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Rendez-vous
in Paris with David Sedaris  |
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NEW FROM DAVID SEDARIS: Children Playing before a statue of Hercules Besides his obvious talents as a writer and performer, David Sedaris is an exceptional reader. He is really good at introducing other people's work to new readers. Here he has edited an anthology of fictional stories he considers masterpieces of the form. These are the stories, he says, he sits around his apartment reading aloud to the point that he has them memorized. He fantasizes that he wrote them. He even fantasizes about reading these stories in front of an audience and taking credit for them, pretending that he has authored them and then basking in the audience's respect and applause. If you can't wait three years until the next Sedaris book, this anthology of his favorite stories will tide you over. His book will benefit 826NYC, a non-profit literacy organization founded by David Eggers. Sarah Vowell has written an epilogue about the organization. - Stories by such writers as Richard Yates, Alice Munro, Tobias Wolff, Lorrie Moore, Joyce Carol Oates, Akhil Sharma, and Jhumpa Lahiri. For more information visit: Simon & Schuster |
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Some
years ago, David Sedaris decided to move to Paris. "It was like taking
off a heavy coat," he says. "I was not aware of it in New York
or Chicago, but I always had my eyes out for danger. Not here." The
author of the best-selling Me Talk Pretty One Day, Barrel Fever, and Naked,
now lives in Paris a good part of the year. He has found a vast an beautiful
apartment on the Left Bank, under the protective shadow of the Sorbonne,
in the very "BoBo" neighborhood - full or bourgeois bohemians.
His latest book, Me Talk Pretty One Day (Little Brown), stayed on the New
York Times best-seller list for over 20 weeks. His inspiration and field
of exploration come from his personal experiences. Sedaris, 43, has kept voluminous journals and first started reading them at friends' parties, in Chicago. He then moved to New York, where he held a series of jobs, including being an elf at Macy's, at Christmas. In 1993, Ira Glass, producer of the National Public Radio show This American Life, asked him if he'd like to read one of his pieces on the air. The Sedaris cult started that winter. We recently met him in Paris where he is beginning to be a celebrity despite his limited - but original - command of the French language. |
| Q. How did you decide to move to Paris ? |
| A. I would come to France in the summer with my boyfriend and stop in Paris. I love to shop more than anything, I love to speak French, so I thought it would be good to live here. There are new words to learn. I was having such a lovely time here that I said "Let's buy an apartment." In New York, if you buy an apartment, your maintenance fee is something like $2,000. Here, I pay $125. |
| Q. How did the experience turn out ? |
| A. I like being in a foreign land, I like not being responsible for anything. I can't vote. I like the feeling of not belonging. I think one can become French, but one can't ever be French. It is not hard to become an American. It involves paperwork. But even with the paperwork, I could not become French. But I have a place, I go to the movies each day. It is a great place to be. |
| Q. How your perception of French life changed? |
| A. In the US, I understand what's going on. In France, I don't. I don't understand, for instance, why people go on strike all the time. But I like the work involved in understanding what's going on. In America, you grow up hearing that it is the land of freedom, but you go outside and you realize it is not true. Also, I am delighted by so many things, in France. I went to the dentist. For the first time in 13 years I could afford it. It cost me $40. I went to the eye doctor. It took me 5 minutes. In New York, I waited for 5 hours for a kidney stone. |
| Q. What do you like best in your Parisian life? |
| A. I have never been afraid here. It is like taking off a heavy coat. I was not aware of it in New York or Chicago. I always had my eyes out for danger. Not here. It is so beautiful here, such a beautiful place. I am waiting for someone to tell me "You don't deserve this ". Beauty does not pay the bills but it shakes you. Also, you'd never find movies like here. I never run out of choices. |
| Q. What difference moving from New York has made in your work? |
| A. By the time I left New York, I did not have much to complain about. But I work better when I struggle against something. Here, I have to struggle for everything. The language makes everything a struggle. Parisians love exact change. I was frightened at the grocery store the first time I was asked something and I did not understand. The first movie I saw here was Saving Private Ryan. I gave 50F and the guy said "51F because we charge more for tourists." ! I have to go on TV and I am terrified. I don't understand if the show is funny, interesting or what. |
| Q. How do you see French people now that you live among them? |
| A. Americans want to believe that the French are really nasty. They assume the French are really awful. They are desperate to have their myths about France repeated because something frightens them about the French. But Parisians must be like people in SoHo, in Manhattan : after a while they get tired of people with maps, five abreast. But Parisians can be strange. I went to a café and ordered coffee at 6pm and the waiter said to me "Coffee, finished" in English. The impulse is to say the French are assholes but my boyfriend Hugh has many friends and he can counter that. If I am not critical enough, I will be seen as a francophile and that's scary! American francophiles are scary. |
| Q. Was living in Paris a dream of yours ? |
| A. No. But there is a lot of stuff to buy here, so much stuff. I do my Christmas shopping in September, here. I go to flea markets. Any store you go you'll find something. I thought if I bought a lot, people would love me in the stores! But I like living in Paris because I can smoke. |
| Q. what do you smoke ? |
| A. Kool cigarettes ! I smoke them because I am the only white person in America to smoke them, and no one borrows cigarettes from me. |
| Q. What about food ? |
| A. I wanted to eat horse meat the moment I was here. I finally had it last night. It was good. There is an open air market just up the street. Hugh know the people, the products. I love neighborhood supermarkets. I love going to Shopi [a sort of French 7-11] on Sundays. I love standing in a very long line. I think the best job in France is to work at a cash register. They don't do anything, don't even bag your stuff. I love a chain called Picard Surgelés. That would be making a lot of money in the U.S. Here, when people bag, they are so slow. It is as of they need to color coordinate. |
| Q. Do you read French newspapers ? |
| A. I only read Voici [a French National Enquirer]. I discover new words I would not find anywhere else, like "mangeuse d'hommes". I love it when on the cover they have "publication judiciaire" when they have libeled someone. Growing up, I thought France was the top of sophistication. It is great to find gossip magazines and bad taste. But I have the reverse experience when I go to a movie and I see previews of American films: I want to get up and say I am sorry. |
