299 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
299 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
culture
|
|
books
|
|
7407242
|
|
-----
|
|
# David Sedaris: The humorist with a heart
|
|
|
|
## David Sedaris's waspish observations make you want to tell all your
|
|
friends about him.
|
|
|
|
![David Sedaris - David Sedaris: the humorist with a heart][1]
|
|
|
|
Reflecting on the human condition: David Sedaris
|
|
|
|
[![][2]][3]
|
|
|
|
By [David Gritten][4] 5:23PM GMT 09 Mar 2010
|
|
|
|
[Comments][5]
|
|
|
|
For someone who sells books by the truckload (almost eight million in 25
|
|
languages) and who can instantly fill theatres with audiences craving to hear
|
|
him read from his work, comic essayist David Sedaris might cut a more
|
|
charismatic figure.
|
|
|
|
Instead, he's short and unremarkable - a man you would look straight through
|
|
in a bus queue. His voice is a little high, and faintly petulant in tone. He
|
|
has a strange, gap-toothed smile, and his body language is unassertive.
|
|
|
|
But Sedaris is a bona fide, if contradictory, phenomenon. He has achieved huge
|
|
popularity while maintaining a low profile. Apart from his readings, he is
|
|
rarely seen in public, and refreshingly has no apparent wish to establish
|
|
himself as a personality.
|
|
|
|
So why is there such a buzz about him? My hunch is that word of mouth plays a
|
|
huge part. Sedaris is a delightful writer, who casts himself self-
|
|
deprecatingly in his waspishly funny essays, yet who gleefully nails the
|
|
outlandish behaviour of other people. And once you're hooked, your impulse is
|
|
to tell everyone else about him.
|
|
|
|
I first encountered Sedaris through the pieces he regularly contributes to the
|
|
New Yorker, renowned as a home for elegant writing. Sedaris is eminently in
|
|
that league; he has a dry, precise style, each word chosen with care.
|
|
|
|
Still, nothing beats hearing Sedaris read Sedaris; the audio book is a perfect
|
|
medium for his virtuosity. A few years back I took a holiday which involved a
|
|
road trip through the back roads of New England, with nine hours of Sedaris as
|
|
in-car entertainment. I had to stop the car twice; literally weeping with
|
|
laughter seemed incompatible with safe driving.
|
|
|
|
And yes, I told everyone I knew about him, and bought Sedaris audio books as
|
|
gifts. This is not uncommon; and at the drop of a hat, his fans will also tell
|
|
you their favourite stories and one-liners.
|
|
|
|
Two of mine fly in the face of political correctness and flirt with bad taste.
|
|
In one New Yorker story, Sedaris and his long-time boyfriend Hugh were both
|
|
living in Paris, and looking for the ideal apartment. They took a trip to
|
|
Amsterdam and visited the Anne Frank House, where Sedaris found himself
|
|
thinking what an adorable place it would be to live, and entertaining notions
|
|
of how he might re-model the kitchen.
|
|
|
|
Then there was his comment about giving up smoking, reluctantly, after 30
|
|
years. He only did so because he likes staying in decent hotels on his book
|
|
tours; and increasingly, decent hotels do not accommodate smokers. "But,"
|
|
Sedaris added gleefully, "I recruited a teenager to take my place."
|
|
|
|
He is 53 and grew up in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina - one of six
|
|
children in a Greek-American family. He has frequently written of them as a
|
|
boisterous bunch: his father a well-meaning philistine who did not remotely
|
|
understand his son and his slovenly mother, a cigarette omnipresent between
|
|
her lips.
|
|
|
|
Sedaris clearly did not fit in, but writes about his discomfort and outsider
|
|
status with wry resignation. Even the moment he came out as gay was
|
|
embarrassing and anti-climactic. While he was hitch-hiking, a married couple
|
|
picked him up in a Cadillac, and the husband urged him to have sex in the car
|
|
with his blowsy wife, who was wearing only a negligee. Revealing that he was
|
|
gay seemed his least offensive excuse.
|
|
|
|
He started keeping a diary when he was 20, and kept it current, despite his
|
|
heavy use of alcohol and drugs. After school, he was effectively a drop-out
|
|
and he did odd jobs - house cleaning, working as a 'Santaland' elf in a
|
|
department store -- and these experiences found their way into his diaries.
|
|
|
|
Sedaris takes a perverse pride in these humble occupations: for a newspaper
|
|
interview last year, he was photographed on the floor of his bathroom,
|
|
scrubbing it clean.
|
|
|
|
His break came when Chicago radio host Ira Glass discovered him, offering him
|
|
a spot reading his diaries on his show. Sedaris graduated to America's
|
|
National Public Radio and soon amassed a devoted following.
|
|
|
|
He has a great way with titles. One of his collections is called,
|
|
irresistibly,** [Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim][6]**. Another title,
|
|
**[When You Are Engulfed by Flames][7]**, was a phrase he encountered in the
|
|
safety regulations in a Hiroshima hotel room.
|
|
|
|
But above all, his observational skills set him apart, whether it's a detailed
|
|
description of a neighbour from hell, a malevolent old woman named Helen who
|
|
lived in his New York apartment building, or his own discomfort at being
|
|
deeply annoyed at a passenger seated beside him on a plane, yet bottling up
|
|
his rage.
|
|
|
|
I'd long assumed that he and Hugh were still living in Paris, the city he
|
|
writes about most often in the New Yorker. But for almost seven years now,
|
|
they have made London their home. Who knew? But then Sedaris stays beneath the
|
|
radar wherever he is: all the better to observe the lives of others.
