Jayne Anne Phillips is an award-winning novelist and author of numerous works, including “Sweetheart,” “Machine Dreams,” and “Shelter.” Her latest novel, “Lark and Termite,” received a rave review from notoriously harsh Times book critic Michiko Kakutani. She also happens to have two sons affiliated with NYU – one who graduated from Tisch and another a current sophomore in Gallatin. I emailed Jayne Anne and asked her about writing, inspiration, and that time Gregory Corso grabbed her by the nose.

JESSICA: Congratulations on your undeniable success with “Lark and Termite.” What inspired you to write the novel?

JAYNE ANNE: Years ago, I saw a boy sitting in a chair by a grass alley, holding a strip of blue dry cleaner bag up to his forehead. He was blowing on it, so that it moved in front of his eyes. I never forgot the image of him: his intensity and his complete absorption in the blue. He clearly wasn’t “normal,” but he was more than normal. I suppose I felt some affinity for him that combined with other elements — children I knew for a time, who were born with a disability but whose perceptions seemed finely tuned. The novel began with Lark’s voice, explaining Termite, their town, the secrets kept from her.

I set the book in 1959, so that Termite was not precisely labeled, and the fact that his father was killed in the Korean War set that parallel world in motion.

JESSICA: How did your career begin?

JAYNE ANNE: I always say that writing is not a career, but a calling. Writers write because they cannot resist writing; very few make a living at it. I began writing as a poet. Some of my favorite writers are failed poets — fiction writers who attend to every line and syllable, to the stress of every phrase, as though words are music.

JESSICA: Who are some of your favorite authors and why?

JAYNE ANNE: See above for ‘why;’ the list of my favorites is long, and various. A few are James Agee, Katherine Anne Porter, William Faulkner, Bruno Schultz, William Burroughs.

JESSICA:Where did you get the idea for the character Termite in “Lark and Termite?”

JAYNE ANNE: I was influenced by the above (see question 1), but Termite invented himself inside the language of the way he thinks. One listener at a reading said to me, “You make us want to be him.” I do want us all to be him, in a glorious way, just for a few moments.

JESSICA: How do you think the proliferation of the internet has impacted fiction, if at all?

JAYNE ANNE:The internet seems to me just one element of a world dominated by information, rather than story, or art. The web connects us, but in an impersonal way. Look at Facebook. Everyone can read everyone’s messages instantly, but the messages are superficial. The web makes group communication possible in great ways (it helped Obama get elected – it can do good things) but the deeply personal and associative power of literature happens on the (physical) page. I think books are tactile objects to be held in the hand. I don’t like to read on a screen.

JESSICA: Why did you decide to take such a long hiatus between novels?

JAYNE ANNE: It wasn’t a decision! I live numerous lives at once — like most of us. Teaching is very involving, as is parenting. The space and quiet required for writing isn’t always available, but in an odd way, the longer time spent inside each of my books works to help build them. Some of the work is unconscious, and the passage of time acts as a clarifying pressure.

JESSICA: What are some good programs prospective writers should look into?

JAYNE ANNE: Ideally, every writer needs to find a way to make a living that allows them to write, or even deepens them as artists. MFA programs provide writers with a community and with mentors. Our program at Rutgers Newark is an exciting option, with the Writers At Newark Reading Series serving as the basis for MFA courses and for our outreach in Newark.

JESSICA: You lived in Boulder in the ’70s — want to share any anecdotes or wisdom about Beat authors or literature?

JAYNE ANNE: I’ll share one story. I was at a party or reading in Boulder. I guess Gregory Corso had heard that I was going to the Writers Workshop at the Univ. of Iowa. He grabbed me by the nose and said, “Don’t go to Iowa! You’ll come out of there with your nose screwed on all wrong!”

JESSICA: What advice do you have for budding writers?

JAYNE ANNE: Read, read, and read. Insatiable readers, hungry readers who read obsessively, are the readers who become writers.

Photo from janeannephillips.com