BeatRoute Magazine BC Print Edition May 2018

The Outsider art
of David Sedaris
Short stories for
sharp attention spans
BY JAMILA POMEROY
PHOTO BY INGRID CHRISTIE
David Sedaris is en-route to El Paso to visit the woman
who cut out his tumor — the one he fed to his pet
turtle. This story is actually one of many featured in his latest
book, Calypso, in the chapter of the same name. While Sedaris
is happy to be tumor-free and touring again, he explains his
deep regret in a missed opportunity to have a veterinarian
take it out on stage on his last reading tour. “I always regretted
not getting him to do it, but I didn’t have a way to get to his
office,” says Sedaris, who often uses a bicycle as his main mode
of transportation, having never learned how to drive. The
veterinarian, later, was the one to back out of the operation,
but Sedaris stresses in his signature dry tone, “I probably could
have done it and gone on with the show.” This absurdist tale of
his unusual reality is a great example of his ability to turn the
otherwise mundane into pages of brash, sometimes cringe-worthy
comedy that makes your belly hurt
from laughter. His very matterof-fact,
cool and calm responses,
only echoing the author’s warped
cynisism in text.
His new book, Calypso, is the 11th
in the authors anthology of infamous
stories and essays. Sedaris is known
“THE PEOPLE WHERE WE LIVE, THEY THINK
I’M CRAZY. AND YOU KNOW, MAYBE
THEY’RE RIGHT.”
-DAVID SEDARIS
for his dark, sardonic and often self-deprecating, comedic stories;
stories, which are often personal, addressing the human condition
and connections. He has contributed to the likes of the New
Yorker, Esquire, BBC Radio and the Guardian to name a few. He’s a
New York Times best-selling author and Grammy award-winning
comedian with a career that spans from writing to radio, comedy
and playwriting. Despite his grand accomplishments, Sedaris has
remained unbelievably humble.
“I write about my life, and nothing big ever happens to me,”
he says rather nonchalantly over the speakerphone from his
car. Sedaris is quite disciplined in his practice, writing everyday,
explaining he never has to pressure himself to write. “I just write
about my life and then every four years I turn it into a book.” He
explains that he doesn’t necessarily get inspired by environments,
in their physicality; describing living and writing in Paris as “fine,”
the creative spark perhaps instead coming from daily interaction.
Sedaris currently lives in the Horsham District of West Sussex
in England, with his partner Hugh Hamrick. He explains his
enjoyment in being an outsider and how greatly it contributes
to the generation of stories. “I like being, you know, sort of an
outsider. I mean, not fitting in is fine with me. In England, if I were
to keep my mouth shut, who is to know that I’m from somewhere
else but when I don’t, they do. I like (being an outsider), because
sometimes it means you get treated differently.” Sedaris explains
this treatment of being different, whether negative or positive,
makes for good story content. “I always like to be treated poorly,
it’s like somebody handing me money.”
Sedaris, when not writing or contributing to BBC Radio 4, can
be found cleaning the streets surrounding his home. “In England,
everybody just throws things out the car window,” he says. “The
place where I live is just so beautiful, it drives me crazy.” On any
given day, he spends four to eight hours cleaning the streets, on
foot. He counts his steps using a FitBit and estimates he walks
about 15 to 22 miles per day. Sedaris’ environmental contributions
have been documented in form of his town naming a garbage
truck after him, which he further explains in Calypso. “The people
where we live, they think i’m crazy, and you know, maybe they’re
right. There is a great amount of support though.”
Sedaris and his partner have moved around quite a bit; and
while they love their home, he says he’s open to change, especially
if it provides good content. “I wouldn’t
mind moving. I like everything about
it. I like packing, and I’ve never had to
sell a house or anything. We just kind
of keep acquiring them, and then rent
them out after we leave. I wouldn’t
mind moving to Germany, or maybe
Switzerland.”
While Germany, and Switzerland could perhaps be the
locations of perspective stories, Calypso, primarily takes place
in West Essex or back in the U.S. with his family. His stories are
almost always personal, but Calypso features a much more
intimate side of the author. Sedaris talks about about his youngest
sister Tiffany’s death, a suicide which happened just before
she turned 15, as well as the trials and tribulations of aging. He
explains how tightly-knit his family has become since the purchase
of a beach house on the Carolina coast, and the regular pilgrimage
there, a sort of resurgence in tradition of vacations organized by
his late mother, Sharon.
“I got that beach house so my family started spending time
together,” he says. “Then we all started getting together at the
same time. Pretty much every time we’ve gotten together I was
able to write a story about it.” Sedaris paints a beautiful picture
of the beach house in Calypso, which features a collection of
mid-century modern furniture, something which he said was for
the purpose of depicting a house that “fussy homosexuals lived
in.” Sedaris’ particularities, fussiness and behaviors that have been
described as obsessive, lend greatly to his style and general mood
of his writing. With family members aging, specifically his father,
he says there’s something more special with each time they’re able
to spend time together.
“When I see my father I never know when it will be the last
time, and so every conversation you’re thinking to yourself,
‘Should I remember this for the rest of my life? Is this the last time
I am going to talk to him?’ It makes me, in a way, more observant.
Just thinking, every time we are together, it may be the last time
we are all together.” This level of observance around love and
aging in his family can be felt in every story, perhaps rendering his
best work yet. “You know, my siblings are some of my favourite
people,” he says. “I know plenty of nice, good people, but they
aren’t characters. There is a difference between just a good person
and a good character.”
Stories surrounding family, and friends seem to be the focus of
Calypso, but Sedaris explains that he finds stories anywhere there
is absurdity, or the opportunity for it. “If I can see something as
absurd, or something that seems funny to me…” he laughs and
begins to tell a story of a situation in an elevator. “I was with a
friend of mine. We were at the airport, going to get the car and
we get in the elevator and this woman screams ‘Wait!!, HOLD
ON!’ and two little girls run into the elevator, and this woman -
their mother - walks in. She’s got a luggage cart, and she’s looking
behind her and there is her husband and the elevator doors begin
to close […] and as the door begins to close I say...” We won’t spoil
the rest of the tale, as Sedaris says this may become a story in his
next collection; and if it does, we are all most definitely in for a
good laugh.
Sedaris has this unbelievably engaging ability in storytelling. He
transforms the most mundane tasks into adventures that have
you holding onto the arms of your seat in anticipation. His ability
to do this will surely grant us with many more prospective stories
in the future, in his many mediums. “I have a 12-page attention
span, so these essays seem to work for me. I don’t think i’ll ever
write a novel.” he says. “Who knows. I have written three novels so
far, but they are all 12 pages long; they’re all the first chapters of
novels and then I lose interest in them.” While there’s a possibility
of perhaps releasing a full-length novel in the future, Sedaris
says that should his writing career run dry, he would become
an abortionist at sea. He stresses, “Not on land, but at sea — on
the high sea.” He explains it needs to be at sea to avoid laws and
regulations. This would all be done on a vessel he would name
Row v. Wave. “That’s R.O.W-V-W.A.V.E, and i’m going to perform
abortions at sea,” Sedaris laughs. It’s unclear whether a career
change to full-time abortionist and activist at sea is in the cards
for Sedaris, but until then we’ve got a plethora of his short stories
to entertain us.
David Sedaris will be reading excerpts from Calypso and other
stories at the Vogue Theatre, May 13 and 14. Calypso will be
released May 29 via Little, Brown and Company.
May 2018 9