Yukking it up with Joyce Carol Oates and Elmore Leonard

Joyce Carol Oates and Elmore Leonard might seem like a couple of serious authors who are grim or dour or even severe. But the New Yorker Festival proved that not to be the case. Their panel, "The Devil Within" (certainly a terrifying enough topic) with Matthew Klam, moderated by Daniel Zalewski, was "a light, lively, and amusing affair." We'll have to take the word of blog emdashes, because if a video is coming, it isn't yet online.

Without ever dwelling on it or even stating it explicitly, all three panelists acknowledged to the desirability of complexity as well as the enduring power of the thriller genre. All three either disavowed the reality of "evil" or described it as yet another mundane by-product of human existence. Of his famous baddies, Leonard mused that he'll think of one he's creating "as a kid. He's a bully, he's a cheater. He doesn't get along with very many people. And then I let him grow up."

Happiest when his readers squirm, Klam offered, by way of Shalom Auslander, that "Light and Dark are buddies, and they hang out after work." For her part, Oates, astonished at Klam's glowing words about her book Do With Me What You Will, insisted that she is more accustomed to the critical reception of her cat, who has shown little interest in her works....

It was a session so loose, you'd have thought alcohol had helped it along.

That's the kind of surprising conversation I hope for in panels (but that happens less often than I'd like). The New Yorker Festival continues today and tomorrow, but it's impossible to tell from its website whether upcoming events are sold out. Craigslist has some ticket exchanges happening, though -- who knows, you might find just the right ticket for just the right panel at just the right last minute.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photos: Matthew Klam by Marion Ettlinger /  Elmore Leonard from ElmoreLeonard.com / Joyce Carol Oates by Mariot Ettlinger.