The Fran Lebowitz Reader
Fran Lebowitz was born in 1950 and the selection of essays featured in her Reader are from her early twenties through early thirties.
Analogue days —-
Considering computers at the time were not personal I assumed she’d typed these but I found an interview from 2016 that states she doesn’t know how to type and “never had any machines” - article here if you’d like to read. Fun facts that I will tie into a future piece.
Fran is an essayist known for her “sardonic social commentary”.
Two things I do not typically read are:
1. Essays
2. Sardonic social commentary
The most interesting part of reading the whole book was a look into how Fran thinks and how she describes life as a creative/writer. It was like staring through a keyhole - just a little light into a creative brain pursuing a creative profession.
The essays are decades old and she urges the reader to “accept these writings in the spirit in which they were originally intended and are once again offered: as art history… art history in the making”. Not knowing her writing well, it was hard to discern what of the material felt “dated” and how much of that mindspace she may still occupy today.
I appreciated the backdrop of New York throughout the essays - a place so core to her being. The first page of the book, the first actual page, appearing across from the thick paper of the front cover is an author’s bio - a black and white portrait of a small size with a short paragraph detailing her works and accomplishments.
The last line reads:
“Lebowitz lives in New York City, as she does not believe that she would be allowed to live anywhere else. ”
The essays are divided into two sections Metropolitan Life and Social Studies with somewhat provocative and evocative titles.
Here are some of my favourite excerpts:
“I look around my apartment (a feat readily accomplished by glancing up).”
“There is no such thing as inner peace. There is only nervousness or death. Any attempt to prove otherwise constitutes unacceptable behaviour.”
“The common good is not my cup of tea - it is the uncommon good in which I am interested.”
“That I am totally devoid of sympathy for, or interest in, the world of groups is directly attributable to the fact that my two greatest needs and desires - smoking cigarettes and plotting revenge - are basically solitary pursuits. ”
“Pocket calculators encourage children to think that they have all the answers. If this belief were actually to take hold they might well seize power, which would undoubtedly result in all of the furniture being much too small. ”
“But alas, I do not rule the world and that, I am afraid, is the story of my life — always a godmother, never a God. ”
“Without food, one of man’s most perplexing yet engaging problems would be rendered meaningless when one realized that the chicken and the egg both didn’t come first.
Food was a very big factor in Christianity. What would the miracle of the loaves and fishes have been without it? And the Last Supper — how effective would that have been?”
“If God had meant for everything to happen at once, he would not have invented desk calendars. ”
“Generally speaking, it is inhumane to detain a fleeting insight. ”
“As one with a distinct aversion to newspapers I rely heavily for information on the random remarks of others. ”
“Original thought is like original sin: both happened before you were born to people you could not possibly have met. ”
“If you are truly serious about preparing your child for the future, don’t teach him to subtract - team him to deduct. ”
“Ron [The Pope] divests himself of his robe and reveals his white cotton T-shirt emblazoned in red with the legend INFALLIBLE BUT NOT INFLEXIBLE.”
“Due, however, to my unhappy penchant for whiling away the hours (not to mention years) reading other people’s books, I was soon in possession of what looked very much indeed like six small public libraries. ”
