Discover the interview of the American writer:

Literary Box

In his first novel, stunning in every sense of the word, a young man was sacrificing to the cult of the goddess Cocaine, and his trendy followers, golden boys and girls wallowing in a Manhattan with full pockets and empty souls. Throughout his books, Jay McInerney has retained his squealing tone and satire ability to vitriol, a little softened in The Days Fled by the Milk of Human Tenderness. He tells us without blinking: "I am not a cynic. I'm ... a lover. I always try to perceive and value what is good in others. Let's say, not to contradict him, that his humor remains very sharp ...

Subject: the couple. And yours (s), Jay?

In the course of this magnificent third novel devoted to the couple of Russell and Corrine Calloway, New Yorkers chic but less rich than their friends, love remains but fidelity is still
tough test. Is it defined by a deprivation of liberty? " Certainly yes. But that is the contract. It brings safety and emotional depth. The problem is what drives us to passion and romance, and on the other hand the decline in desire, the desire to look elsewhere to find it. So with my first wife, I was able to change and disappoint her, so she left me for a photographer. And my third wife, who was very adventurous, was very (too) assagious after our marriage, so ... Here I am married a fourth time (but here, it's been ten years). "

Marital sex, from chandelier to corridor

Page 112, in the mouth of Kip, partner of Russell: "Have you already told this joke about the three stages of marriage? At the beginning, it's electric sex, we fuck while clinging to the chandeliers. Then, it's sex in the bedroom, once a week, in bed. And finally, it's the sex of the corridor. You know what it is ?

- No, tell me.
- We meet in the corridor and say, "Fuck you!"

And the money in all this?

Jay, rich and famous, is he a dollartiste? "Money is a religion in New York. I am nevertheless a special case. Normally, when you're a writer, you do not earn money, so I did not expect to be rich. But my first novel sold 1 million copies! It was a shock. Pleasant, yes. The problem then, when you make money, is that you have to constantly make decisions to have more. Between my books and my scenarios, I won a lot. But at the age of 40, there was my divorce, it was hard to write, and my accountant stole money from me. Between 45 and 50 years, I was siphoned by taxes. I then did journalism, and experience lack of money. Since then, it has settled, but the lure of the gain has never been my engine. "

Is the writing soluble in the dollar?

Today the author is married to Anne Hearst, heiress of a publishing empire, philanthropist and donor. What consequences for her husband writer? "Why do you still write," asked friends? Now I only write as I want, no need to run the scenarios. And from now on, it has become part of my job: giving money. For example, financing the construction of a village in the Philippines, that was it or buying an Aston Martin. It was the village. "

Is he snob?

The days fled ... Proustian title reminding Marcel, who also frequented only what is called the elite ... "Snob? I do not believe. Let's say I sometimes have a cultural snobbery: for example, I despise Trump who is ignorant and has no manners. In general, I am against all the ignorant who are proud to be so. But most often, it's unconscious. "

The Fallen Days, by Jay McInerney, ed. of the Olivier, 22,50 €.