the feeling of being an outsider.
Huge thanks and a big kiss to Lauren Cerand, a dear friend whose The Smart Set we’ve enjoyed for so many years. From now on, MaudNewton.com won’t be equipped for events listings. If you’re wondering what Lauren and I are up to, try Twitter. Dear friends, After five years, The Smart Set has reached the end of its natural life. . . .
My review of Lorrie Moore’s A Gate at the Stairs is up at the expanded, handsomely redesigned Barnes & Noble Review site. As an ardent Moore fan — and we are legion — I was entertained, moved, and ultimately disappointed by her latest novel. Here’s the start of what I wrote: In a recent talk, Lorrie Moore suggested that twenty . . .
Dame of the British Interior: Daphne Merkin offers a respectful, revealing profile of Margaret Drabble. (Via.)