Splicetoday

Pop Culture
Apr 15, 2017, 07:00AM

Especially in Public

A 2017 L.A. Review of Books interview with author Ottessa Moshfegh vs. a 2010 Purple magazine interview with musician Kim Gordon.

Screen shot 2017 04 14 at 2.10.05 pm.png?ixlib=rails 2.1

Ottessa Moshfegh: A lot of life doesn’t go anywhere, and what’s interesting is what happens on the inside in that time.

Kim Gordon: [Laughs] I came here to escape all that.

Moshfegh: Well, first of all, it needs to suck you in.

Gordon: That’s what happens with everything.

Moshfegh: Which means I’ve written, like, four essays.

***

Gordon: You know, there is a point when it doesn’t really matter how good the record we do is.

Moshfegh: People don’t really care.

Gordon: Especially in public. It’s more interesting to fight against something.

Moshfegh: That’s scary and cool and mysterious and fun.

Gordon: Sure.

***

Moshfegh: Wrapped up in that are questions about his virility, his sexuality, and how he measures up to his brother, who he sees as an oaf, but also more of a man than he is.

Gordon: Maybe he just wanted to be rich.

Moshfegh: Do we give ourselves permission to grow?

Gordon: Yeah, just to make things more confusing.

Moshfegh: I think it’s mostly just capitalism.

Discussion

Register or Login to leave a comment