Thursday, April 03, 2008

What is Gene Wilder reading?

The actor and comedian Gene Wilder is the author of several books including the memoir, Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art.

His first novel, set in France during World War I, is My French Whore.

Wilder has just published a new novella, The Woman Who Wouldn't.

He talked to the Christian Science Monitor about what he was listening to and watching on DVD and on the stage. And about what he was reading:
Anton Chekhov, Short Stories; two volumes. He's my favorite author. He was very influential, actually, in the writing of my new book, The Woman Who Wouldn't, because it was one of his short stories that set something stirring in me. I knew his plays, but then I was asked to do something at the Westport Country Playhouse [in Connecticut], and I said, 'I've always wanted to do a play by Chekhov, a one-act comedy called The Marriage Proposal.' I got so intrigued with Chekhov from that, it set me off on me off on wanting to read short stories. He said he felt that the short stories were better than his plays.
Read more about Gene Wilder's taste in music and movies.

--Marshal Zeringue