Open VISIONS Forum Lecture Series
8 p.m., Monday, January 28, 2013
Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts
Tickets: $45

Best-selling author, journalist, and social observer Fran Lebowitz shares her dry, irreverent wit, in "Metropolitan Life: An Evening with Fran Lebowitz," at 8 p.m., Monday, January 28, 2013 , at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts as part of its signature lecture series, Open VISIONS Forum. Introducing Ms. Lebowitz will be Tess Brown '07, MFA '11, a graduate of the MFA's Creative Writing program and post-graduate student in Composition Instruction. Following Ms. Lebowitz's presentation, there will be an informal conversation and discussion with Professor Philip Eliasoph , OVF moderator, Dr. Michael C. White, Program Director of Fairfield University's MFA in Creative Writing and author of six novels, and Ms. Brown . The event is sponsored by the Connecticut Humanities Council, The Bank of Fairfield, and Harry's Wine and Liquor Market. Community partner is the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County. Moffly Media is the exclusive magazine sponsor for the 2012-13 Open VISIONS Forum series. Single tickets are $45.

Fran Lebowitz talks about modern life with a pointed, taut and economical writing style that is forthright, irascible, and unapologetically opinionated. A fixture in the New York magazine world since the early 1970s, Ms. Lebowitz was hired by Andy Warhol as a columnist for Interview and has been a contributor to Mademoiselle and Vanity Fair . Her first two classic books of essays, Metropolitan Life and Social Studies , have been collected in the Fran Lebowitz Reader . She is the author of the children's book Mr. Chas and Lisa Sue Meet the Pandas and the subject of a recent documentary film, Public Speaking , directed by Martin Scorsese, which premiered on HBO in November 2010.

"If the right can have its embittered Ann Coulter, the left can have its witty, in-your-face, modern-day Dorothy Parker, one who dispenses both tongue-in-cheek humor as well as wisdom," comments Dr. Michael White about Ms. Lebowitz, who recently broke a ten-year writer's block and is back at work on her novel, Exterior Signs of Wealth .

Purveyor of urban cool, witty chronicler of the "me decade" and the cultural satirist, Fran Lebowitz remains one of the foremost advocates of the Extreme Statement. She offers insights on timely issues such as gender, race, gay rights, and the media as well as her own pet peeves - including celebrity culture, tourists, and strollers.

Lebowitz - off the cuff - on aging: "At a certain point, the worst picture taken of you when you are 25 is better than the best picture taken of you when you're 45," and "What everyone says when you turn 60 is, 'It's better than the alternative.' If the only thing worse than being 60 is death, that's pretty bad." And on multiculturalism: "It's pathetic. Of course the world is diverse. And the differences always express themselves. It's much more important that you emphasize similarities ... there is practically nobody willing to identify themselves as American anymore because everybody is too busy identifying themselves with the area of their lives in which they feel the most victimized."

The Paris Review sums up the writer's genius thusly: "Fran Lebowitz's trademark is the sneer; she disapproves of virtually everything except sleep, cigarette smoking, and good furniture. Her essays and topical interviews on subjects ranging from the difficulty of finding an acceptable apartment to the art of freeloading at weekend houses have come to be regarded as classics of literary humor and social observation."

Tickets are available through the Quick Center Box Office: (203) 254-4010, or toll-free 1-877-ARTS-396 (1-877-278-7396). Tickets can also be purchased online at www.quickcenter.com .

The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is located on the campus of Fairfield University at 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut. Entrance to the Quick Center is through the Barlow Road gate at 200 Barlow Road. Free, secure parking is available. Access for people with disabilities is available throughout the Quick Center for audience members and performers. Hearing amplification devices are available upon request at the Box Office. Fairfield University is located off exit 22 of Interstate-95. For further information and directions, call (203) 254-4010 or 1-877-278-7396, or visit www.quickcenter.com

Image: Fran Lebowitz, photo from Public Speaking (2010).

Posted On: 12-14-2012 11:12 AM

Volume: 45 Number: 134