Peter and Rebecca Harris: mid-forties denizens of Manhattan’s SoHo, nearing the apogee of committed careers in the arts—he a dealer, she an editor. With a spacious loft, a college-age daughter in Boston, and lively friends, they are admirable, enviable contemporary urbanites with every reason, it seems, to be happy. Then Rebecca’s much younger look-alike brother, Ethan (known in the family as Mizzy, “the mistake”), shows up for a visit. A beautiful, beguiling twenty-three-year-old with a history of drug problems, Mizzy is wayward, at loose ends, looking for direction. And in his brother-in-law's presence, Peter finds himself questioning his artists, their work, his career—the entire world he has so carefully constructed.Like his Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Hours, Michael Cunningham’s new book is a heartbreaking look at the way we live now. Feeling shocks and aftershocks, readers will think deeply about the uses and meaning of beauty.
Michael Cunningham was raised in Los Angeles and lives in New York City. He is the bestselling author of The Hours, which won both the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award and was adapted into an Academy Award–winning film; A Home at the End of the World; Laws for Creations; Specimen Days; Flesh and Blood; and By Nightfall. He is the recipient of a Whiting Writer's Award. He is a Professor at Brooklyn College for the M.F.A program.
Krasny and Cunningham discuss By Nightfall, marriage and the art world.
Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Michael Cunningham discusses his latest, By Nightfall. It tells the story of Peter and Rebecca Harris: mid-forties denizens of Manhattan’s SoHo, with successful careers in the arts. All goes awry when Rebecca’s wayward, much younger brother, who has a history of drug problems, shows up for a visit.
The two discuss their new books and how they met.
The two discuss youth, how to inhabit characters, and the worst question to ask an author.
The two discuss writing fiction, MFA programs, and the importance of rigor.
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