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Writers on a New England Stage: Anita Shreve
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  Massachusetts-born writer Anita Shreve is the author of 14 books, including The Pilot’s Wife, chosen as an Oprah Book Club Selection, and The Weight of Water, a murder mystery set on the Isles of Shoals. Her latest offering, Testimony, opens the door to a sex scandal at a New England boarding school that starts with a video tape and ripples out into an entire community. This week Anita Shreve traveled to The Music Hall in Portsmouth to be a part of our Writers on a New England Stage series. She spoke before a live audience on her new book and then was joined by NHPR's Laura Knoy. Today we bring you that performance. Web resources:
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I thought "Testimony" was quite a fine novel. It suggested to me a Greek tragedy, in which the seemingly random choices and actions of the characters come to seem almost inevitable, in accordance with the pre-ordained whims of the Gods. I imagine this effect was accomplished by means of Ms. Shreve's use of flash-backs and forwards: we know that lives will be devastated, that a death will occur – then we watch as the foreboded future unfolds according to plan (but not without surprises!).
One component of the tragedy that I thought was important was not explicitly stressed. Indeed, I have no idea if Ms. Shreve meant to imply this, or whether I am simply projecting my own perspective onto her work – this is the part played by the tacit assumption made by most of the characters, perhaps a reflection of the society they live in, that the videotaped incident was appalling because it was sexual; that assumption, as much as anything else, precipitated the tragedy. My own reaction was that it would have been better handled by the powers-that-be with a shrug and a chat, rather than shifting to crisis mode. But of course they couldn't do that, given the social climate they live in – those pesky Gods kept whispering into mortal ears, "It was sex, they were young – evil!" I am reminded of a remark made by Henry Kissinger during the flap over Monica Lewinsky: "This would never have happened in Europe", and of a recent article by Dick Cavett in the New York Times calling attention to the stupidity of abstinence-only sex education that ignores the "sizzling loins" of the young (I put that bon mot right up there with Keats' "yeasting youth"!). True, the "victim" of the incident was fourteen, but she was also the least emotionally affected character of the lot!
As far as alcohol is concerned, I quite agree with Ms. Shreve that that's a serious problem with the young, one that has prompted some university presidents to call for a fundamental reevaluation of our methods for dealing with it. The concern is both with physical harm (i.e. poisoning), and impaired judgment. But I personally am more worried by a drunken teenager getting into a car than into a condom!
Finally, I'd like to mention that a narrative that makes use of the varying viewpoints of the characters is certainly not new. New Hampshire author Joyce Maynard used it not too long ago, in her "To Die For."
By the way, did I say that I enjoyed "Testimony"? I did, very much!