From The Guardian: “As a 17-year-old student about to go to college, Ottessa Moshfegh approached a famous male writer for advice. He was willing to give it – in exchange for veneration… and sex.”
I first became aware during the physical act of love… Yes, a profound sense of fatigue, a feeling of emptiness followed. Luckily I — I was able to interpret these feelings correctly. Loss of essence. I can assure you it has not recurred. Women, er, women sense my power, and they seek the life essence. I do not avoid women, but I do deny them my essence.
* Sounds like the creepy old male writer was Philip Roth. The dates and ages match up, not to mention character. The real Roth’s wife had divorced him rather than died, as in Moshfegh’s description, but she may have changed that detail to something functionally similar to disguise Roth a little more. Roth’s ex’s memoir about leaving Roth was titled Leaving the Doll House, and Moshdegh described how beautifully decorated Roth’s wife had left his apartment.
“Rupert Dicks” scans the same as Philip Roth.
* Moshfegh is brilliant at self-marketing, she knows intuitively the female victim space is full and the supply demand mismatch is on the side of fem-fatal. I am positive she has been victimized in one way or another in her action packed 37 years, but why waste valuable time writing about stuff that at best might get you a middling pay job on the Times editorial board when you can spend your time writing serious books or for Conde Nast.
Moshfegh has an Iranian Jewish father and Croatian mother. This raised a question in my mind about NY Times editorial board diversity. There isn’t any Jewish diversity at the Times. Friedman, David Brooks, Bari Weiss, why no Middle Eastern Jews? Or Persian Jews like Moshfegh? Moshfegh might have something to say about the most important topic this minute, Iran, but either no one is asking, or she’s not telling.
Pro tip for aspiring writers: If am searching the net correctly, Moshfegh does not seem to use or need social media. I don’t see any Tweets and her Face Book page is not viewable by people without a facebook profile like me. She apparently does not get woman of letters career advice from tech journals or the NY Times.
