Bestselling author Meg Wolitzer spoke about adult sexuality, the struggles of adolescence, female desire and her upcoming book, “The Interestings,” in a lecture on March 19.
Wolitzer, who won Binghamton’s 2012 John Gardner Award for Fiction for her novel “The Uncoupling,” was the latest writer to present her work as part of the ongoing Spring Readers’ Series.
A Long Island native, Wolitzer was immersed in writing from a very young age. She is the daughter of novelist Hilma Wolitzer, who actively supported her decision to write for a living. Wolitzer wrote her first novel as an undergraduate student at Brown University, and it was published a few years later in 1982. The New York Times best-selling author is best known for “The Wife,” “The Ten-Year Nap” and “The Uncoupling.” Riverhead Books will publish her latest novel, “The Interestings,” on April 9.
In addition to her success as a novelist, two films have been based on Wolitzer’s work: “This Is My Life,” directed by Nora Ephron, and the 2006 TV movie “Surrender, Dorothy,” starring Diane Keaton and directed by Charles McDougall.
During a student workshop in the mini-course “Writers and Other Artists,” Wolitzer recalled the feeling of having her work brought to life on screen.
“I drove out to the studio and as I got closer I noticed a giant sign that said ‘Fro-Z-Cone’ on the horizon,” Wolitzer said. “They actually built the ice cream shop that I had imagined up one night while lying in bed. It was pretty amazing.”
Wolitzer also collaborates with musician Suzzy Roche of the female vocal group The Roches, bridging the gap between music and writing. They performed together at the Southampton Summer Writers Conference; Roche sang and strummed on her acoustic guitar while Wolitzer read excerpts of her novels to the audience.
“It’s a great experience working with Suzzy,” Wolitzer said. “It adds a whole new layer of depth to what would otherwise be plain old reading from a page to the audience.”
In addition to her unique approaches to readings, Wolitzer isn’t afraid to tackle tricky subjects like adolescent and adult sexuality. In fact, Wolitzer embraces and explores them in vivid detail. Her novel “The Position” examines the relationship between four children and their highly sexualized parents, delving into the complex concepts of marriage, love and parenting. Her upcoming novel “The Uncoupling” is a modern take on the ancient Greek play “Lysistrata,” in which the women of Greece withhold sexual privileges from all men until the Peloponnesian War is put to an end. In Wolitzer’s more modern take, the sex strike takes place in a suburban town in New Jersey, with particular focus on the town’s high school, after a mysterious spell suddenly drains all the town’s women of their precious libido.
“Female desire is a topic of interest to me,” Wolitzer said. “A lot of magazines always seem to turn to neurochemical science and prescriptions and professional advice. That doesn’t interest me as much as the fact that female desire changes over time. There might not be an outright war between women and men, but some things definitely change between them, and I wanted to explore those in ‘The Uncoupling.’”