I was off on my ACIS tour from June 23 to July 2. I especially enjoyed discovering a few new sights: St Jean de Luz (where Louis XIV was married), some Roman ruins in Nîmes I hadn't seen before, Grasse (we visited the Fragonard perfumery) and St Paul de Vence (a charming perched village). The group was great! They called me "Madame Tanya" and seemed more interested in learning about history and other various anecdotes than the previous group. But it might also be because I gave them Carambars (French joke candy) as treats for participation and correct answers!
The day before I came home, I got an email from my friend Gérald in Paris informing me that Joyce Carol Oates would be appearing at the Virgin Megastore on the Champs Elysées the afternoon of Saturday the 4th. What?! I had a hard time believing it could be true because Oates never travels abroad, but I checked the Virgin website and it appeared to be so. The apperance was to promote the release of the French translation of her journal. I thought it over, but I didn't really have much choice. Joyce Carol Oates was going to be in Paris. I couldn't not go! So the day I headed home from Nice, I also bought tickets to go back to Paris two days later!
Saturday afternoon, my friend Gérald and I went to see Oates. She responded to questions from an interviewer and then the audience for about an hour, then signed books. I waited until there was almost no one left in line so that I might have a few minutes to talk to her. I had brought along my English edition of her journal and my much read and annotated paperback copy of "Bellefleur" that I did the first part of my Masters on. In addition, Gérald bought me the French translations of "Beasts" and "Rape: A Love Story" so I had those for her to sign as well. She was very natural and very gracious. She said that she had noticed me in the audience and was very impressed with my heavily annotated copy of "Bellefleur", so much so that she wanted to show it to her husband. When she found out I was a student of her work, she said that she was very happy to have met me. I delivered her a letter that I had written a couple weeks before and been planning to send. I hope I'll be able to stay in contact with her and that she'll eventually grant me an interview that I can include with my dissertation.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Joyce Carol Oates in Paris
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Way to go, Tanya! I'm so glad you got to meet Oates and had such a positive encounter. I'm not surprised she noticed you in the audience as you are outstanding!
Plus, you are pretty tall when you wear heels.
Yes, I'm glad you were able to make the trip!
I was sitting down! But I was very attentive and she was charmed by my pretty smile!
Yippee! Noted people get lots of attention, but not necessarily from people who can give them interesting questions about their work. Hope you get to do that interview, I'll bet all the work you've done would make for a fruitful conversation.
http://crossingtheborder.wordpress.com/
I wrote up a little blurb about the JCO event and sent it to the online discussion group. They liked it so much that the moderator of the JCO website asked if he could post it on the blog! Go to the above address to see it.
Post a Comment