Lydia Millet on 'Fight No More'

The Book Review

The New York Times

Arts, Books

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 10 August 2018

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Millet discusses her new collection of stories, and Alexandra Jacobs talks about Jamie Bernstein’s “Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein.”

Transcript

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0:00.0	How does Lydia Millet approach short fiction?
0:09.0	She'll be here to talk about her latest collection, Fight No More.
0:13.0	What's it like growing up with one of the most famous fathers in New York Cultural Life?
0:17.6	Alexandra Jacobs will join us to talk about Jamie Bernstein's memoir, Famous Father Girl.
0:23.3	Alexandra Altair will give us an update from the publishing world.
0:26.4	Plus, our critics' Dwight Garner, Parle Sagle, and Jen Salai will join us to talk about the latest in literary criticism.
0:33.3	This is the Bookerview Podcast for The New York Times. I'm Pamela Paul.
0:37.4	Lydia Millet joins us now. She has a new story collection called Fight No More.
0:51.0	She was last here for her last novel, Sweet Lamb of Heaven.
0:54.9	Welcome back, Lydia. Thanks for having me.
0:56.9	Tell us about this new collection. These are interlinked stories.
1:00.9	I guess you could call them that. They're all about characters who encounter each other in this world of high-end, real estate and Los Angeles.
1:10.9	They're pretty much connected by a real estate agent named Nina, who encounters them all in different circumstances.
1:19.9	There are a lot of colorful characters and a lot of super luxurious homes.
1:25.9	I want to get back to the super luxurious homes. I'm curious about the idea of linked stories and how you decide to pursue this as linked stories rather than as a novel.
1:35.9	Did you know from the beginning that this was the form it would take?
1:37.9	I started writing for story more or less to procrastinate because I couldn't figure out the novel I was writing at the time.
1:45.9	I just kept going because I loved the characters and it wasn't particularly premeditated.
1:53.9	I wanted to stay with this group of made-up people. I kept going and then things circled round and visited the same characters again. It was a lot of fun to write.
2:02.9	Did you think about doing it as a novel or did it just seem to make sense?
2:05.9	I really wanted to do stories this time. I hadn't done stories for a long time. It's entertaining to write things that are more bite-sized.
2:15.9	Not have to worry about them sagging in the middle as novel sometimes do.
	...

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