Happy September, my fellow Germs! It’s hard to believe it’s September already. I hope that everyone enjoyed their summer and that the start of school will greet you with new and positive things. To help ease you into the school months, this month’s Belle Lettres is Mary Gaitskill.
Gaitskill is a novelist and an author of essays and short stories. Her debut book, Bad Behavior, is her most critically acclaimed work. It was praised by then reviewer Michiko Kakutani for being “Pinteresque” and having “radar-perfect detail.”
Born in Lexington, Kentucky, on November 11, 1954, Gaitskill attended the University of Michigan, where she was a recipient of the Hopwood Award and received a B.A.
At 18, Gaitskill decided to make writing a career because she felt “indignant about things — it was the typical teenager sense of ‘things are wrong in the world and I must say something.'” Gaitskill published her first book, Bad Behavior, in 1988 through Simon & Schuster. Bad Behavior is a collection of stories that showcases the “flaws” of the characters, whether dangerous or ridiculous, as well as their vulnerability.
Before publishing the book, Gaitskill had sent the stories separately to different magazines. All of them turned her down, much to the dismay of her two agents (the first one quit), because they claimed that the characters were depressing. Gaitskill said that, in hindsight, the stories of Bad Behavior work well together because they speak to one another.
Gaitskill released her first novel, Two Girls, Fat and Thin, in 1991. The novel centers around the “fat” Dorothy Storm and the “thin” Justine Shade. At first glance, it seems as though Dorothy and Justine are from two very different backgrounds. Dorothy is a Wall Street Processor and follower of Anna Granite (a not-so-hidden reference to Ayn Rand). Justine is a part-time secretary who writes for a tabloid based on the Village Voice. When investigating Granite’s followers, Justine’s and Dorothy’s worlds come together. It is through this encounter that the two characters realize the many parallels between their lives. Justine and Dorothy have more in common than their outward appearances would suggest.
Gaitskill released another collection of stories called Because They Wanted To in 1997 as well as another novel, Veronica. Set in New York during the 1980s, Veronica follows the lives of Alison and Veronica. Alison is a model who is abandoned by the fashion industry, and Veronica is a proofreader whose style choices blend odd and elegant. Veronica also has AIDS. Gaitskill once again weaves together two characters who appear to have nothing in common. Both Alison and Veronica were involved in a world (the fashion industry) that rejected them and left them in pain.
Illness is another major theme in the novel, with Veronica fighting and eventually passing from AIDS and with Alison learning to cope with Hepatitis C. It is through their mutual feelings of pain, rejection, and abandonment that Alison and Veronica are able to find a friendship within each other. According to Alison, “I was saved by another demon, who looked on me with pity, and so became human again. And because I pitied her, in return, I was allowed to become human too.” Veronica was a National Book Award Nominee and a National Book Critics Circle Finalist in 2005.
In 2002, “Secretary,” a short story featured in Gaitskill’s Bad Behavior, was made into a film starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader. Gaitskill had described the film as “the Pretty Woman version; heavy on the charm and a little too nice.” However, Gaitskill also stated that with “Secretary” becoming a film, it helped her not only financially, but it also helped her writing gain more exposure to a new audience.
Gaitskill’s work has been featured in Esquire, Harper’s Magazine, and The New Yorker. In the March 1994 issue of Harper’s Magazine, Gaitskill published an essay titled “On Not Being a Victim,” in which she tells her story of being raped at sixteen and later feeling conflicted about the experience.
She married fellow writer Peter Trachtenburg in 2001, but they separated in 2010. Gaitskill currently teaches literature at Claremont McKenna College in California.
What stands out in Gaitskill’s writing is the blunt way in which she tackles taboo subjects, such as prostitution, sadomasochism, and addiction. Her characters use sex to understand their issues, and the results are not fairytale happy; they’re not supposed to be. When discussing the character Debby from “Secretary” (the story, not the film), Gaitskill said, “The heroine is an usual combination of very weak and very strong that I consider very realistic and not often depicted.”
Gaitskill reminds the reader that battling your inner conflicts is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of vulnerability, which is a very strong and very human trait to possess.