Part of my Friday night  was spent dashing between  two PEN World Voices panels.   First, in the old B. Altman department store, now part of CUNY, there was the Sex in Literature panel.   After that, Rushdie.

Had to depart before the Q&A ended to zip up to the 92nd Street Y to try and snag a seemingly  elusive press pass (or last minute ticket; anything!).   Once that was sorted out, I got a seat in the balcony  between the competing scents of a woman wearing Tendre Poison and a man wearing a leather jacket that gave off a very abbatoir-y smell.   (Ugh.)  

As at the previous panel, there was an empty seat on the stage to recognize a Chinese writer who is currently in prison.   It was announced that all three of the “Musketeers” (Umberto Eco, Salman Rushdie and Mario Vargas Llosa) would each read something from one of their books, in the original language.

First up, Sr. Eco (not Mr. Eko), who read a passage from Foucault’s Pendulum in the most mellifluous Italian; it would make you melt.  

Next, Mr. Rushdie read from the chapter of The Enchantress of Florence that was featured in The New Yorker a few months back, to many laughs.  

And finally, MVL read from Travesuras de La  Niña Mala, the chapter about the arrival of the Chilean girls.   Again, much mirth.   He is the trimmest of three gents, and now his slim frame is topped off by a snowy full head of hair.  

The funny thing is, you would think this were a rock concert, to judge by the vibe and dress of many of the women in the lobby before the event.   It must be something  to be so prized for your intellect and creativity that your girth, hair (or lack of) and age don’t enter into the picture, when it comes to what makes you attractive to others….

The three then sat together on the stage, joined by the moderator, WNYC’s Leonard Lopate.   You can hear the entire event here.  

What follows now  are just some quick notes from the rest of the evening:  

• Rushdie’s reference to the  “Oh yes, I remember it well” song from the movie Gigi,
• talk of his  doing a music video with Scarlet Johanssen (wherein he kisses her neck from behind) and his new acting gig as an ob-gyn,
• the long discussion among the three of the writings of Alexandre Dumas, and debating what is good or bad writing, Rushdie saying that JK Rowling must have learned from Dumas (for all her characters’ to and fro about “What shall we do now?”),
• characters who break beyond the bonds of the material they are in (Hawkeye, Sherlock Holmes),
• Rushdie describing Bombay as “a British city built on Indian soil”,
• Eco and Rushdie agreeing that it was good Vargas Llosa lost his bid to be President of Peru or he couldn’t have been present this night (Eco adding “he would have become Richelieu!”),
• the political significance of universities in the US and UK normally being located separate from and outside of major cities (unlike, say, France or Italy) and how that affects writers becoming political figures (or not),
• VL talking about being depressed then grateful that one of his early books was burned – but not banned – in Peru (it became a bestseller),
• Rushdie  calling English  “a very  bendy language” and proceeding to discuss Indian English peculiarities such as “the in-charge” and “encounter” (the police type)  and descriptions of crime such as “the vagabond absconded with the booty.”

After the event,  those who wanted books signed (“No personalizations please!   Two books maximum!”) were ushered into another room and lined up  between ropes as if in the  immigration hall at Newark airport.   Mr. Rushdie was very pleasant, VL looked nonplussed by the whole thing, and Signor Eco, after signing the cover of the program, proceeded to peer over the top of his specs to examine his own photo.

You can see much clearer pix (than the one at the top of this post)  here.  

Quick aside:    Check out the new interior of this bus, seen on the way home later.   (This leads one  to wonder if the congestion pricing motion had passed, what further mischief the MTA would have gotten up to…)