April 11, 2003 - Northfield native Siri Hustvedt says her new book called "What I Loved," began with a single image. An naked, obese woman's corpse lying on a bed. The image doesn't appear in the novel. But Hustvedt says it launched the process of writing and re-writing which lasted several years. The image morphed into a series of portraits by an artist. One of them attracts the attention of an art historian. These two are the book's central characters. The men become friends, and the novel follows their lives. We learn how their families are changed by their loves and losses over a period of thirty years.
April 11, 2003 - Northfield native Siri Hustvedt says her new book called "What I loved," began with a single image. An naked, obese woman's corpse lying on a bed. The image doesn't appear in the novel. But Hustvedt says it launched the process of writing and re-writing which lasted several years. The image morphed into a series of portraits by an artist. One of them attracts the attention of an art historian. These two are the book's central characters. The men become friends, and the novel follows their lives. We learn how their families are changed by their loves and losses over a period of thirty years. Siri Hustvedt told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr it took a great deal of work to achieve the effect.
April 3, 2003 -
March 19, 2003 - Author T.C. Boyle is a prolific novelist. He's written books about illegal immigrants, aristocratic sex offenders, radicals in New York State, the Kelloggs of Battle Creek Michigan, and a science fiction eco-novel called "A Friend of the Earth". His new novel "Drop City" obliquely follows the eco-theme. It's been creating a bit of a stir for its cover, which features a ring of naked flower people lying in a meadow. The book tells the story of a hippy commune which moves to Alaska after being chased out of its home in California. The arrival of the free-love preaching hippies in the wilds leads to just about everyone questioning his or her way of life. Boyle told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr he wanted to take a new look at the hippy movement.
March 17, 2003 - The Guthrie Theater announced its 2003-2004 season today. It's an ambitious mixture of classics and modern works, which artistic director Joe Dowling says is intended to reach and serve a broader audience. There will be three Shakespeare productions, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, and Othello, which will also tour nationally. Dowling told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr the season opens with Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice' on the Mainstage. Shortly after the Guthrie Lab will present a stage version of Barbera Ehrenreich's exploration of minimum wage America "Nickel and Dimed" . Gutrhrie Artistic Director Joe Dowling. Also includes in the 2003-2004 season will be productions of Tennessee Williams "Night of the Iguana", David Mamet's "Boston Marriage", and a visiting production of "Twelfth Night" by London's Globe Theater.
March 14, 2003 - War can bring big changes. Ghafar Lakanwal (Gah-fahr Lah-ken-wahl) speaks five languages and holds a PhD. He is the former head of Afghanistan's U.N. delegation. Now he lives in the Twin Cities, running two restaurants. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Stucky reports, Lakanwal says the story of his life contains a lesson for Americans.
March 12, 2003 - Minneapolis writer Alison McGhee describes her new novel as, "very sad". Her novel is titled, "Was it Beautiful?" It's the story of William T. Jones, a man struggling with the suicide of his son, his divorce, and the loss of his job. McGhee based the new book on the biblical story of Job, the man who lost everything as God tested his faith. Allison McGhee told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr that she set the story in the Adirondacks, at the turn of the 20th century. She grew up there, and wanted to set the story among the characters who lived back in the woods.
February 21, 2003 - Word of Mouth
February 19, 2003 - William Gibson's new novel is called "Pattern Recognition." His heroine, Cayce Pollard, is a 'coolhunter'. She spots trends in the making so companies can exploit them. A mysterious stream of videoclips has been popping up on the internet. They have become "cool." So, Cayce is hired by an advertising company to locate their source. She is brought in because she can spot a winner. Her heightened sensitivities tell her when an image or logo will be a success. In fact she's always right. But that gift comes with a cost; an allergy. Cayce Pollard is deathly allergic to some of the logos she comes across in everyday life. William Gibson told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr he wanted to create a Swiftian exaggeration of something everybody does.
February 3, 2003 - At the dawn of the 20th century, the Austrian capital Vienna was a hotbed of intellectual and artistic enterprise. Freud was developing psycho analysis. Painters such as Egon Schiele (A-gon SHE-leh) and Gustav Klimt (GOO stahf KLIMT) explored new schools of visual art. But it was also a time feeding the seeds of World War One. A time that spawned the anti-semitism of Adolf Hitler. Tomorrow and Wednesday renowned choreographer Martha Clarke will present her vision of that era at the Northrop Auditorium in Minneapolis. Her piece "Vienna Lusthaus' (LOOST-howss) features frank and provocative dances. First produced in the mid-1980's, she has now revised and expanded the piece. Martha Clarke told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr she was originally inspired by an exhibition of Schiele's (SHE-leh's) work. It then evolved when playwright Charles Mee, who she calls Chuck, offered to write accompanying texts exploring themes of love and hate.