By Nicolette Emmino
Two University professors, Martha McPhee and Dana Brand, spoke about their literary works-in-progress and answered questions about the writing process on Wednesday at an English department event in Berliner Hall.
McPhee discussed and read excerpts from her soon-to-be-finished fourth novel, “Dear Money.” The novel reveals the experience of artists living in New York City in a banker’s world and explores the question, “Where does the artist stand in a culture where we value money?”
She said her inspiration to begin the novel came in 2004, from a family member who worked as a trader at Lehman Brothers. In 2006 a trader took her under her wing, allowing McPhee to witness the daily tasks this position entailed.
McPhee stepped out of her element to write this novel about people and a career she had known nothing about.
“I didn’t even know what a bond was,” she joked.
Brand is a memoirist whose recent works include “The Last Days of Shea” and “Mets Fan.” He said his current work in progress was inspired by his fascination with imagination and the way people use it to live their lives. He explained that this project, “Europe on $5 Dollars a Day,” has audiences’ curiosity peeking and skepticism setting in.
Brand said that “Europe on $5 a Day” was the title of the only travel book his parents ever took with them on vacation. The memoir explains the art of travel at different stages in his life.
“It’s funny, but it’s real,” Brand said as he read. “[It] sounds abstract, but it’s actually very concrete.”
McPhee told the audience when she answered a strain of questions that had been pre-written for her.
When discussing the publishing process, McPhee said that it was getting harder and harder to get published. In her experience with getting published, she said that while working on a novel, she sent it out for various reviews and “made every chapter fit the workshop format.”
“Just to see it in print for the first time, it was startling,” she said. “It made me hungry.”