Description

Due to rights issues, the audio of this interview is not available online. Please contact San Diego State University, Special Collections and Archives if you wish to be granted access to the original audio. Larry McCaffery interviews Raymond Federman in Federman’s apartment in the Rancho Bernardo neighborhood of San Diego. Federman begins by discussing the way he uses the word “Federman” to both describe himself and fictional versions of himself in his work. Federman describes the circumstances of retirement that led to his move from Buffalo to San Diego. He explains that he wishes he had the command of language that other post-modern writers had. Federman and McCaffery discuss prominent Jewish writers and the uptick in recognition of their work in the seventies. Federman goes in-depth about his own biography, including his time as a graduate student, his time as a professor and his career as a published writer. They discuss epigraphs and the use of them, most notably quotes from Samuel Beckett. In describing how he searches for his own name on the internet, Federman reads from the essay “Amerika, Ink” by Joe Tabbi. Federman explains how he can play with language by translating other people’s works into French or from French into English and synthesizing it into his own work.