Hooves on the Turf

As pedestrians walked past the McNally Robinson book store in Soho, they stumbled a few paces back and forth. Beaming from the other side of the glass front was an engaged throng of faces. They had stuffed themselves into the store’s cafe area, late comers sprawling wherever there was space. Visible to the outsider was the strong back of a woman in a green sweater, whose face, unknown to him, was where all eyes in the room fell. Some bent their head whichever way against the glass until they recognized author Zadie Smith, and a few amongst them had even a point-and-shoot handy. We were monkeys in a zoo, gathered to hear authors Zadie Smith and Gary Shteyngart read from Gregor von Rezzori’s , Memoirs of an Anti-Semite; the novel has been re-issued by New York Review of Books, with an introduction by Deborah Eisenberg that Zadie Smith described as “brilliant”.

Continued, and more photos, inside.

Author Erica Jong was scheduled to introduce the two, but the birth of twins from her daughter led to her absence; Edwin Frank, editor of the New York Review of Books Classics series, took up the task instead. Zadie Smith read from an early chapter, and Gary Shteyngart picked an episode in which the young narrator, after knocking himself out from a fall, finds himself in the arms of his Jewish employer, known about town as “the black widow”. In spite of bronchitis and a series of other -tises he claimed to be suffering from, Shteyngart was an especially animated reader. He also explained the popularity of the book’s title; strangers on the train had often told him excitedly, “I’m an anti-Semite too!”.

Gary and Zadie:

Gary Shteyngart and Zadie Smith:

Edwin Frank:

Also in attendance were other authors, including Mary Gaitskill.