By THIRSTY
Jerome
Charyn’s new book, JERZY, is a stark,
engrossing novel about the rise and fall of celebrated author Jerzy Kozinski
whose life was deeply affected by World War II, the Holocaust, the Soviet
Union, literary awards, fame and by the film, Being There, that he wrote and that starred Peter Sellers.
With
over fifty books to his credit, Jerome Charyn has been called “one of the most
important writers in American literature” by Michael Chabon. In recent years,
he has written about such legendary figures as Emily Dickinson, Abraham Lincoln
and Joe DiMaggio as he “skillfully breathes life into historical icons” with
his “resourceful
imagination and always-colorful, punchy, provocative prose.”
Two
of Charyn’s memoirs were named New York
Times Book of the Year and he has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner
Award for Fiction. He received the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of
Arts and Letters and has been named Commander of Arts and Letters by the French
Minister of Culture. He was Distinguished Professor of Film Studies at the
American University of Paris until he left teaching in 2009. In addition to his
writing and teaching, Charyn is a tournament table tennis player and was once
ranked in the top 10 percent of players in France.
Stay Thirsty Magazine was
privileged to visit with Jerome Charyn at his home in New York for this
Conversation about JERZY.
STAY THIRSTY: What drew you to write a novel that explored the complicated
persona and life of writer Jerzy Kosinski?
JEROME CHARYN: I had republished some of his novels for a small Swiss
publisher and the more I thought about him, the more intrigued I became. He was
like a hunchback with an invisible hump. I adored Steps when I read it. I thought it was the
saddest book ever
written about growing up in one of the East European wastelands after the war.
It was a merciless book, and most of all, he was merciless about himself. In
parenthesis, the title came to me first, Jerzy
Kosinski by Jerome Charyn, but I didn’t dare write the novel while his
widow was still alive. My French publisher began harassing me, and now I was
the one who felt like a hunchback with an invisible hump. Then the widow died,
and the hump disappeared.
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| JERZY |
STAY THIRSTY: Kosinski’s life encompassed everything from being a Holocaust
survivor and refugee to becoming a bestselling literary phenomenon and
celebrity to falling from grace. As you reflect back, what is the real meaning
of Jerzy Kosinski’s life?
JEROME CHARYN: There is no meaning. He was a shadow within a shadow within
a shadow. That’s the nature of the Holocaust. I would say the same thing about
Roman Polanski, but he found a universal language – film – while Kosinski only
had English to play with, and he never really mastered the music of the
language on the page.
STAY THIRSTY: Kosinski was disparaged as a “ruthless social climber,
sexual libertine, and pathological liar who may have plagiarized his greatest
work.” True or false and why?
JEROME CHARYN: Before we answer that, we should all live through the
Holocaust and see whether any of us is authentic or a ghost. He was a
ghost.
STAY THIRSTY: The work of Kosinski’s that probably remains most alive in
the public zeitgeist is the screen adaptation of his novel, Being There, starring Peter Sellers.
What was the relationship between Kosinski and Sellers and what were their
motives in deciding to work together?
JEROME CHARYN: Sellers loved the role of Chauncey the gardener, and saw the
Shakespearean qualities that such a character had. It was the greatest comic
role of his
life, far less flippant than Inspector Clouseau, but Kosinski
didn’t think Sellers was serious enough; also, he loved to devil people, and he
got incredible pleasure out of saying no to Peter Sellers. Finally, he
relented, and we have this wonderful film that is like a flower half dying and
half in bloom.
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| Jerome Charyn |
STAY THIRSTY: If you had the chance to ask Kosinski two questions, what
would they be? And how do you think he would respond?
JEROME CHARYN: Question one: Why the fuck didn’t you write your novels in
Polish? He would have looked me in the eye and said, dear boy, Polish novels
don’t sell.
Question
two: Why didn’t you acknowledge that you had other people helping you with your
manuscripts? There’s no crime in that. He probably would have felt a kind of
deep shame, that somehow he wasn’t good enough.
STAY THIRSTY: What was Kosinski’s relationship with Stalin?
JEROME CHARYN: Kosinski loved Stalin, because he was a murderer, like
Kosinski himself would have liked to have been. Stalin was his own Little
Father. He was dazzled when he met Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana, and she has an
important role in the novel.
STAY THIRSTY: You have written about such giants as Abraham Lincoln, Emily
Dickinson and Joe DiMaggio. How does Kosinski fit into your literary canon?
JEROME CHARYN: He fits or doesn’t fit because finally you are always writing
about yourself and why not Jerzy Kosinski? He looked like a painted bird, wrote
like a painted bird, and died like one.
STAY THIRSTY: Of all the famous and influential people you have written
about, which one or ones do you admire the most and why?
JEROME CHARYN: I admired Lincoln the most. He started with so little, and
was such an ugly man, but he spoke with the angels, and he had no vanity at
all.
STAY THIRSTY: What is next on your agenda?
JEROME CHARYN: I am writing about Teddy Roosevelt, the Cowboy King, hoping
to find his music and make it my own.
(Jerome Charyn photo credit: Klaus Schoenwiese)
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