Sean Wilseys first book, Oh the Glory of It All, is a very funny and disturbing read. It chronicles his early life growing up wealthy in San Francisco.
Sean's mother [one of the thinly veiled characters in Armistead Maupin's bestselling Tales of the City] is a 1980s society-page staple, regularly entertaining movie stars in her penthouse. But when Sean turns nine years old, his father divorces his mother and marries her best friend. Sean's life blows apart. His mother first invites him to commit suicide with her, then has a "vision" of salvation and begins traveling the globe. Sean is pushed out of San Francisco and sent spiraling through five high schools, till he finally lands at an unorthodox reform school in Italy.
Buy Oh the Glory of It All
Daniel Robert Epstein: Where are you today?
Sean Wilsey: Im just at my house in New York City.
DRE: Not in San Francisco?
SW: No I only grew up in San Francisco. The last time I was there was very briefly in 1992.
DRE: Oh did they chase you out?
SW: [Laughs] I fled.
DRE: So is your book a real memoir?
SW: Of course!
DRE: I just wasnt sure because it seems so insane.
SW: It was insane! But that was definitely the way it happened.
DRE: Is this your first book?
SW: I wrote a novel prior to this but I didnt have much luck getting it published. It was a good experience in learning how to write, but it didnt go very far! Ive done a lot of journalism and Ive had a short story published.
DRE: Did you just decide to get all the autobiographical stuff out of the way?
SW: I just felt like I didnt really have any choice. It was the story I had to get out of the way so I could go on with my life.
DRE: Was it like therapy for you?
SW: Ive certainly done my share of therapy and then the book was the result of the therapy.
DRE: Are you still in therapy?
SW: Ive been known to occasionally seek advice of a therapist, yeah.
DRE: What does your shrink think of the book?
SW: I havent had any conversations about the book. The books the book and life goes on.
DRE: Did you change anything in the book to protect the innocent or not so innocent?
SW: There was just one name that I changed because there was a guy that was involved with a rape at a boarding school that I went to a long time ago. He doesnt need to have his name printed.
DRE: So the people that you did name, you specifically wanted to name them of course.
SW: I was writing in a nonfiction mode and I just felt like why would I change names. The stuff all happened. I reported the book pretty exhaustedly in terms of talking to people who were there at the same time. I originally conceived the book to be a piece about education and schools. I went to five different schools for high school; two of them were reform schools. I went to all these schools and theyre all kind of interesting in their own respect so to me that was always kind of the heart of the book. I went back and interviewed kids at a number of these places so I could compare their experiences to mine. But ultimately it just wasnt telling it. It needed my first person narrative to make it work as a book.
DRE: Did it become less a piece of journalism once you turned it into a memoir?
SW: Its fun because its a weird hybrid because all the journalistic stuff is still there. I certainly did a hell of a lot of research, but its just pulled through the lens of my own point of view. But I think all journalism is more or less from the writers point of view!.
DRE: You have your tongue in cheek especially with that title so did you just know that growing up so wealthy you wouldnt get any sympathy?
SW: What do you mean?
DRE: People just dont like rich people.
SW: I dont like them either. I would hate to categorically say I hate rich people, because there are some really good ones. But I find that the whole idea of amassing and preserving more money than anyone ever needs for any purpose tends to bring out the very worst in a human being.
DRE: That affected you pretty drastically.
SW: Definitely, I dont think I realized that I was growing up in a situation of unbelievable privilege so I just never really fit into that world. Everybody that I ended up like connecting and being friends with was just your standard middle class kid.
DRE: I read that your stepmother is suing you over the book?
SW: There have been threats of that, but as of right now, those threats havent materialized. But Im not allowed to say anything about it. The lawyers insist that topic just not be discussed.
DRE: Has your stepmother spoken to you about the book at all?
SW: No weve had no contact.
DRE: Have you read anything shes said about the book?
SW: Ive really gone out of my way just not to read it.
DRE: Have you gotten Armistead Maupins take on it?
SW: Armistead Maupin is a very funny man and hes had a lot of pretty hilarious things to say. He really liked the book, which I was really touched by, because I really like his writing and I loved Tales of the City.
Weve talked. Hes got a lot to say about my mom because she was basically one of his characters. I remember when they turned Tales of the City into a miniseries and it was Mary Kay Place who played my mom. Armistead Maupin and Mary Kate Place came over and studied my mom to get the character down.
DRE: Did she get it right?
SW: [Laughs] Yeah she definitely did a great job.
DRE: Scarily so?
SW: Yeah, my mom is a pretty unique person so its just one facet of a multi-faceted, sometimes overwhelming character that is my mom.
DRE: Will you be mining this period in your life for future books at all?
SW: I definitely wont. It all kind of belonged in one place. I definitely dont want to keep writing about it because I feel like I said everything I have to say about it and really closed the door on. Now I just want to like write about other stuff now.
DRE: How did you hook up with McSweeneys?
SW: I had a friend who wrote for Might Magazine back in San Francisco and that was the magazine that Dave Eggers did in the kind of mid-90s. When Dave moved to New York that friend introduced me to him. So we were all at a bar and we had a really enthusiastic conversation about writing, editing and San Francisco. Then when McSweeneys started, I sent a piece for the second issue and then I just started editing.
DRE: Do you have your next book in mind yet?
