By Anne Finton
Contributing Writer

In contrast to the hundreds of the students and faculty who herded themselves into Memorial Chapel Thursday night, internationally renowned writer Jamaica Kincaid said she isn’t too crazy about her own work.

"I don’t think very well of anything I’ve done," Kincaid said. 

Kincaid, who is known for both her works of fiction and non-fiction, was selected to be the annual speaker for the Annie Sonnenblick lecture series.

Kincaid opened by announcing that she had chosen to read various stories and articles she had written, rather than lecture about the process of writing, finding that audiences generally
reacted best to hearing her read rather than hearing her lecture. 

The first piece that Kincaid read, entitled "Biography of a Dress," was a short story inspired by a picture of herself taken on her second birthday. She described it as being a crude form of
a style she developed in later pieces of writing. In this style, Kincaid admitted that she found the line between fiction and non fiction somewhat blurred. The events in the story were
based on actual occurrences, but because she was too young to remember the specific details, she employed the same techniques she might use in a work of fiction. 

Kincaid cited her book, "My Brother," which chronicles the death of her brother from AIDS, as being an example of her use of this style.

Other pieces that Kincaid read included samplings of her "Talk of the Town" columns that appeared in the New Yorker between 1978 and 1983. The topics of these ranged from a press
breakfast held in honor of Milton Freedman’s book on free market theories to Merv Griffin. 

In discussing her work for The New Yorker, Kincaid expressed pride in the columns she had written. 

"I wrote them thinking that one day I’d be able to write, but now I realize what I was doing was writing."

In the question and answer period that followed her readings, Kincaid briefly described her early career as a writer. She professed that within a year of deciding to be a writer, she was
introduced to the editor of The New Yorker through a friend, and was subsequently hired. In recounting this story, she admitted her own bewilderment at the ease with which she earned
success as a writer. 

Kincaid then followed up that statement by speaking openly about the difficulties she found with writing, saying she didn’t think the skill came very easily to any writer.

Molly Aaronson-Gelb ’02, attended Kincaid’s lecture. 

"I’ve been reading Jamaica Kincaid since I was twelve years old," Aaronson-Gelb said. "I’ve introduced her to countless friends. It was amazing to hear her in person, with her funny stories and quirky mannerisms."

Judith Disterhoft ’04, who also attended Thursday’s lecture, said she enjoyed Kincaid.

"Hearing her read her writing allowed her personality to come through more," Disterhoft said. "She came across as very clever and sweet."

Before her 20 year career writing for the New Yorker, Kincaid wrote for The Village Voice and Ingenue. She has since published a number of books, including the novels "Annie John," "Lucy," "The Autobiography of my Mother;" the non-fictional works: "A Small Place," "My Brother, a collection of short stories," "At the Bottom of the River," and most recently, a collection of her Talk of the Town columns, entitled, "Talk Stories."

The Annie Sonneblick Lecture series was established by the family of Annie Sonneblick ’80, in 1989. It is intended to bring noted humanists to the campus to share their ideas with the Wesleyan community. In the past, speakers included Norman Mailer, Christopher Buckley, Roger Hass and Brenda Hilman. Sonnenblick died in 1984 when she was 26.