Meaningless Banter

Today Monica told me about this guy who's going to speak at the library conference. She's really looking forward to hearing him speak and eagerly wishes to meet him. He's some writer named Ivan Large. Sounds made-up if you ask me. A lot of these writers use pseudonyms. Anyway, he's this avant-garde novelist and he's supposed to be giving a speech about the future of literature. I've never heard of him, even though I was an English major (albeit years ago), but he's apparently hot with the more literary set of the hipster crowd (of which Monica, as I've alluded to before, is decidedly a member).

Monica showed me an online video of Ivan Large making an appearance on a local talk show somewhere. He is a very odd man. He's quite thin and completely bald, and was wearing a black turtleneck, black jeans, and black-framed glasses. During this whole video clip he sat back in his chair with his legs crossed and his hands clasped around his knee, and leaned his head to one side. I mean his head was practically sideways. He sounded like a bit of a nihilist, yet displayed a cheerful, smiling disposition. At one point the host asked Mr. Large about the meaning of his latest novel (Harmless Banter). The author leaned his head way over to the right and said with a grin, "Allow me to let you in on a little secret, Mike."

The host, one of these local-television celebrity types with perfect hair and seemingly made of plastic, leaned forward earnestly.

After a dramatic pause, Mr. Large said, "Meaning... doesn't really mean anything."

Mike, the host, sat back as though floored by the profundity. And--this is what really got me--keep in mind this was no university symposium, but a local television talk show--the audience cheered. I was flabbergasted. Mike, aka Mr. Plastic, shook his head with a chuckle and said, "Whoa! Now that's deep!" The audience continued to cheer. "Deep!" repeated Mike.

Whatever. I don't know if this guy is a hack or if he's just a bit zany, but I'm intrigued enough, or perhaps just morbidly curious enough, that I'm thinking I might check out a copy of Harmless Banter. Should be interesting to see him at the conference.