I took one look at the pink ribbon-belt of Curtis Sittenfeld's "Prep" in bookstores last spring and cringed with the memory of so many shrieks and plaid kilts of my own prep school education. At the time I couldn't even bear to read my own diary from high school, much less a book that pays such unabashed -- such unnecessary! -- homage to the ribbon belt, oh silliest of prepster foppery.
"Prep" looked to be just another part of one of those passing waves you can easily ignore -- like Good Charlotte -- and when people talk about it years later you can say "I was never into that," and smile from your lazy bubble of trend-free peace.
But prep is not the same as mall goth-dom -- its roots are deeper, its proponents more powerful -- and Sittenfeld's novel made it to The New York Times Best Books of 2005 list.
But of course Sittenfeld's novel is not about J.Crew fanatics; rather, it is all about Lee, a neurotic Midwesterner who thinks about boys a lot and goes to a fancy prep school in Massachusetts. She is as ridiculous as any of us, and yet, we love her. Underneath the ribbon belt and all the neuroses are some rather profound insights and great humor. It's more than you ever thought you could ask from prep school.
I had the privilege of speaking to Sittenfeld on the phone before she came to the University this week. While she said she's grateful for the critical acclaim and the popular reception of "Prep," Sittenfeld said she's pretty much over it. It's almost as if -- God help us -- she's moved on. But she understands about the cover.
CD: "Prep" documents the most shamefully egotistical time in your life (high school) and turns it into something beautiful and hilarious. Do you find writing redemptive?
Sittenfeld: In a way, yes, in the sense that if you're a writer, any experience you have is fodder, even if it's an incredibly negative experience. But I think that most people who read "Prep" assume that it's more autobiographical than it is. It's not as if I'm Lee and as if I finally feel "thank god, I'm vindicated." Lee's story is very much a story that I constructed.
I think that some adults feel very nostalgic about their adolescence. I don't.
CD: The cover is definitely distinctive, but I had a visceral bad reaction to it: "Oh god. Those belts!" Was there any hesitation on your part regarding the cover choice?
Sittenfeld: People say that it makes the book look like something other than it is; you might think that it's a celebration of "Prep" when it's really more of an indictment. But I still like the cover -- it's eye-catching.
My publisher showed me a different cover, which was this stone wall with ivy on it and a bronze plaque that said "Prep." Honestly, it was so hideous that in comparison I loved the belt. It really could have been so much worse.
In the end I think the belt attracts more people than it repels.
CD: Have you ever worn a ribbon belt?
Sittenfeld: I've never worn it, un-ironically ...
CD: I'm curious about your experiences as an English teacher at St. Alban's [Washington, D.C. all-male preparatory school]. You're a big advocate of the five-part essay and structured writing. But do you ever find that these limits confine students perhaps like the rest of prep school?
Sittenfeld: I think it's more important to able to express yourself in a straightforward way than in a poetic way.
You don't need poetry or creativity, but you need clarity just to get by in the world.
CD: Lee is funny and becomes a rather bold character, but she finds herself in an obsessive relationship with a guy who treats her like crap. Do you have any trouble reconciling her behavior? Do you just accept it? Or do you focus on documentation and leave the opinions to the reader?
Sittenfeld: I don't think that fiction is meant to have a little moral lesson -- the kind of fiction that I like, anyway. To me what fiction does is it sort of examines people and why they are the way they are and how complicated the world is. I think Lee definitely acts against her own best interests, but I think that's interesting. I'm not holding her up as the way that someone should act, I'm more saying this could happen. I would never hold her up as a role model. I think as a writer you're kind of delving into human behavior as it really is instead of as people pretend it really is.
It's definitely more documenting than accepting. You just kind of say "this is the way people are." This sounds sort of pretentious, but any writer is striving toward sort of some version of the truth. I know plenty of smart people who've had episodes of self-destructive behavior. ...
There's kind of the way people think things should be and the way they really are, and there's a discrepancy between the two. It's not to say the discrepancy is good or bad, just that it exists. It's interesting. It's real. It's boring to write about people or situations where everything is going well. Almost every story has conflict. I guess with Lee she is almost her own problem.
CD: Is there any type of writing that you'd like to do but haven't done yet, or something that really inspires you?
Sittenfeld: I'm in this phase since "Prep" came out that I have the opportunity to write first-person essays and I'm finding myself kind of boring. I think it's interesting to interview people and go out in the world. I'm looking forward to writing articles that have nothing to do with me.
CD: You do a perfect job of recalling anonymity and the inability to be recognized. Do you like being famous now?
Sittenfeld: [Laughs] I'm totally anonymous like 99.9% of the time. I've been recognized like two or three times. You know Dan Brown, who wrote the "Da Vinci Code"? I tell people: If Dan Brown walked right past you would you know who he was?
I feel anonymous. I'm OK feeling anonymous. Of course it's nice to get recognized and I feel really lucky, but I don't yearn to have a really public life.
It's really different to have someone read something you wrote than have someone be in front of you in the flesh. I would rather be a writer than a celebrity.
It's sort of like if I just sat the couch for the rest of my life I can hold a copy of "Prep" up and say "I did something once," but, honestly, books can go out print. I'm sort of enjoying this for what it is. In a strange way the most satisfying part is ... when it's in the creative process. There's no other moment when it's like official: "I'm a writer. Now I've achieved what I'm meant to achieve." In the end, it really is about the writing.
CD: Was it weird first seeing Prep in bookstores?
Sittenfeld: At first I would almost feel naked. ... But at this point the novelty has worn off.
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