Author and Journalist Kurt Andersen
January 16th, 2008 by Debbie Michaud in Books & Readings
Journalist, author, editor and cultural commentator Kurt Andersen has served as editor-in-chief of New York magazine, co-founded Spy magazine, hosts the Peabody Award-winning radio show “Studio 360,” and has written two 600-plus-page novels: Turn of the Century and, now, Heyday. His Heyday tour brings him to the Decatur Library Wednesday, Jan. 16.
The protagonist, Ben Knowles, is obsessed with his romantic, cowboys-and-Indians idea of America. While he’s English, he’s mistaken as an American, often when sweaty, disheveled, hurried or speaking out. What is the message here about America? Certainly, America for a Briton of the upper class, which is what Ben was, is a rougher, more straightforward place where the respectable protocols were not necessarily observed, you know, and that’s why he loved it. The sense that America was in flux and that anything could happen – that all possibilities were still open here – is what attracted Ben to the place and what he loved about it.
Read the rest of the interview
Listen in as Andersen reads from Heyday, and speaks with Debbie Michaud about research for the book - [mp3]
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