Ramapo hosts Sam Lipsyte as part of Readings at Ramapo series

Author Sam Lipsyte visited Ramapo last Thursday as a part of the College’s Readings at Ramapo Series. Members of the Ramapo College community filled into the H-Wing auditorium to listen in and ask questions.

Professor of creative writing Hugh Sheehy introduced Lipsyte with anecdotes of their first meetings at a writers conference in Russia and spoke about Lipsytes work. 

“Lipsyte represents, I think, the convergence of two important literary traditions,” Sheehy said. “He’s widely recognized as a stylist who worked with the famous or maybe infamous, depending on who you talk to, Gordon Lish, and his ability to use repetition and sound to grow both style and story is evident in just about any sample of his writing.”

Sheehy read an excerpt from Lipsytes “Ode to Oldcorn,” noting how Lipsyte combines the comedic and the satirical to move his readers. 

“The fiction is very, very good, not only as literature, but as a kind of medicine for times like these,” Sheehy said. 

Lipsyte is the author of the novel “The Ask,” and he has also authored multiple short story collections such as “The Fun Parts” and “Venus Drive.” Lipsyte has been published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Esquire, Tin House and many more. 

Lipsyte read excerpts from his work “Friend of the Pod,” a book that was commissioned by Emma Cline for Gagosian’s Picture Books, a publication that prints fiction alongside artwork. The piece was paired with a photograph by Jordan Wolfson. 

The story follows an aspiring writer named Jason who has been bouncing between jobs. He works for various companies doing creative work in media organizations or pursuing freelance opportunities. Jason lands a position producing a podcast for Ted Goldsworthy where he must commute to New Jersey. 

As Lipsyte read, he skipped over some parts of the narrative, filling the audience in between sections. 

At the end of the reading, Lipsyte took questions from the audience about his cure for writer’s block, where he gets ideas for his fiction and the distinction between a short story and a novella. Lipsyte talked about how, for him, writer’s block stems from not wanting to make a decision about the narrative. 

“I’m not being brave and I’m not making a call,” Lipsyte said. “It’s not ‘blocked,’ I’m just spinning my wheels.”

 

jhammer@ramapo.edu

 

Featured photo by Jessica Hammer