FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITING
October 25, 2008
THE STARS ARE INDISPENSABLE
Why John Brockman, the great New York agent, doesn't read novels
By Thomas David
[Die Sterne sind unverzichtbar]
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A hat against all odds: John Brockman last night in an Italian restaurant in the center of Frankfurt.
Photos Daniel Pilar |
It is not a difficult experience to be at odds with John Brockman. Indeed, the New York literary agent, one of the true global players in business, has a welcoming smile and a quiet, friendly manner that seems to have mellowed with age. But should you happen to find yourself among his circle of invited guests in the Gallo Nero, an Italian restaurant in Frankfurt, the industry small talk that is standard for the Book Fair suddenly doesn't doesn't cut it. "What do you think of the Swedish Nobel Prize Committee's exclusion of American Literature?", asks Brockman, whose astonishing hat, which is at the very least unorthodox in Frankfurt, makes it seem as if it were going to rain or snow. Oh well, so, I retort, DeLillo, Updike, Roth, I do find that…
"You know what," says Brockman, as his partner Katinka and son Max gather even more guests around him, "I haven't been able to finish a single novel in the last ten years," he says, "and I don't have the slightest desire to discuss literature with you." "Nothing against literature," says Brockman, when I deliver my last defense, "But don't bore me. Look around you at what's happening in the world today. Let's talk about something interesting."
The Big Ideas of Science
John Brockman is mainly interested in the big ideas. The agent of Richard Dawkins, Jared Diamond and Daniel Dennett, he represents some of the most interesting thinkers of our time. "I find that in comparison with literature, science has a disproportionately large resonance."
The Italian waiter serves the second course, darkness is falling over the city, it is almost time to head out into the night. The stars, as Phillip Roth says, are indispensable.
A Dinner of the mighty: John Brockman's guests.
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