Map of an Invisible Country

Notes from a very long lecture

Some years ago I started trying to be less certain about what kind of person I was by trying to do things I’d previously written off as ‘not for me.’ The fact that I gave two lectures this year (one at the Jan Michalski Foundation and one this month ) sort of falls into this category. I tend to dread talks, but this time I tried to have more fun with it and I think I found a way to do so. (A slideshow! Venn diagrams! Poetry!)

Below are the notes from the lecture I gave as a part of my fellowship at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center. I was expected to explain what I’ve been researching and writing at the library, though it’s notoriously difficult to talk about fiction that hasn’t been written so I focused on my research. I ended by reading a short story which will I’ll publish early next year so it’s not included here).

(This post is super-stupid long, and all I want for Christmas is for you to forgive me for the typos that are surely lurking here.)

Giving a lecture about anything is pretty unnatural for me, but this is fair retribution since every writing class I’ve ever taught usually includes an assignment that forces the students to articulate the belief systems behind their work, and this inevitably makes the students feel uncomfortable or put on the spot, and I always tell them that’s the point of the assignment.

It’s human to spend our time avoiding discomfort, especially mental discomfort, yet I’ve found that it’s often discomfort that activates our strongest reserves of creativity. So, given all the extreme comfort provided by the Cullman Center, a day of being slightly put on the spot seems necessary.