Just out., January 07, 1994, Image 1

P ortland« O regon
INSIDE:
The q u eerest y e a r
y e t f o r m o v ie s
page 16
Heart’s
content
Author David Leavitt
talks about his latest
work, his heroes and
his future
by Grant Michael Menzies
F
or the booklover, it doesn’t
get much better than Powell’s
Books— books surround you
everywhere, on every sub­
ject, rising high to the rafters
and taking you with them. Readers
are drawn here as to a desert oasis.
But then, so are writers. When I
caught up with author David Leavitt,
shortly before he was to read from his
new novel While England Sleeps, his
bright blue eyes were as dazzled by
the place as if it was his first time
there (it was not)—as if his own con­
tributions to literature (Family Danc­
ing, Equal Affections, The Lost Lan­
guage o f Cranes, for starters) haven’t
helped burnish Powell’s to that luster
for which its shelves are so well ad­
mired.
He’s having a miniature leaning
tower of volumes, including some of
the works of the Marquis de Sade,
shipped to his current abode in Italy.
He wants to carry one book with him,
then decides after a painful pause not
to: “I’m bringing too many on the
plane as it is,” admits this die-hard
bibliophile.
“I can find anything here,” he mar­
vels. We are sitting in a quiet corner
of the Purple Room, overlooking an
evening-purpled Portland. Chairs are
being set up nearby in front of the
podium where Leavitt will be read­
ing. Copies of While England Sleeps
are on display.
“I would consider myself a roman­
tic,” says the 32-year-old novelist,
after pausing to digest my comment
on his uncanny way of becoming per­
sonal with, of ‘making love’ to, his
reader. “More than I ever imagined I
would be.
Continued on page 15
LIVI
& DYING
WAR
TI ME
Michael Callen, singer and
activist, left behind a legacy
of hope and inspiration
uhen he died last month.
j j s t o u t presents a
sp cial tribute to the
nan who truly
believed life
is worth
fighting
for.
page
10