I’ve Probably Wasted Years of My Life Playing Computer Solitaire

Writer Francine Prose Likes Libraries and Deep-Fried Foods

Francine Prose is the award-winning author of many books of fiction and nonfiction, including Blue Angel, a finalist for the National Book Award, and Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife. She is also a former president of PEN American Center. Before joining a panel discussion on the virtues of gluttony and feasting, she talked in the Zócalo green room about heroes, superpowers, and being alone.

Q:

What superpower would you most like to have?


A:

You know, flight wouldn’t be bad. It would spare you a lot of airport time.


Q:

What’s your least favorite thing about the Internet?


A:

Computer solitaire—I’m addicted, and I’ve probably wasted years of my life.


Q:

Who was your childhood hero?


A:

I watched a lot of TV. We had one of the first TVs on the block, and I was into early TV. Early cowboys: The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers. Not so much Dale Evans.


Q:

Where do you go to be alone?


A:

My desk, the inside of my brain. That’s why I’m a writer. It’s not exactly the most social thing you can do.


Q:

What food are you most likely to eat too much of?


A:

Pasta. Certainly pasta. Anything deep fried … or everything deep fried.


Q:

What’s the biggest misconception people have about Anne Frank?


A:

That she wrote that book from start to finish, that she lay on the floor kicking her legs in the air. She was a maniacal reviser—people didn’t seem to know that about her. And she was ambitious. She wanted to be published.


Q:

What’s your favorite thing about the New York Public Library?


A:

The 42nd Street branch is incredible. I had one of those fellowships to the Cullman Center, and I got to be there before the library opened. And the Berg Collection. They have the paw of Dickens’ cat. They have Virginia Woolf’s walking stick. They have everything.


Q:

What profession would you like to practice in your next life?


A:

A musician for sure. I want to be Tina Turner in my next life. I don’t think she wants to be a writer in her next life.


*Photo by Jake Fabricius.