5 QUESTIONS
WITH GARY SHTEYNGART
Our bookseller Jacky got the chance to ask one of her favorite authors five questions. Of course she couldn't stop at just five...
Gary Shteyngart is the author of Little Failure, one of our Best Books of 2014.
Gary Shteyngart is the author of Little Failure, one of our Best Books of 2014.
1. All of your insecurity-ridden characters speaks volumes to me, in so many ways. Will we ever meet a Shteyngart protagonist that is confident, suave and just generally not as self-loathing?
Oh, yeah, the character in the book I'm working on is not a COMPLETE loser! He actually thinks he's suave and confident. And he loves himself like any good American. Of course, train wreck ensues.
2. Be honest, how did you get James Franco in your book trailer? Are you close to him? Can I be too?
He was my student at Columbia. And then we got married. How else?
3. How will you be voting this election year?
As a satirist I'm tempted to vote Trump and see the county go up in flames. But as a human being, Clinton.
4. What is your favorite work of Russian literature and why?
Turgenev's Fathers and Sons. It's under 200 pages! What can be better than a short book. Also, there are fathers and sons, one of my favorite topics.
5. What is your most favorite Korean delicacy? Have you tried soju? What do you think about it?
Soondubu jigae, a spicy tofu and kimchee dish. Try it now!
6. Do you have any comment on the banh mi controversy at Oberlin and alleged use of culinary cultural appropriation?
The food at Oberlin was criminal no matter what culture you come from. I survived entirely off ramen packets and the occasional Hungarian sausage, which itself was banned by the authorities.
7. So far, you have released three novels and a delightful memoir. what are you cooking up next?
A tragicomedy about the hedge fund world. Mmm, hedge funds...
Thursday, September 1, 2016 - 4:30pm