Nicole Krauss opens the door to 'Great House'
Long-time Beth Am librarian in Miami Etta Gold introduced award-winning, bestselling author Nicole Krauss to a packed house at the 2011 Miami Book Fair International, where she thanked her fans, but warned them not to confuse her with Nicola Kraus, the co-author of The Nanny Diaries. Beginning with a short story she had published about an enormous desk, which a Chilean poet had given to a young woman poet before disappearing in Pinochet's infamous political purge, Krauss described how the story, anchored by the enormous desk, inspired her to write Great House (W.W. Norton; September, 2011), juxtaposing the stories of four characters whose lives intersect in patterns of longing and loss. Krauss wrapped her presentation with a reading of a passage from the book featuring the character Aaron's letter to his estranged son before taking questions from the audience on the origins of the novel's title; the novel's apparent symbolism; her process of story development and connecting emotional patterns; her lack of a desire to entertain so much as to write about honest, disturbing characters; the reverberating patterns in parent-child relationships and Pinochet's nightmarish regime in Chile; the tenderness and significance of Aaron's voice; the difference between an author and a writer; and the influences and work of Chilean novelist Roberto Bolano.
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Nicole Krauss opens the door to 'Great House'
