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from today's Publishers Weekly e-newsletter, so no article link, just the item as it appeared...
Bookish Bush Bashers' Big Bash
"It's a universally accepted fact that Democrats are smarter than Republicans," Everything Is Illuminated author Jonathan Safran Foer stated in introductory remarks at last Thursday's "Where's My Democracy?" literary evening, held in New York City. The fundraiser featured 13 National Book Award-, Pulitzer Prize- and Booker Prize-winning authors and was organized by the political action group Downtown for Democracy.
"Democrats consistently score higher on standardized tests and almost never mispronounce the word nuclear," Foer continued once the applause of about 1,000 attendees--most likely all registered Democrats--died down. But Foer's remarks soon turned serious, as he called on political progressives to fight against George W. Bush in this year's presidential election.
The readers, ranging from Paul Auster to Wendy Wasserstein, shared mostly unpublished work and helped raise more than $60,000, plus an additional $50,000 from the sales of Sometimes Small Statements Make a Big Difference, a limited edition box of signed broadsides from all the readers. Downtown for Democracy treasurer and political director Erik Stowers explained that the funds will be spent on grassroots mobilization in swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Most participants read selections that were not overtly political, but surprise guest Salman Rushdie offered a spirited reading of lighthearted, Dr. Seussian verse he penned at the time of Bush's inauguration. Titled "How the Grinch Stole America," the poem chronicled the Grinch's battle against the Veep: "And now that he'd actually reached his big day/ Ah, counting the ballots could steal it away!/ And what was a ballot? /Was it silver or gold?/ Were they counting up treasure/ Of fortune untold?/ No, just some dumb punch card/ They were counting up holes./ Oh the holes, yes the holes, oh the holes, holes, holes, holes./ The whole thing depended on circles of air."
Famously prolific novelist Joyce Carol Oates also read poetry ("Harvesting Skin" and "Kite Poem"), and Lou Reed, with one hinged eyeglass lens flipped up, intoned song lyrics including "Small Town" and "Talking Book." Jonathan Franzen read excerpts from unpublished stories on the theme of breaking up. Jennifer Egan, Paul Auster and Michael Cunningham read from their novels in progress, with respective working titles From the Keep, The Brooklyn Follies and, as Cunningham said wryly, "that goddamn never-ending novel."
Dressed in a haphazard outfit that he said "illustrates the pitfalls of globalization," Gary Indiana recited an X-rated, religiously irreverent poem and a short piece about channel surfing. Colson Whitehead read the parodic marketing literature of a company selling grudges, and playwright Wendy Wasserstein read two scenes from a play in progress about a female college professor. Striking a more sober tone, Jhumpa Lahiri read from her short story "Hell-Heaven," which describes the growing affection between the young narrator's mother and a male family friend.
Susan Sontag read from a work of fiction entitled The Siege, but not before making a "correction to the political discourse." The progressive project, she insisted, should not be to prevent George Bush's reelection. "He wasn't elected in the first place. He was selected."
Dave Eggers prefaced his story of a father's utopian political fantasy, "Your Mother and I," with comments that at first promised to temper the evening's Bush-whacking. "I've gone out of my way for many years not demonize the right and Republicans because I'm related to one," he said, explaining that his older brother once worked for Bush and they've always managed to speak civilly about politics. But Eggers quickly added: "I actually think Bush was a more moderate guy, but somewhere along the line he lost his mind!"
--Nicole Citron
www.publishersweekly.com
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