More Interesting Bio
“A bio just
listing your publication credits and prizes
is just
the kind of boring bio that Jim doesn’t want.”
—Halvard Johnson
Lynda Schor enjoys
disturbing people with her writing. She loves to
tackle subjects that
no one else wants to look at. When she gives a
reading she embarrasses
everyone including herself. She writes about
sex a lot, which
in her hands becomes either disgusting or rote. She’s
been labeled a pornographer
perhaps because her descriptions of sexuality
of depictions of
sex are detailed, yet entirely anti-romantic. Her writing
can turn you on and
make you laugh at the same time, or disgust you
and turn you on at
the same time as she satirizes everything, including satire.
If you search Schor’s
name on the internet you’ll come across a critical
article by a neo-Nazi,
calling her, along with Gloria Steinem and other
well-known feminists,
a “Jewish feminist guru.” This made her nervous
for a minute and
brought home something she’d known—that you can’t
control public opinion.
Some comments about her books, APPETITES, and TRUE LOVE & REAL ROMANCE:
“Schor emphasizes the ridiculous, but she is a serious satirist of the
transactions between the sexes.”
--Ann Barr Snitow
“Lynda Schor reminds me of Fellini more than any other artist I can
think of.”
--Jane Lazarre
“Few writers manage to be witty and hilarious at the same time,
but Lynda Schor is.”
--Nora Sayre
SEX
Schor writes about
sex because it’s there, and because it used to be so hidden
it was really fun
because being open about it really bothered people. Though
not hidden now, it’s
still a good way to reveal characters at their most naked
and vulnerable.
Sex is also a great way to expose disturbing aspects of gender
relations.
She’ll tell you more about her own sex life than you ever want to know
in a memoir she’s
writing about that. Or you can speak to her privately.
MARRIAGE
Schor has been married
four times. Her current last name belongs to one of her
former husbands—she’s
not sure which. Her many attempts at a successful
marriage can be blamed
on optimism. Or sheer stupidity, and an inability to
learn from mistakes.
However each mate choice had something different wrong
with him. One
had sexual issues, another was insane, another merely cruel, and
selfish as an infant.
They each had some positive qualities but it’s hard to recall
what they were.
(For more details about these husbands, refer to Schor’s fiction,
which is very autobiographical.)
Her currant husband Hal is the best of a bad lot.
Hal and Lynda have
decided to remain married to each other no matter what—finally
a triumph of lethargy
over optimism.
She has three children,
all unplanned. But she embraced these kids along with all the
other delights that
came from an attitude that too much control can lead to an arid life.
She has often gone
along with events and relationships she suspected she shouldn’t
simply because she
was curious to see what would happen. Once in awhile she is asked
whether having three
children caused her to write less. She thinks probably, but she’s
not sure. How
does one know how much one would have written had circumstances
been different?
In fact Schor is perversely attracted to distractions of any kind.
Perhaps
more negative for
her writing were her attempts at relationships, and her lack of money.
Spending enormous
time and energy on one’s children isn’t nearly as destructive to
writing as having
to have a series of low-paying, demeaning, and as far as she can see,
almost totally useless
jobs.
EXERCISE & DIET
Despite our country’s
obsession with exercise and firm bodies, Schor’s favorite activity
is reclining on a
couch or bed. Things she does on her couch or bed: sleep, eat,
fool
around, read, write,
play with the cat, do minimal leg exercises.
She is positive that
our current embrace of minimalism and spare, pared-down writing
styles is related
to the current penchant for thinness and for the hardbody. “Minimalism
is more like a literary
eating disorder than a style,” she says. While not anorexic or
bulimic, Schor thinks
about food at least fifteen hours a day. Some of that time is
spent thinking about
what to buy, what to cook, how and when to cook it, what meals
to make before what
she bought spoils, and then she thinks about all the many foods she
desires. She
has no idea when she’s full; she eats until there’s nothing left.
She
wonders whether she
is ever satisfied. It’s fitting that her first published book is
called
APPETITES.
TV
Now that her children
are grown Schor watches a lot of TV with her husband. It’s a
fairly stressless
way of being with someone and also feeling that you’re doing something.
It’s one of the best
ways to procrastinate next to reading the New York Times in great
detail, or answering
email. Another fine way to put off writing? By eating.
BODY IMAGE
Schor’s sense of how
she looks is very subjective and changes from moment to moment.
Her edges seem permeable,
always readjusting. Sometimes she feels as if she needs to
wear tight clothing
in order to hold her body together so that she doesn’t spill sloppily all
over the room.
At other times tight clothing will make her feel like a sausage.
She often
sees herself as very
short and wide. At those times she might purchase clothes that are
much too large for
her. Once in awhile she’ll feel slender and long-legged, only to
have the
truth (is it the
truth?) revealed in some window or other reflective surface.
TRUTH OR FICTION
How much of her writing
is autobiographical? Some stories are more and some are less.
An average percentage
of 77.5 would be about right.