In Paris with Mavis Gallant, Writer

By Randy Boyagoda
Literature · From the July/August 2007 magazine
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After the bill was settled, with a doub­ly amused Gallant negotiating between a fumbling young waiter and me with my credit card and my poor French, I walked her to a cab stand. We strolled up Montparnasse to a busy corner just coming under its first shadows. She con­sidered an invitation to dinner while waiting for a car to come up. She declined and left.
Randy Boyagoda published his first novel, Governor of the Northern Province,
in 2006.
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3 comment(s)

soi_oneJuly 20, 2007 01:06 EST

how did two hours with gallant get reduced to a few quotes from her? It's as though the interviewer smothered her.

AnonymousDecember 29, 2007 23:38 EST

I liked this article. I have been formulating my thoughts on Gallant's cold temperature, and I liked what this writer concluded about the relationship between this coldness and a kind of freedom within character and story.

kate dwyerFebruary 16, 2012 13:02 EST

This evening on C.B.C. "Ideas" aired a delightful interview with Mavis Gallant, she was candid when she chose and tight lipped on other subjects; basically keeping the interviewer on her toes and personal information close to her chest. I see that Mavis did the same to Mr. Boyagoda. Trying to direct the course of a conversation or to keep Mavis Gallant on tract seems an impossibility but her conversations are none the less delightful.

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