By Nicolette Emmino

The University presented its latest installment of the Great Writers, Great Readings series on Wednesday,

featuring short story author, Deborah Eisenberg. The Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater, where Ms. Eisenberg read excerpts from her short story entitled, “Some Other, Better Otto,” was occupied to approximately 75 percent capacity, a good turn out in comparison to previous events of this nature. Most of the attendees were students and

faculty of the University; however, there were a few neighborhood residents who came to support the author.

Eisenberg was introduced by a past student of hers who said the aspect of her writing that is most intriguing is the “fierceness” it holds. Eisenberg’s

reading also evoked much laughter from her audience. The story’s main character, a sixty-year-old man named Otto, was cynical and sarcastic and the author portrayed him as such. Her story related to many

audience members with its family dynamics and theme of family dysfunction. When asked if the family in her story was one that she knew, she said, “everyone in the world has a family, it is not my family though.”

As she read her “short” story she joked with the audience, “This is a very long story, many things happen in this story, and I’m just going to skip them.” She also added that the story was “so much about latitude and possibility of one’s choices.”

Eisenberg received a Rea Award in 2000 for her

contribution to the short story genre. She currently teaches at the University of Virginia, and her work consists of four short story collections, her latest being “Twilight of the Superhereos,” published in 2006, which was available for purchase after her reading.

Eisenberg is well known for writing in a third person that reads like a first person.

“When I write, I like to go back and forth,” she said. “It is a long time before I settle in a person. I switch back and forth until I find comfortable footing.” She added that first person was easier for her.

When asked about her choice to write short stories as opposed to novels or poetry, she said that she likes the compression and layering of the short story.

“People more inclined to the novel have a very strong narrative arc,” she said.

She also shed her wisdom on aspiring writers. “Don’t lose your nerve. Listen carefully to what your mind is telling you, and be patient.”

Short story author Deborah Eisenberg (above) was featured as the newest writer in the “Great Writers, Great Readers” series. (Erin Furman)