Summary of TomorrowTalks with Percival Everett: The Trees

00:00:00 - 00:50:00

Percival Everett discusses his new book, "Glyph," which is about a baby narrator who is not white. Everett hopes that in the future, art will be more aware of its impact on society and challenge preconceptions.

• 00:00:00 TomorrowTalks with Percival Everett: The Trees will feature a discussion with Percival Everett about his writing and how it addresses issues of race. Everett will also discuss how humor can be used to cope with difficult experiences.
• 00:05:00 Percival Everett discusses the art of dialogue in his books, noting that it is an important part of the illusion of realism in fiction. He also discusses his process for writing dialogue, emphasizing that it is important to remember the speaker and the context of the scene in order to create believable speech.
• 00:10:00 In TomorrowTalks, Percival Everett discusses the difference between narrative form in fiction and non-fiction, and how the rules for each are determined by the author's intent. He also discusses how his course, "Theory and Fiction," helps students understand the "form" of fiction.
• 00:15:00 Percival Everett discusses the difference between literary fiction and "everyday" fiction, and how literary fiction can help you write any kind of story. He also talks about the importance of failure in training one's mind to think more critically.
• 00:20:00 TomorrowTalks with Percival Everett discusses his new book, "Glyph," which is about a baby narrator who is not white. Many readers were caught by this, and had to confront the assumptions they had made about the baby's race. Everett hopes that in the future, art will be more aware of its impact on society and challenge preconceptions.
• 00:25:00 The author discusses his opinion on a debate between Mama Z and Damon Duff over whether or not academic work exploring different subjects can generate outrage. He says that he partially agrees with Mama Z, and argues that studying something often results in a distance from it.
• 00:30:00 Percival Everett discusses the challenges of writing about violent events and short form chapters, explaining that these formats represent how quickly the public moves through and past such events. He also discusses the book "The Execution of Gilmore," noting that the subject of the book is the execution of a man named Gilmore in Utah who chose to be executed by a filing Squad.
• 00:35:00 The author offers advice for readers looking for similar books and praises some of his favorite writers. He talks about how he changed the novel's narrative structure from a poem cycle to a novel to make it more accessible to readers and offers advice for those looking for books that address racism and complex themes.
• 00:40:00 Percival Everett discusses his favorite absurdist authors, how their work has shaped his own humor, and the importance of names in fiction. He describes how his experience visiting the Vietnam Memorial inspired him to write the book "The Trees."
• 00:45:00 Percival Everett discusses his name and how it is connected to his father's namesake, an uncle. He also talks about his novel, Erasure, and how the main character is based on him. He reveals that chapter 74 and 104 are missing from the Trees video, but explains that the reason is because they are both references to his art. He concludes the talk by discussing his experiences as a writer and painter and how they are not compatible.
• 00:50:00 The speaker thanks various people for their help with the TomorrowTalks event, including Dean Jeffrey Cohen and English chair Krista Ratcliffe. The speaker also thanks ASU's writing teachers, as well as the audience and participants.