Danny Keith Anderson

I’ve decided to run a short series of essays inspired by Lionel Trilling, this being the second. Like the first, it is adapted from a talk I gave a few years ago. I know I risk testing your patience with this project, but I’m increasingly mortified by the mechanization of all human life, so I do hope you’ll forgive me. In 1967, Lionel Trilling published a textbook called The Experience of Literature.

I’m lucky enough to have several “cool stories” to trot out from time to time. One of my favorites is that I knew Regina Spektor before she was famous. Ok ok, I didn’t actually “know” her; we never exchanged more than a nodding “hello” or “excuse me,” but I was there at the beginning. Back in the late 90’s I lived in New York City and one of my favorite things to do was go down to Alphabet City on Monday nights for the open-mic weirdness of my beloved Sidewalk Café on Avenue A.