SW: Yeah, Im working on a few different projects, so Im hoping one of them will turn into a book. Ive got some assignments from some magazines and thats always pretty satisfying because it takes you a few weeks then you write it and its done.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Sean's mother [one of the thinly veiled characters in Armistead Maupin's bestselling Tales of the City] is a 1980s society-page staple, regularly entertaining movie stars in her penthouse. But when Sean turns nine years old, his father divorces his mother and marries her best friend. Sean's life blows apart. His mother first invites him to commit suicide with her, then has a "vision" of salvation and begins traveling the globe. Sean is pushed out of San Francisco and sent spiraling through five high schools, till he finally lands at an unorthodox reform school in Italy.
Buy Oh the Glory of It All
Daniel Robert Epstein: Where are you today?
Sean Wilsey: Im just at my house in New York City.
DRE: Not in San Francisco?
SW: No I only grew up in San Francisco. The last time I was there was very briefly in 1992.
DRE: Oh did they chase you out?
SW: [Laughs] I fled.
DRE: So is your book a real memoir?
SW: Of course!
DRE: I just wasnt sure because it seems so insane.
SW: It was insane! But that was definitely the way it happened.
DRE: Is this your first book?
SW: I wrote a novel prior to this but I didnt have much luck getting it published. It was a good experience in learning how to write, but it didnt go very far! Ive done a lot of journalism and Ive had a short story published.
DRE: Did you just decide to get all the autobiographical stuff out of the way?
SW: I just felt like I didnt really have any choice. It was the story I had to get out of the way so I could go on with my life.
DRE: Was it like therapy for you?
SW: Ive certainly done my share of therapy and then the book was the result of the therapy.
DRE: Are you still in therapy?
SW: Ive been known to occasionally seek advice of a therapist, yeah.
DRE: What does your shrink think of the book?
SW: I havent had any conversations about the book. The books the book and life goes on.
DRE: Did you change anything in the book to protect the innocent or not so innocent?
SW: There was just one name that I changed because there was a guy that was involved with a rape at a boarding school that I went to a long time ago. He doesnt need to have his name printed.
DRE: So the people that you did name, you specifically wanted to name them of course.
SW: I was writing in a nonfiction mode and I just felt like why would I change names. The stuff all happened. I reported the book pretty exhaustedly in terms of talking to people who were there at the same time. I originally conceived the book to be a piece about education and schools. I went to five different schools for high school; two of them were reform schools. I went to all these schools and theyre all kind of interesting in their own respect so to me that was always kind of the heart of the book. I went back and interviewed kids at a number of these places so I could compare their experiences to mine. But ultimately it just wasnt telling it. It needed my first person narrative to make it work as a book.
DRE: Did it become less a piece of journalism once you turned it into a memoir?
SW: Its fun because its a weird hybrid because all the journalistic stuff is still there. I certainly did a hell of a lot of research, but its just pulled through the lens of my own point of view. But I think all journalism is more or less from the writers point of view!.
DRE: You have your tongue in cheek especially with that title so did you just know that growing up so wealthy you wouldnt get any sympathy?
SW: What do you mean?
DRE: People just dont like rich people.
SW: I dont like them either. I would hate to categorically say I hate rich people, because there are some really good ones. But I find that the whole idea of amassing and preserving more money than anyone ever needs for any purpose tends to bring out the very worst in a human being.
DRE: That affected you pretty drastically.
SW: Definitely, I dont think I realized that I was growing up in a situation of unbelievable privilege so I just never really fit into that world. Everybody that I ended up like connecting and being friends with was just your standard middle class kid.
DRE: I read that your stepmother is suing you over the book?
SW: There have been threats of that, but as of right now, those threats havent materialized. But Im not allowed to say anything about it. The lawyers insist that topic just not be discussed.
DRE: Has your stepmother spoken to you about the book at all?
SW: No weve had no contact.
DRE: Have you read anything shes said about the book?
SW: Ive really gone out of my way just not to read it.
DRE: Have you gotten Armistead Maupins take on it?
SW: Armistead Maupin is a very funny man and hes had a lot of pretty hilarious things to say. He really liked the book, which I was really touched by, because I really like his writing and I loved Tales of the City.
Weve talked. Hes got a lot to say about my mom because she was basically one of his characters. I remember when they turned Tales of the City into a miniseries and it was Mary Kay Place who played my mom. Armistead Maupin and Mary Kate Place came over and studied my mom to get the character down.
DRE: Did she get it right?
SW: [Laughs] Yeah she definitely did a great job.
DRE: Scarily so?
SW: Yeah, my mom is a pretty unique person so its just one facet of a multi-faceted, sometimes overwhelming character that is my mom.
DRE: Will you be mining this period in your life for future books at all?
SW: I definitely wont. It all kind of belonged in one place. I definitely dont want to keep writing about it because I feel like I said everything I have to say about it and really closed the door on. Now I just want to like write about other stuff now.
DRE: How did you hook up with McSweeneys?
SW: I had a friend who wrote for Might Magazine back in San Francisco and that was the magazine that Dave Eggers did in the kind of mid-90s. When Dave moved to New York that friend introduced me to him. So we were all at a bar and we had a really enthusiastic conversation about writing, editing and San Francisco. Then when McSweeneys started, I sent a piece for the second issue and then I just started editing.
DRE: Do you have your next book in mind yet?
SW: Yeah, Im working on a few different projects, so Im hoping one of them will turn into a book. Ive got some assignments from some magazines and thats always pretty satisfying because it takes you a few weeks then you write it and its done.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
courtneyriot:
Sean Wilseys first book, Oh the Glory of It All, is a very funny and disturbing read. It chronicles his early life growing up wealthy in San Francisco....