The Wake

Garrison Keillor’s radio series “Literary Friendships” affirmed my suspicion that writers are actual people who do dishes and pick their noses. The series, which ran in early March at St. Paul’s Fitzgerald Theatre, explores the bonds that exist between writers, despite their sometimes solitary, obsessive, and madness-driven profession. Listening to Pulitzer prize-winner Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman discuss their marriage and life in terms of their writing cemented the fact that writers are not gods, but human beings with senses of humor and bills to pay.

This may not be what most college students want to hear as we are up to our eyelashes in books to read. We are made to think that Shakespeare and Dickens are gods and their literary geniuses are supreme. We need to believe in them; we want to believe in them; we must submit to their lingual will. Because after all, we spend hours devoted to their books. We don’t want that time to be wasted. Thus we assign such authors a seductive power – one which affords their words an amiable authority and wisdom.

Now that’s not to say Shakespeare and Dickens don’t deserve such a position. They are writers who we, along with the general populace literati, keep coming back to for relevance and entertainment. We just need remember that they are mortals, living everyday lives like the rest of us. And really, in all actuality, it is this that makes writers and their works all the more powerful. Chabon and Waldman embody the “everyday” behind writing, and on this night, they wonderfully illustrated it to the audience. They gushed the true glory of literature – its capacity to enrich the lives of anyone, reader and writer alike.

Chabon and Waldman’s own lives are not incredibly glamorous, but rather fulfilling. The two have managed to continue writing while raising four kids. This is quite a feat as another author once told Chabon, you lose a book for each kid you have. Both writers have sacrificed for each other, their family, and their craft. Waldman, who was a lawyer, left her job because she found she could not be both a mother and a lawyer. This sacrifice, however, led to an unforeseen reward – a writing career. Likewise, Chabon gave up his late-night writing binges so he could wake up early and get the kids ready for school. Less enjoyable though is the financial challenge faced by Chabon, Waldman, and any other professional wordsmith. In order to get health insurance for the family Chabon must write a certain number of screenplays each year. The scripts are hardly his passion, though he did contribute to the “Spider-man 2” screenplay.

Despite these word-wrought hardships, Chabon and Waldman brought joy to the Fitzgerald Theater on this night. They basked in the romance that was their first date and discussed the help they give each other. As writers they proofread and edit the other’s work. They work through plots and give moral support during the writing process. There is no introverted banging on a typewriter or drunken stupors in the studio they share. In fact, Chabon and Waldman agree that real writing comes from a routine and disciplined lifestyle. I found this omission heartening, as many believe an award-winning novel simply flows out brilliant fingertips. Writing is not magic but work, and those willing to put in the hours can do it. Not only does it take two to tango it also takes more then one person to make a piece of literature.

As Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman let the audience into their writing and lives it became obvious that writers are not gods. Perhaps their written byproduct possesses divine qualities, such as an ability to discuss the human spriit or reproduce reality. Writers themselves are not divine, just hard workers that love to share a craft with friends.

“Literary Friendships” will be broadcast this summer on Minnesota Public Radio and for more information about the series go to the Fitzgerald Theater’s website http://fitzgeraldtheater.publicradio.org/.