Books, Arts & Manners: The Cutting Edge

THE publicity handout next to the cash register at Shakespeare & Company “cordially” invited all comers to “a Dynamic Debate on the Subject of Female Genital Mutilation.” And so, with a heavy heart, but conscience-driven to learn about this horrifying subject, I lined up dutifully the other night at the Equitable Center in midtown Manhattan. But was I at the right event? It looked at first like a book party. Cheerful monitors stood in the lobby handing out folders decorated with a color reproduction of the cover of Alice Walker’s new novel, Possessing the Secret of Joy. Tucked inside the folder were ten favorable reviews of the book. The stairs leading down to the auditorium fed directly to a table stacked with at least a hundred copies of . . . Possessing the Secret of Joy. A cash box stood open beside them. Money was changing hands.

The moderator for the evening’s discussion turned out to be Terrie Williams, the woman whose public-relations firm is publicizing Miss Walker’s book. She was compelled to step in for Faye Wattleton, the celebrated former president of Planned Parenthood. Miss Wattleton, we were told, was delayed on “an international flight from Rome.” Three hundred people—mostly women, some of them white—settled into their seats expectantly. Miss Walker was introduced. “Don’t sit down,” Miss Walker said as the standing ovation died away. “I want to begin with a prayer.”

EE

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Erich Eichman

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THE publicity handout next to the cash register at Shakespeare & Company “cordially” invited all comers to “a Dynamic Debate on the Subject of Female Genital Mutilation.” And so, with a heavy heart, but conscience-driven to learn about this horrifying subject, I lined up dutifully the other night at the Equitable Center in midtown Manhattan. But was I at the right event? It looked at first like a book party. Cheerful monitors stood in the lobby handing out folders decorated with a color reproduction of the cover of Alice Walker’s new novel, Possessing the Secret of Joy. Tucked inside the folder were ten favorable reviews of the book. The stairs leading down to the auditorium fed directly to a table stacked with at least a hundred copies of . . . Possessing the Secret of Joy. A cash box stood open beside them. Money was changing hands.

The moderator for the evening’s discussion turned out to be Terrie Williams, the woman whose public-relations firm is publicizing Miss Walker’s book. She was compelled to step in for Faye Wattleton, the celebrated former president of Planned Parenthood. Miss Wattleton, we were told, was delayed on “an international flight from Rome.” Three hundred people—mostly women, some of them white—settled into their seats expectantly. Miss Walker was introduced. “Don’t sit down,” Miss Walker said as the standing ovation died away. “I want to begin with a prayer.”