The idea of writing being a solitary endeavor is deeply ingrained, and it’s appealing from a distance, the way being an orphan seemed appealing when you were nine—somehow the aloneness is proof that you’re special, different, destined for this in a way attorneys can only dream of.
Jilly Gagnon's previous work for The Toast can be found here.
Back in 2008, E. Jean Carroll asked me to join her in writing a book about college sex, which eventually led to a road trip through the south, horrific abdominal cramping, and generalized anxiety about the future of our society. This is the first part of that story.
Jilly Gagnon's previous work for The Toast can be found here. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves: A teenage runaway, broken by years of psychological and physical abuse at the hands of her stepmother, moves in with seven middle-aged men, becoming their domestic slave. After several months hiding out in their filthy hovel (it’s so rundown that dozens of varieties of vermin infest it), Snow White’s stepmother finds her and, enraged, escalates her abuse…
I remember being told in high school, during a particularly dull unit on Puritan literature, that there was a time, not that far back, when fiction was still considered suspect. Reading was supposed to improve the reader somehow. It should be a true story, informing you of more about the world than you knew before; a history of some important place or figure; or at the very least, a vehicle for moral teachings.
This post, and several others to appear in due course, are generously sponsored by a gentleman-scholar from County San Francisco, supportive of the production and assessment of nasty novels, dealing familiarly with gamblers, misandrists and flashy reprobates. Jilly Gagnon last wrote for The Toast about The Surreal Housewives. I think every generation assumes, to some extent, that it is the first to invent real depravity. Yes, we have evidence that as far back…
Season 1, Ep. 1: In the series premiere, Babou throws a masquerade party in the middle of the desert, but the guests get out of control when they realize their Venetian disguises are covering a universal lack of heads. Season 1, Ep. 2: Pinal tries to mend broken staircases that only ever ascend into other staircases by inviting the housewives to the opening of her new moustache-wax store. Rrose accuses Marcelle of lying about her recent plastic surgery…
Back when I was nearing graduation, and everyone was talking about their capital-p Plans for the future, there was one response I’d get over and over again:
“Wow, that’s so brave of you.”
At the time, it confused me. I wasn’t joining the army or going through recruiting for the FBI. I wasn’t even teaching for America.
