Michael Cunningham: I agree that Chang-Rae Lee should be more famous.
Kitamura: But he teeth It ’s very famous, is n’t it?
Cunningham: I know. But there should be more statues. There should be more pop-up shops that sell only Chang-Rae Lee related items. Like many others I’ve searched for, this book depicts a variety of New York. What I like to live in the city is that I can’t imagine being a typical member anyway, going out and walking for 10 minutes and seeing people passing by. Human species. That may, and probably more, applies to New York, at least as much as any other major city.
Guadagnino: That leads to my next question, and I’m particularly interested in asking what the group’s fiction writers think about this: Is New York particularly good for fiction?
Kitamura: I think the story can feel big in New York. It’s not just about fiction, but when you’re in the city, stories, dramas, and emotions all seem to be lively, and I think it’s suitable for some kind of fiction. But Michael, you should answer — I’ve never written anything set in New York.
Cunningham: And I seem to write only those set in New York. The main reason is that I have lived here for a long time and feel that I can speak with at least some credibility. If I lived in Paris, the novel would be set in Paris. I think it’s likely that someone like me lives in Paris, but few people hate you in Paris.
Shotiner-Gardner: Michael, can I push it back a bit? I generally agree with that premise. But I think many New Yorkers live in excursions. If you live in West Village, where the bookstore I work for, and never leave, you’ll see a very small layer of New York. Even if most of us try to wander around the city, visit other provinces, or take the subway, some people seem to never do those things.
Cunningham: I get it completely. There is no denying that there is a part of New York that is isolated. But I’m talking to you from West Village, a block and a half from Washington Square Park, so push back pushback. After spending 10 minutes in the park saying, you can see many non-white people who are the bohemian inhabitants of the village. That’s the problem with most of the blocks we’re talking about.
Shotiner-Gardner: Indeed, how much do you want to see outside yourself? I think that how much you are aware of the experience of others and put yourself in is, to some extent, the reason why we all come to the book.
Kitamura: That is also a major premise for character creation. What they see and do not see as they move around the city.One thing I think is a novel [as a form] Especially successful is capturing the relationship between an individual and a larger social context or structure. And I think New York is full of it. You can have a peculiar story that is or is not involved with the cities around them.
