Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Region: All Regions
• Studio: Charlie Rose, Inc.
• DVD Release Date: August 15, 2006
• Run Time: 57 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B000HBL8B2
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #188,720 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A rebroadcast of a conversation with writer, critic and activist Susan Sontag on her new novel, In America, which tells the story of a group of Polish immigrants who, led by one of Poland's greatest actresses, travel to California in 1876 and attempt to establish a utopian commune in search of identity. This segment originally aired on May 16, 2000.||Later, rebroadcast of a conversation with writer Joyce Carol Oates who talks about her new book, Blonde, a fictionalized version of the life of Norma Jean Baker and her transition to Marilyn Monroe. This segment originally aired on May 8, 2000.||Finally, a rebroadcast of a conversation with British writer Zadie Smith who discusses her well-received debut novel, White Teeth, set in the multi-cultural suburbs of North London, which was just bought for presentation on the BBC. This segment originally aired on June 1, 2000.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Three novelists each with a story of their book, November 11, 2007

By	Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

To see and hear a person gives something beyond what reading them or their work can. It may not be the most important thing but still it can be most interesting. The 'dark lady of American literature' Susan Sontag is Rose's first guest. Older, more tired looking the legendary 'intellectual beauty' in this interview charmed by her voice. She simply speaks beautifully. What she had to say, about how she believes so much in 'transformation' and how her novel 'Oh America' is about 'transformation' was less interesting. Sontag regrets she did not devote more of her energy early on to fiction. She values herself now as storyteller , and believes this is what most counts. But the world has thought and apparently always will think differently, valuing her most for her essays and non- fiction. Another case of a writer wanting to be one thing while really being another.
Joyce Carol Oates speaks about' Blonde' her fiction based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. She is particularly unconvincing when she tries to explain what fiction can give in telling this story that non-fiction cannot.
The most winning character of the three novelists , at least in this show, is Zadie Smith. She has a refreshing honesty, often self- depreciating. She speaks in realistic no- nonsense terms of her much praised first novel' White Teeth'.
The show on the whole I found to be fairly interesting but without burning passion or especially great insight.