Word Works: Mary Gaitskill
Thu, Mar 16, 2017 at 7pm
The Inner Weave: Mystery and Imagery in Fiction
What is that mysterious quality that makes the plot and characters of a novel or short story seem real, even when they are outlandish? Mary Gaitskill calls this inner life of fiction the "inner weave," and in her talk, she will describe how this "inner weave" may be created through language, specifically nonverbal imagery with layers of meaning and/or feeling through which we may sense the hidden and irrational life of characters and stories—that is, what makes them most deeply real.
Mary Gaitskill is the author of the novels The Mare; Veronica, which was nominated for the 2005 National Book Award, National Critic’s Circle Award, and the LA Times Book Award; and Two Girls, Fat and Thin. She is also the author of the story collections Bad Behavior; Because They Wanted To, which was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner; and Don’t Cry. Gaitskill’s stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Esquire, Best American Short Stories, and The O. Henry Prize Stories.
