Advertisement

Art & Books

Interview with David Sedaris

SQUIRREL SEEKS CHIPMUNK: A MODEST BESTIARY by David Sedaris (Little, Brown and Company), 159 pages, $23.99 hardcover. Rating: NNNN


Don’t expect a personal journey from David Sedaris’ new book, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk. Don’t even expect a person.

That’s because the book is a “wicked bestiary” in the words of some (UK) publishers. “In England they were concerned that children would read it,” Sedaris tells me as a pair of annoying children screech and run laps near our chairs mid-interview at his Toronto hotel. “They put the ‘wicked bestiary’ subtitle on it, but I don’t think it’s wicked enough to qualify.”

If you’re asking yourself what a wicked bestiary is, think medieval moral-toned short stories involving a zoo of anthropomorphic critters (who are begging for the Fantastic Mr. Fox treatment). They wait in mind-numbing lines, have gossipy hairdressers, are annoyed by vegetarians who eat meat sometimes. They get AIDS. They’re good, bad, and often the grey in between.

It’s the grey that Sedaris says separates his collection from Aesop’s.

“I hesitate to call them fables because fables have morals and these don’t always,” he says adding that fables have a meaning built right into them and while his have meaning the interpretations are up to others.

That’s not to say some stories don’t have a moral. “With the story about the hippopotamus (The Grieving Owl) the moral is ‘to leech his own’,” says the author. For context, it’s a tale that revolves around a hippo’s anal leech-age.

Other stories are morally ambiguous vignettes of lives you’d expect to see lived by quiet suburban neighbours or, in the case of The Faithful Setter, those neighbours’ dogs.

It’s that story Sedaris chose to read to the packed Massey Hall audience the evening of our chat. For a tale that revolves around dedication (with rationalized cheating) to a loveless arranged marriage it still got plenty of howls, which is something that fans should be happy to hear.

The volume is also a savvy way of drawing new fans in (although Sedaris admits he’s not looking to stick with the bestiary theme). Its compact “feebles”, as Sedaris jokingly refers to them, will definitely help wean some people off internet addictions and get them into books again. Sedaris notes one interviewer captured the book well as “bedtime stories for children who drink,” but the short, biting jabs at humanity make great bedtime stories for adults who think, too.

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.