April 25, 2008 08:02 am
—
By DANNY PELLETIER
CHERRY VALLEY — Two aspects
of Dana Spiotta’s personality
appear in her work, both as an
award-winning author and co-manager
of The Rose and Kettle, a
Cherry Valley restaurant she runs
with her husband.
As a restaurateur, Spiotta is like
a hummingbird, zipping from one
table to another, always busy and
on the go.
“It is very engaging in a physical
way,” she said. “I really run around
on a busy night. It gets my adrenaline
going. I also genuinely like service
— I like waiting on people. It
feels very natural for me.”
Owning a restaurant, she added,
is a very social duty that involves
creating a relaxing atmosphere and
making others feel welcome.
Writing, on the other hand, is a
solitary task. For Spiotta especially,
whose history in food service
has given her an eye for detail, creating
a novel takes a lot of time and
attention.
“You live with a novel for years,”
she said. “It is a marriage of sorts,
but it is all in your imagination, so
sometimes you can go a little crazy.”
Her first book, Lightning Field,
and her most recent, Eat the Document,
each took four years to complete.
“I have to work really hard at
it,” she said. “It does not come easy
for me. I have to overcome my own
resistance. I can be distracted. I
can go on wild goose chases. I can
spend a day obsessed over one tiny
thing.”
But the two occupations complement
each other well. Evening
work in the restaurant allows her
to write in the morning. And
though the processes and
achievements are vastly different,
to perform well in either
profession takes a similar
amount of dedication.
“They each require endurance,”
Spiotta said. “I’m not
really fast at anything, but I
endure.”
Spiotta grew up on the
West Coast and attended college
at Washington State,
where she studied literature
and philosophy. In her spare
time, though, she spent her
time reading and studying
great writing, developing her
own written voice. Later, she
spent some time in California,
where she worked as a
managing editor for The
Quarterly, a literary magazine.
“Just trying to figure out
what I liked in a piece of
writing and why I liked it
was valuable,” she said. “I
think my time there gave me
some confidence.”
Has living in this area influenced
her writing at all?
“I love the West Coast,”
she said, “but I prefer the
dramatic seasons we have
here. The long winters are
good for introspection. And
they remind you of time passing,
mortality.”
Her latest novel, ``Eat the
Document’’ (the title comes
from a documentary about
Bob Dylan, chronicling his
transformation from acoustic
folk singer to rock ‘n’ roll musician),
was a finalist for the
National Book Award in
2006. It received glowing reviews
from both the Los Angeles
and New York Times.
The story traces the life of
a political activist who must
abandon her identity after a
Vietnam War protest goes
wrong. It shifts between the
political demonstrations of
the 1970s and the consequences
of these actions in
the 1990s.
``She captures the uneasy
mixture of idealism and selfdramatization
that animated
the antiwar movement of the
1970’s and the myriad ways
in which the politics, music,
technology and language of
that era informed the more
cynical culture of the 90s,’’
wrote Michiko Kakutani in a
book review for the New York
Times.
``We sometimes forget
that the U.S. was founded by
people willing to challenge
the status quo,” Spiotta said.
``I am interested in how difficult
it can be to act on good
intentions, to be a force for
good. I want to write in good
faith about these matters.’’
Spiotta said she chose a
difficult subject matter for
her novel because she likes
to be challenged by her writing.
``I imagine ordinary people
in extreme or dire circumstances,’’
she said. “I also
think a writer’s job is to challenge
his or her own preconceptions
as well as the reader’s.
The more uncomfortable
I am, the better the work is.’’
Spiotta, who is currently
in the process of writing her
third novel, will be reading
from ``Eat the Document’’ at
Hartwick College next
Thursday, April 24. The
reading will be held in Shineman
Chapel at 7 p.m.
Above all, Spiotta relishes
her familial role. Her 4-yearold
daughter is her greatest
inspiration, she said.
``Everything good I accomplish
in either the restaurant
or the writing,” she said,
``comes out of the love I have
for my family.’’
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