During the past years I have devoured historical writers who all seemed to capture their respective time periods in words so well, but I had not been able to identify somebody that could convince me about some of the subtleties of western society. It was like coming home. Since then, for the first time in my life, I count myself as a groupie-of-sorts. While enveloped in extensive historical and cultural research, her writing is often strangely direct, and most importantly, infused with an incredible sense of poetry.
As a true artist, Rebecca helps us see everyday life differently. I finally had the pleasure of meeting Rebecca in person in New York City. Rebecca spoke as she wrote: with an amazing choice of words and a capacity to make intricate connections in a matter of seconds. David : For me, eroticism goes beyond our bodies, and is often much more of a spatial experience.
I wonder what erotic means to you? Rebecca : I think you can think of eroticism as having many facets. For adults sensuality can be everywhere and anywhere, in all the pleasures of the body, including the rhythms of walking. Then there is beauty, which can be of spaces, places, light, celestial phenomena, and the built and made world as well as bodies. But just matching your stride to someone and maybe walking arm and arm with them is sensual.
David : I like that notion of courtship. There is something incredibly erotic about it, but that may be because most of the courtship we sometimes seem to be getting is in the form of short text messages. What to you is an erotic courtship? And could you think of a courtship for the future that is more inspiring?
Many of us still operate this way. An earlier generation, up through the s at least, conversed and flirted and courted and philosophized while walking. I still try to have some of my conversations on foot β as recently as last night when my friend Adriana and I circumambulated Bernal Hill while talking about the fate of our city at the hands or maybe robot paws of Silicon Valley. We looked out over that city gleaming at night with a hundred thousands of lights, and the arteries of the freeways with their red taillights and white headlights streaming along.
