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Home / Creative/Critical Graduate Student Spotlight / Conner Bassett

3 Questions with Creative/Critical PhD Student Conner Bassett

Next year a book of poems is coming out. Covid has messed with the publishing schedule so I can't give firm dates on that. Otherwise, I finished my novel and have sent it out into the world, and am at work on a second. I also have poems coming out in The Literary Review and Quarterly West. Recently I’ve been focused on the critical part of my dissertation, which looks at autofiction in the Modernist era. So, I’ve had my head in the early twentieth century. I’m reading a lot of Djuna Barnes, Gertrude Stein, Jean Toomer, and H.D.. Lots of "Collected Letters." Lots of biographies. There are some wonderful (and alas neglected) Modernist autofictional novels. Autofiction is a Modernism, it turns out. H.D., in particular, has become an inspiration for me. I recommend her novel Asphodel. Weird stuff! Also, this year I’ve been participating in a reading group with a handful of brilliant undergraduate students at UCSC. It has been one of the most fruitful and intelligent reading communities in my academic career. Talk about books with your friends. That’s how you save your life. 3 Questions Describe your work in three words/phrases (for instance, “sunsets, mothers, ‘where did I leave my wallet?’) Intimacy and its failures / God(s) / Who goes there? Share your favorite line from your work. I am not being self-effacing when I say I hate to read my own writing. I do hate it. Especially my prose. I’ve heard that Adam Driver refuses to watch his own movies. I heard he left an interview early because he didn’t want to watch himself on screen. Apparently, this is also true of Julianne Moore. I understand that feeling. I’d like to publish a book and never see it again. But for the sake of this question, I’ll say that I like short sentences with firm objects. I like things. I like nouns. Good nouns. Stuff. Firm stuff. Eggs, tables, etc.. Phenomena. I like lists, too. Here are two moments from my novel. 1. The Green Tree grocery store was stocked with organic everything. Grass-fed, grass-finish. Local beets and onions. Organic baby carrots, yogurt from mother's milk. Yogurt from synthetic milk. Guac-Kale-Mole. Vegetable milk. Veganic Sprouted Ancient Maize Flakes. Edible Flowers. Kelp Granules. Wild Salmon Skin. Raw. Unadulterated. Straight-from-the-hive. Root juice. Bean Sauce. Sauce Box. Boxed Water. Pumpkin Spice Rice Milk. Coffee Beer. Beer Wine. Sparkling Wine Water. 2. And then it actually happened: I cut the finger. I did it on purpose this time, though I didn't know what the purpose was. Tell us 1) the most fragrant location (the fragrance can be lovely or putrid, of course) that you’ve ever had the chance to write in, 2) the noisiest site you’ve ever written in, and 3) the softest place you’ve ever written in (can be metaphorical or literal). Whenever I write, my dog is always there. She is the answer to all three questions. She interrupts me. Breathes near me—on me, in my face, etc.. She barks, etc.. She runs to the window. Even now I hear her.

Kristen Nelson
Kirstin Wagner
Emma Wood
Conner Bassett
Mia T. Boykin
Madison McCartha
Thaïs Miller
Nathan Osorio

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Last modified: April 21, 2021 128.114.113.82