Louise Erdrich on Her New Story Collection and the Mystery of Writing
3/13/202634 min
Since the publication of her first novel, “Love Medicine,” in 1984, Louise Erdrich has written fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children’s books. Her work has earned multiple awards, including the National Book Award (“The Round House”) and the Pulitzer Prize (“The Night Watchman”).
On this week’s episode, Erdrich talks with Gilbert Cruz, the editor of The New York Times Book Review, about her new short story collection, “Python’s Kiss.” She reflects on some of the formative experiences that shaped her as a writer, including watching “Planet of the Apes” and growing up in North Dakota, a state that housed hundreds of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
She says that writing has been her “only real way of processing” her experiences and that her creative process is full of mystery.
“There’s really no way to control everything that happens in a piece of art. Some of these stories — I wasn’t sure that I had written it,” she said, adding: “And yet, obviously, it was in my handwriting.”
Plus, Erdrich recommends the one book that always puts her to sleep.
Books discussed on this episode:
“Animal Farm,” by George Orwell
“Brawler,” by Lauren Groff
“Winter in the Blood,” by James Welch
“The Pillow Book,” by Sei Shōnagon
“The Death of the Heart,” by Elizabeth Bowen
“Save Me, Stranger,” by Erika Krouse
“The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison
“Austerlitz,” by W.G. Sebald
“The Rings of Saturn,” by W.G. Sebald
“Whistler,” by Ann Patchett
“Make the Golf Course a Public Sex Forest,” published by Maitland Systems Engineering
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsLauren Dragan0:00
Hey, it's Lauren Dragon from Wirecutter, the product recommendation service from The New York Times, and I test headphones. We basically make our own fake sweat and spray it over and over on these headphones to see what happens to them over time. We're gonna put on some noise-canceling headphones and see how well they actually block out the sounds. I have 3,136 entries in my database. Kids, workout. What version of Bluetooth? At Wirecutter, we do the work so you don't have to. For independent product reviews and recommendations for the real world, come visit us at nytimes.com/wirecutter.
Gilbert Cruz· Host0:30
I was gonna ask you about one story in particular, The Love of My Days, um, that I, I read somewhere was written over eight years. It's a 10-page story. What, what are you doing to these stories over that time? Like, are, are you leaving them for a year? Are you coming back and changing a sentence? What is the work that is being done on them?
Louise Erdrich· Guest0:50
Well, it's hard to know about this story because I started it, you know, quite a while ago, and then I put it away. I didn't even know I had it. And I think I was changing from Microsoft to Pages. [laughs] [laughs] I thought, "What is this?"
Gilbert Cruz· Host1:07
That's, that's the real truth right there.
Louise Erdrich· Guest1:10
What is this? There it is. That's, that's, that's how it came to be.
Gilbert Cruz· Host1:13
[upbeat music] It's The Book Review from The New York Times. I'm Gilbert Cruz, and today on the show, we are talking to Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Louise Erdrich. Since the publication of her first novel, Love Medicine, in 1984,