Spring Break
Author Laurie Stone reads, speaks at UConn
James Zipadelli
Issue date: 2/19/03 Section: News
Short-story author and novelist Laurie Stone read two of her stories at the Co-op Monday night.
A majority of her stories are non-fiction. One piece is part of what she calls "memoir stories." The other story that she read was about her mother and how Stone could not, "hold on to her resistance to her because she is falling apart."
Her first story, "The Ohio Experiment," has not been finished. In it, she talks about a man she loved that died of bone marrow cancer about 10 years ago, named Gardner.
"Before Gardner, there were a succession of partners for most of my adult life, that gave me anchorness, to a sort, and gave me a line as to who I really am," Stone said.
According to Stone, these stories are "about the loss of narcissistic fantasies about myself or some kind of vanity that has to be removed, or about recognition that has to be given up."
"The Ohio Experiment" is about how Stone became involved in a strange relationship with a man named Adam.
After leaving him, Stone decided that she wanted to turn over a new leaf and became the "new Laurie."
Stone describes the story as the "colossal failure" to make any sort of change.
The second story, "Youth's Body," Stone said the resistance that she felt toward her mother because she was falling apart. It will be published in the next issue of Three Penny Review.
Although she did not see her mother often, she talked about how vibrant her mother looked at 80.
Stone said after her mother had pneumonia at 84, she looked awful in every aspect, except her personality.
At 87, she took her mother to the Noya Gallery to see some artwork by Germans and Austrians, which her mother claimed were done by Nazis.
"Age was taking its undeniable toll [at 87]," Stone said. "She finally had wrinkles, creases around eyes, and she lost inches from her height."
However, she had been a beauty well past middle age. Her father was successful too, but they never forgot their roots of poverty, where seven children were forced to live in two rooms.
Stone was the winner of the 1996 National Book Critics Circle Award and is the author of three novels: Starting with Serge, Close to the bone: Memoirs of Hurt, Rage and Desire and Laughing in the Dark: A decade of Subversive comedy.
She has been widely published in magazines like Tikkum and Ms. Magazine. She has also been a columnist of the Village Voice for 25 years.
A majority of her stories are non-fiction. One piece is part of what she calls "memoir stories." The other story that she read was about her mother and how Stone could not, "hold on to her resistance to her because she is falling apart."
Her first story, "The Ohio Experiment," has not been finished. In it, she talks about a man she loved that died of bone marrow cancer about 10 years ago, named Gardner.
"Before Gardner, there were a succession of partners for most of my adult life, that gave me anchorness, to a sort, and gave me a line as to who I really am," Stone said.
According to Stone, these stories are "about the loss of narcissistic fantasies about myself or some kind of vanity that has to be removed, or about recognition that has to be given up."
"The Ohio Experiment" is about how Stone became involved in a strange relationship with a man named Adam.
After leaving him, Stone decided that she wanted to turn over a new leaf and became the "new Laurie."
Stone describes the story as the "colossal failure" to make any sort of change.
The second story, "Youth's Body," Stone said the resistance that she felt toward her mother because she was falling apart. It will be published in the next issue of Three Penny Review.
Although she did not see her mother often, she talked about how vibrant her mother looked at 80.
Stone said after her mother had pneumonia at 84, she looked awful in every aspect, except her personality.
At 87, she took her mother to the Noya Gallery to see some artwork by Germans and Austrians, which her mother claimed were done by Nazis.
"Age was taking its undeniable toll [at 87]," Stone said. "She finally had wrinkles, creases around eyes, and she lost inches from her height."
However, she had been a beauty well past middle age. Her father was successful too, but they never forgot their roots of poverty, where seven children were forced to live in two rooms.
Stone was the winner of the 1996 National Book Critics Circle Award and is the author of three novels: Starting with Serge, Close to the bone: Memoirs of Hurt, Rage and Desire and Laughing in the Dark: A decade of Subversive comedy.
She has been widely published in magazines like Tikkum and Ms. Magazine. She has also been a columnist of the Village Voice for 25 years.