Caitlin Horrocks

Caitlin Horrocks's new novel is The Vexations.

From her NPR Q&A with Scott Simon:

SIMON: What makes someone from Grand Rapids want to write about Erik Satie?

HORROCKS: As a piano student, my teacher assigned me one of the "Gymnopedies." And as a kid, I just immediately loved it. I thought, I have a new favorite piece. I have a new favorite composer. I really loved that elegant melancholy that you just heard. But when I looked at more pieces, I - very quickly I was running into things like "Flabby Preludes (For A Dog)" or "Dried Embryos," one of which contains essentially lines of dialogue from the point of view of a sea cucumber. And as an aspiring pianist, I was annoyed. (Laughter) I was disappointed.

SIMON: Yeah.

HORROCKS: And it raised the question, though, of who was this person who had created this handful of very beautiful pieces and then this other more playful, more experimental work? And I just held onto...[read on]

Visit Caitlin Horrocks's website.

--Marshal Zeringue