Where & When: A classroom in the Candler School of Theology on the campus of Emory University. Monday, April 11, 2011.
Attendance: ~100 people with about 20 note-taking Emory students.
Why I Went: I admire his book of essays The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade and he is credited for inspiring the HBO series Six Feet Under, which I also like, but there was no guest appearance from Alan Ball (Atlanta born, BTW).
What He Read: Two poems wrapped around an excerpt from Apparition and Late Fictions: A Novella and Other Stories (2010). Lynch described his reading strategy as “a root canal--thirty minutes and it's over.”
His Q & A: Surprisingly short. Lynch fielded only three or four questions. You could tell he had done this plenty of times before.
Question I Was Too Timid to Ask: Are you familiar with Ernest Becker's Denial of Death?
Did I Buy Something?: No, I already had a hard copy of the Undertaking, which I have gifted on more than one occasion. It's a great book and Lynch's appearance gave me a reason to revisit the book.
Worth Mentioning: Lynch did sing a few lines from the Beatles' Let It Be (part of the novella) which invites more comparison between Lynch and Garrison Keillor (see Lynch's website). I do think Lynch sings as “well as Keillor,” but what does that really mean?
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