ThoughtGallery.org > Too Much and Not the Mood: Durga Chew-Bose & Jia Tolentino

Too Much and Not the Mood: Durga Chew-Bose & Jia Tolentino

On April 11, 1931, Virginia Woolf ended her entry in A Writer’s Diary with the words “too much and not the mood.” She was describing how tired she was of correcting her own writing, of the “cramming in and the cutting out” to please other readers, wondering if she had anything at all that was truly worth saying. This sentiment inspired Durga Chew-Bose to write and collect her own work. The result is a collection of essays and her own brand of essay-meets-prose poetry about identity and culture, inspired by Maggie Nelson’s Bluets, Lydia Davis’s short prose, and Vivian Gornick’s exploration of interior life. The book was on Vulture and Nylon’s lists of most anticipated books of 2017. Sheila Heti says, “I admire the fine and detailed quality of Durga Chew-Bose’s prose, and her modesty of ego, which lingers in the mind. These essays are a refreshing contrast to those loud and showy voices, which are so common. One wants to lean closer to hear her.” Durga Chew-Bose is a Montreal-born writer. Her work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Hazlitt, Filmmaker, The New Inquiry, and The Guardian, among other publications. She will be joined by Jia Tolentino, a staff writer at The New Yorker.











When: Mon., Apr. 10, 2017 at 7:00 pm
Where: McNally Jackson
52 Prince St.
212-274-1160
Price: Free
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On April 11, 1931, Virginia Woolf ended her entry in A Writer’s Diary with the words “too much and not the mood.” She was describing how tired she was of correcting her own writing, of the “cramming in and the cutting out” to please other readers, wondering if she had anything at all that was truly worth saying. This sentiment inspired Durga Chew-Bose to write and collect her own work. The result is a collection of essays and her own brand of essay-meets-prose poetry about identity and culture, inspired by Maggie Nelson’s Bluets, Lydia Davis’s short prose, and Vivian Gornick’s exploration of interior life. The book was on Vulture and Nylon’s lists of most anticipated books of 2017. Sheila Heti says, “I admire the fine and detailed quality of Durga Chew-Bose’s prose, and her modesty of ego, which lingers in the mind. These essays are a refreshing contrast to those loud and showy voices, which are so common. One wants to lean closer to hear her.” Durga Chew-Bose is a Montreal-born writer. Her work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Hazlitt, Filmmaker, The New Inquiry, and The Guardian, among other publications. She will be joined by Jia Tolentino, a staff writer at The New Yorker.

Buy tickets/get more info now