|
|
|
|
* David Sedaris is at the Leicester Square Theatre, London WC2, Thurs-Sat
|
|
|
|
**Buy _[Naked ][8]_[by David Sedaris][8], now at [Telegraph Book Shop][8]**
|
|
[![][9]][10]
|
|
|
|
[X][11] Share & bookmark
|
|
|
|
Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
|
|
|
|
Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
|
|
|
|
[What are these?][12]
|
|
|
|
* Share: [Share][11] [ ][13] [ ][14]
|
|
|
|
[Tweet][15]
|
|
|
|
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7407242/David-Sedaris-The-humorist-
|
|
with-a-heart.html
|
|
|
|
Telegraph
|
|
|
|
## [Books][16]
|
|
|
|
* ### [Culture »][17]
|
|
|
|
* ### [Culture Critics »][18]
|
|
|
|
* ### [David Gritten »][19]
|
|
|
|
[![telegraph book shop][20]][21]
|
|
|
|
### [Telegraph Book Shop][21]
|
|
|
|
In culture
|
|
|
|
[![Join the Telegraph's Book Club][22]][23]
|
|
|
|
### [Telegraph Book Club][23]
|
|
|
|
[![Festival-goers enjoy the sunny weather][24] ][25]
|
|
|
|
### [Hay Festival 2011 programme][25]
|
|
|
|
[![Michael Morpurgo, the author of War Horse][26] ][27]
|
|
|
|
### [Hay Festival: Work with Michael Morpurgo on a fairy tale][27]
|
|
|
|
[![][28] ][29]
|
|
|
|
### [In Search of a Masterpiece: An Art Lover's Guide to Great Britain and
|
|
Ireland by Christopher Lloyd: review][29]
|
|
|
|
[![][30] ][31]
|
|
|
|
### [Dancing in the Glory of Monsters by Jason K Stearns][31]
|
|
|
|
[X][11] Share & bookmark
|
|
|
|
Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
|
|
|
|
Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
|
|
|
|
[What are these?][12]
|
|
|
|
Share:
|
|
|
|
* [ ][11]
|
|
|
|
* [ ][13]
|
|
|
|
* [ ][14]
|
|
|
|
* [Tweet][15]
|
|
|
|
* Advertisement
|
|
|
|
![][32]
|
|
|
|
telegraphuk
|
|
|
|
Please enable JavaScript to view the [comments powered by Disqus.][33] [blog
|
|
comments powered by Disqus][34]
|
|
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
[Hay Festival on Twitter »][35]
|
|
|
|
[Telegraph Dating][36]
|
|
|
|
* [Men][37]
|
|
|
|
* [Women][38]
|
|
|
|
* [Search for free][39]
|
|
|
|
I am a:
|
|
|
|
Woman Man
|
|
|
|
Looking for:
|
|
|
|
Women Men Men & Women
|
|
|
|
Aged:
|
|
|
|
181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950515253545556
|
|
575859606162636465666768697071727374757677787980818283848586878889909192939495
|
|
96979899100 to 1819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474
|
|
849505152535455565758596061626364656667686970717273747576777879808182838485868
|
|
7888990919293949596979899100
|
|
|
|
Within:
|
|
|
|
5 miles 10 miles 20 miles 40 miles 60 miles 100 miles 200 miles 300 miles
|
|
|
|
UK postcode:
|
|
|
|
Photos only:
|
|
|
|
|
|
[Search more Kindred Spirits][36]
|
|
|
|
Culture Most Viewed
|
|
|
|
* TODAY
|
|
|
|
* PAST WEEK
|
|
|
|
* PAST MONTH
|
|
|
|
1. [Gil Scott-Heron, the 'Godfather of Rap' behind The Revolution Will Not
|
|
Be Televised, dies][40]
|
|
|
|
2. [Cheryl Cole in talks with over return to UK X Factor][41]
|
|
|
|
3. [Grease actor Jeff Conaway dies][42]
|
|
|
|
4. [How I fell back in love with Television][43]
|
|
|
|
5. ['Margaret Thatcher' actress Janet Brown dies][44]
|
|
|
|
1. [Cannes 2011: Peter Fonda calls Obama a 'traitor'][45]
|
|
|
|
2. [Joely Richardson breaks silence over family scandal claims][46]
|
|
|
|
3. [Cheryl Cole out of American X Factor 'over accent fears'][47]
|
|
|
|
4. [Kate Middleton shows that this Sloane obsession with fake tan has got to
|
|
stop][48]
|
|
|
|
5. [Cheryl Cole 'replaced' as judge on US X Factor][49]
|
|
|
|
1. [Cannes 2011: Peter Fonda calls Obama a 'traitor'][45]
|
|
|
|
2. [Eurovision Song Contest 2011: review][50]
|
|
|
|
3. [Joely Richardson breaks silence over family scandal claims][46]
|
|
|
|
4. [Horoscopes: Catherine Tennant looks at the week ahead][51]
|
|
|
|
5. [Why I miss that old meanie Simon Cowell][52]
|
|
|
|
TELEGRAPH BOOKS: BESTSELLERS
|
|
|
|
### [][16]
|
|
|
|
**[1. The Best of Matt][53]**
|
|
|
|
**[2. I Could Go On... Unpublished Letters to the Daily Telegraph][54]**
|
|
|
|
**[3. Matt: Super-Slim Calendar 2011][55]**
|
|
|
|
**[4. Am I Alone in Thinking...][56]**
|
|
|
|
**[5. Gardener's Diary 2011][57]**
|
|
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
Classified Advertising
|
|
|
|
* [Culture][58]
|
|
|
|
* [Fine Arts][59]
|
|
|
|
* [Events][60]
|
|
|
|
Loading
|
|
|
|
var puffs_8120648 = new Array();
|
|
|