(12:53pm Feb 25, 2010)

Colum McCann and John Banville at 92Y

paperbackgirl:

Last night I attended the John Banville and Colum McCann reading at the 92nd Street Y. Banville kicked things off by reading from his latest novel, The Infinities. This was my first exposure to Banville’s writing and the passage he selected to read was both lyrical and hypnotic but maybe not the wisest selection for reading aloud to an audience. I typically do not have a problem staying engaged at readings but my thoughts kept wandering elsewhere and for the first time at a 92y reading I did not feel compelled to add the accompanying writer to the ongoing “books to buy” list I track on my BlackBerry. This feeling was dispelled during the q+a session at the end but more on that later.

Next, Colum McCann took the stage and i was surprised to find that he was not the graying, subdued older man I had pictured him to be. McCann addressed the audience before diving in, admitting that he was feeling nervous and providing some background on his decision to write a book about New York and 9/11 as an Irish immigrant. McCann put it eloquently, that when he moved to New York he could not stop thinking about dust, how in New York City there is a lot of dust and dirt, and that the dust can be someone’s curriculum vitae or an eyelash. He read from three sections of Let The Great World Spin, first setting the tone by introducing the allegory of the tightrope artist walking between the Twin Towers that is the common thread throughout the kaleidoscope of narratives in the novel. McCann also read from sections about a Park Avenue housewife who lost her son in Vietnam and a prostitute from the Bronx.

The q+a session rounding out the evening had everyone in fits of laughter thanks to Banville’s dry wit and McCann’s gregariousness. The first question was directed at both writers and focused on the anxiety of influence as Irish writers. Banville leaned toward the mic and said, “We have giants or nothing. There are no mediocre writers. It is like the Easter Island statues are standing behind us saying ‘what have you done little man?’” Banville’s q+a made me more interested in reading him than the excerpt from his new novel—now I am determined to check out his books.

Next up at 92Y: The Critic’s Voice with James Wood on 3/22 and Ian McEwan on 4/6.

Great write-up, Bailey.