If you read here regularly, you will know that I find Maggie Nelson to be divine. Her first novel Jane: A Murder is a novel written in poetry. I don't mean to say that her prose is poetic -- I mean, literally, its a novel in poems. Not something I usually go in for...but oh my goodness. The rhythm of her words, her taut sentences, her long pauses. Her painfully close observation of the awful details of her aunt's murder. Her deeply complex emotions perfectly conveyed in so few words. Its as if she's plunging into your heart with a toothpick - yet the pain is as forceful as if it were a dagger. And equally messy.
How did I learn about Maggie Nelson? At a reading Miss Felicia and her Small Spiral Notebook held in Silver Lake a little over a year ago. Nelson gave an excellent reading and it was at that moment - in that tiny, stuffy, joyfully crowded room (I remember sweating under my big coat on account of my having consumed two free Stellas quickly because I was nervous to hear her read) - that I knew I was a writer. Sure there have been glimpses of this along the way. When reading an excellent book, when writing a passage that I love. Yet it was Nelson's reading that got me over the "I don't know if I can do this" hump. Her writing had such clarity, such power - I was inspired by this and her unconventional storytelling style. I was eager to spend my writing days trying to at least approximate that spare depth. What a challenge. Especially for an overly verbose gal such as myself.
It is for this reason that I'll be terribly sad to miss her reading tomorrow night at Book Soup on account of my "leaving any second...really as soon as I finish this post" trip to Mammoth. Nelson will be reading from her new book The Red Parts: A Memoir, which I believe is a further exploration of her aunt's death, after she finishes her initial investigation. I have been waiting for this book to come out since the day I read her first book. I had hoped to pre-read it before Nelson's reading tomorrow night, but it only came out yesterday and I've been a mess of meetings and deadlines.
So here's the thing: please, please, please get out to see her and support her. She is that good. And if she isn't reading in your fair town, please check out her interview at Small Spiral Notebook. And then, of course, go get her book and read it immediately. I will pick up her book and settle down with it when I return.
