Based in New York, but really extending throughout the country, there’s a robust community of women writers, who for years now have been supporting one another’s work and have now, in the face of the Coronavirus, leapt in with remarkable creativity and generosity to help promote the work of writers whose book tours have been cancelled. People have different coping mechanisms – some of us feel less anxious if we try to prepare for the worst others need to push frightening thoughts out of mind – but I think we’re all oscillating between doing our best to be flexible & cheerful & helpful to others and a crushing panic. It’s astounding how quickly people have adjusted to this strange new reality of a busman’s holiday, with everyone working from home and kids in remote learning, and the terror of our city’s hospitals unable to treat all in need. What’s the mood in New York City? Or – should I ask instead – what’s the mood among your neighbors and friends? Thank you so much for spending some time at Bacon today, Lisa! Her stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, The Wall Street Journal, and Real Simple, and have received many honors, including Distinguished Story by the Best American Short Stories. She is the author of the novels The Peacock Feast, Louisa Meets Bear, Tinderbox, and A Private Sorcery. For many years, she worked in clinics, hospitals, and private practice as a psychotherapist, a profession she has depicted in various essays as based on “sacred trust.” She lives in New York City with her husband and two sons. Lisa Gornick earned a doctorate in clinical psychology at Yale and is a graduate of the writing program at NYU and the psychoanalytic training program at Columbia, where she is on the faculty.
She kindly agreed to answer a few Bacon interview questions about Life in the Time of Corona in New York City. Instead, we’ve enjoyed a friendly email correspondence. I regret that we didn’t have the chance to enjoy a bottle of wine and an in-person interview. Both of us decided we’d enjoy the conversation no matter what. I told Lisa I’d bring a bottle of wine in case it was just the two of us talking to each other in front of empty chairs. Honestly, I feared there might be a thin or nonexistent crowd at Parnassus since much of Nashville would be on Spring Break. Her new novel The Peacock Feast – sumptuous historical fiction set in early 20th-century New York – had recently been released in paperback, and she was on tour. Author Lisa Gornick had planned to visit Nashville bookstore Parnassus on March 19th, and I was excited to interview her there.
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