More promiscuity
In an interview last week, I got a question about whether or not Suzanne, the main character in Thief, is promiscuous.
I've blogged about this word, and in replying to the interviewer, I managed to say my piece about how I preferred to think Suzanne saw the promise in people — but I don't think I hid my impatience very well. I'm not even sure what the interviewer meant by the word (or what most people mean), and I didn't have the presence of mind to ask. At what point does someone become promiscuous? After 5 lovers? Ten? One for each year of your age? What's the magic number?
If you'd write back — I think you can do it anonymously, I think I set up that option on the blog — I'd love to know what you think.
All I know is that now that I'm in NYC, walking down the street makes clear what I mean when I say Suzanne sees the promise in people. Just now I went out to get a bagel, and I was taken with any number of people I saw: the wary, long-haired young girl looking sidelong at passersby; the slim-hipped young man in striped, skinny trousers talking on a cell; the trying-too-hard guy in a PVC kilt or skirt wheeling a sky-blue suitcase. Just on my way to get a bagel! I don't mean I want to sleep with them, but I see them and I wonder what their stories are —
And if you see the world that way, and if you find a way to forge a bond with someone and open yourself to him or to her, and if you take pleasure in doing that — or if you're open-hearted and open-legged and go around tasting different things — or if you live through your cunt and your cock and you take in the world and nations that way — is that what makes you promiscuous?
I'm reading and talking tonight at 7pm at Barnes & Noble on 86th & Lexington. See you there?
I have just read your book Thief. Picked it up in a London bookshop having no idea of reviews etc. I thought it was a very good book and very honest and real about women's sexuality - or at least it resonated with my own. Thee are parts so truthful - about the experiences Suzanne does not share with Breville, her masturbation, fantasies etc they are surprising to see in print. Although I don't share all the main charcter's experiences, her attraction to her lovers and relatipnship to sex, to the animal sexual side - is powerful. To relate the whole thing to promiscuity is to stare down the moral lense - the reality is that often our sexual attractions are confounding, powerful and deep, like a swim through the water. One of the most interesting books I have read in ages. Thanks.
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Forgive me for taking so long to reply -- I finally discovered the "reply" option on my blog! Embarassing.
But in the weeks since you wrote, your words have meant a great deal to me. I've sometimes felt out on a limb with this book, and it matters to me that you found the book's depiction of women's sexuality credible and powerful. Makes me feel less alone. And that you say attraction is "confounding" -- I like that. Thanks for writing.
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