Chuck Klosterman on Writing, North Dakota & Britney Spears

Chuck Klosterman is a red headed god of pop-culture writing.  He has written for GQ, Spin, Esquire, The New Yorker, et. al. and is the author of 6 best-selling books. Last week, CURATED contributor Liz Riggs attended Klosterman’s appearance at Middle Tennessee State University near Nashville, Tennessee.

I’m sitting in a room filled with approximately 400 people under the age of 25 and there are about 398 fewer fedoras than I expected to see at a Chuck Klosterman appearance. Suddenly, the people next to me begin discussing the conservative fan base of The Dixie Chicks and why they don’t like Ovation mandolins and I feel like I’m in the right place.

Chuck Klosterman, America’s most ubiquitous pop culture writer, strolls into Middle Tennessee State University’s lecture hall wearing bright blue sneakers, jeans, an olive green sweater, and, of course, black horn rim glasses. His voice is oddly feminine and he seems humbled by the fact that so many people want to hear him talk about his career. He quickly deconstructs the crowd into percentages of people there for extra credit–people who consider themselves “fans” of his, people who rolled in by accident, and so on–the mere sight of the audience, for Klosterman, means an excuse for self deprecation and a slew of witty quips which follow.

He begins by describing his childhood growing up in a North Dakota town of 500 as a time when he was “really interested in the world outside of [his] hometown,” and used his boredom as an opportunity to think (or overthink) any culture he was exposed to. The now best selling author grew up with only six cassettes and if he watched an episode of The Wonder Years, he could think about it “for, like, a year.”

Klosterman’s self-reflection and clever personal anecdotes are the most endearing aspect of his success and this talk is full of them. To young writers, he offers blunt and honest advice: “Use yourself as a literary device,” and keep in perspective what art is really about because “there’s going to be a time where the only person who cares anymore is me.” As the seasoned writer reminds us–success is temporary, regardless of who you are. Yet he is surprisingly encouraging and inspirational for someone who is a self-proclaimed cynic and jaded super-nerd. He never fails to emphasize how much of his success was due to chance. He recalls with hilarity stories of calling up editors on false premises so they would call him back; he recounts at length tales about a hot girl reading his column in college. His stories are nothing less than entertaining and insightful. Everything is up for analysis in Klosterman’s world–everything including the achievements he’s most famous for—his encounters with some of pop culture’s most famed individuals.

When I got the chance to ask him about the most bizarre interview he’d conducted, it was clear he’d though this one through before. He described, at length, an interview he’d done with Britney Spears (the full blown interview can be found in “IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas”—it’s remarkably strange). He recalled that “because she was the most famous person I ever interviewed, the conditions were very interesting…We had to sit in a corner; she had to face into the corner because people would come up to her all the time…” He touched upon Britney’s confusion about herself versus the marketing and hype and offered us his classic analysis of celebrities: “Celebrities are weird people—they forget where the construction [of self] ends,” and he expounds on the idea of an interview as something that is “not real…[it’s an] inorganic fake reality.” A little bit like my analysis of Klosterman based on this appearance.

- Liz Riggs

Liz Riggs eats stories like grapes and teaches 9th grade english in her spare (full) time. She lives in Nashville, TN and very seriously enjoys macaroni and cheese. Follow Liz on Twitter @riggser.