Justice, Humility, and Mercy
The Body, Brain, and Books: Eleven Questions with writer David Roberts
Welcome to another edition of The Body, Brain, & Books. If you enjoy reading these quick, insightful interviews brimming with wisdom and hope, please subscribe to Beyond.
David worked for forty years in the investment management business before taking on writing as his vocation. He is an active supporter of many non-profits with a focus on grass -roots organizations that combat poverty in various locations including New York City, the Hamptons (migrant workers), Ukraine, Cambodia, and Haiti.
He is a lifelong Manhattanite as is his entire family––his wife Deborah whom he married in 1985, their three adult children, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, one two year old grandson and another grandchild due in a few months.
Deborah edits all of David’s Substack posts, which only go out after she gives her green light.
What are you reading now?
I’m reading “Custom Of The Country” to complete my set of Edith Wharton’s big books. I write about wealth, status and class in New York so I’m hoping to adopt Edith Wharton as my mentor.
I’m slow-reading Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy as part of a year-long group led by Simon Haisell who provides brilliant weekly supplemental posts. It’s a wonderful Substack reading experience.
Finally, I’m reading Eleanor Anstruther’s serialized novel, “Fallout,” about the Greenham nuclear protests in 1981. Binging on Netflix has almost spoiled me for serializations. Think Veruca Salt: “I want it all now!” But I love everything Eleanor writes.
What are your most beloved books from your youth? Did you ever hide any from your parents?
I loved the Oz series (not the HBO prison drama.) “The Wizard of Oz” was only the first of a series of Oz books that Frank Baum wrote. He created an entire world, my first fantasy world. I was eight and lived as much in that world as any other. Why no sequels to the movie?
When I was around fourteen, I loved the trashy novels of Harold Robbins and Jaqueline Susann. They seemed thrillingly “grown-up.” Did I understand them? I think not.
What’s your favorite book to reread? Any that helped you through a dark time?
I like to reread favorite fragments, chapters and short stories.
Joyce’s “The Dead” and the first chapter of “Ulysses.”
Cheever stories, especially “Goodbye My Brother” and “The Country Husband.”
“Swann’s Way,” provided I can hack my way through Proust’s interminable description of hawthorn flowers and get back to snobbery, aristocrats, and Marcel’s great-aunt who rules her sickroom as Louis XIV ruled Versailles.
I like dark books when I’m in a dark mood. Tommy Wilhelm in Bellow’s “Seize the Day” always makes me feel better because I feel such empathy for him. No one’s lonelier or sadder than Tommy who I consider one of my best literary friends.
What’s an article of clothing that makes you feel most like you?
This past weekend, I was walking back from a workout on the beach in Amagansett (the Hamptons). When we reached the spot where I’d left my flip-flops, I put mine on. I looked up to see my wife and another friend laughing. These were not my flip-flops. Not even close. They were someone else’s very comfortable leather sandals. I would have blithely walked away with them had I not been stopped. Which is to say, without my wife’s guidance and supervision, I’d be oblivious to what I’m wearing. This is me styled by my wife. (I do like the cargo pants and the bracelet!)
What’s the best piece of wisdom you've encountered recently?
I wrote an essay about regret that featured Newland Archer from Wharton’s “The Age of Innocence,” and his doomed, impossible love for Countess Olenska. It occurred to me that the worst kind of regret is to torture yourself over something that was always going to be beyond your grasp. That helped me extinguish any lingering regret over not fulfilling my childhood ambitions to be a great leader who decided events of great historical import. That role was never in the cards for me; it’s so antithetical to my character as an introvert, a homebody, and someone who hates to be away from my family.
6 &7. Tell me about any special relationship you’ve had with an animal, domestic or wild? What's one thing you are happy worked out differently than you expected?
I’m combining these two questions as the answer to both is our eleven pound, seven year old Shih Tzu, Sophie, here in Central Park.
I’m that cliché of a husband who never had a dog or any pet, resisted his wife’s desire for one, and only agreed to get one if expectations for his participation in caring for the pet were minimal. Then, within seconds of meeting Sophie as a puppy, I fell in love. Hard.
Sophie and I have a deep connection. I know her moods and thoughts. There’s pretty much nothing I wouldn’t do for her. And if we go away, I get teary eyed at the thought of being away from her.
Singing in the shower or dancing in the kitchen? Or another favorite way your body expresses itself?
Neither. I hear music in a way that does not move my body. And in the shower I love to think. The exception to that rule was at my daughter’s wedding on 3/21/20, the day after my mother died and the day Covid shut down New York. My daughter’s wedding was held in our living room. An excess of emotion caused me to feel the music throughout my body. I had to move in order to release what I was feeling.
My son made a 45 second video making fun of my dancing outbreak using “The Office” as inspiration.
What are your hopes for yourself?
I’ve taken up writing as a second vocation. My hope is that my writing life continues to advance in skill and confidence and that I continue to grow my friendships with my wonderful new community of other Substack writers.
I love my weekly essays but the devilish seducer of ego who tries to get people like me to write a full length book keeps whispering in my ear.
Another hope is to conduct myself with sprezzatura, the wonderful Italian word for maintaining an air of nonchalance even when working hard.
What’s a kindness that changed your life?
From the night we met, my wife and I always have relied on each other’s kindness. Not to say we’ve been kind to one another every hour and every day over forty years––I wrote a post about one of our sillier fights that seemed serious in the moment. But those moments are the exceptions that prove the rule.
What’s a guiding force in your life?
Other than my family, my moral code which I’d define as seeking justice, humility, and mercy. I don’t always live up to those ideals but I try.
If you enjoyed David’s questionnaire, you may also enjoy this one with Jane Wong:
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That dancing is world class! Enjoyed the interview. Some good recommendations for reading!
Jane, this is a special one for me as David was one of my first connections on Substack and we had a good conversation about different histories with similar values and beliefs. He is 3 days younger or older than my daughter, I forget which. They had the privileges of good educations and both of them are in the recently retired generation carving out new careers. David is becoming the writer he is imagining, my daughter got her Master's degree in Health & Wellness two years ago. I am the happy grandfather, watching with interest and love, blessed by seeing what they are doing with their lives and the influence they have on those close to them. I'm delighted with their philanthropic mind sets that enabled them to contribute to those causes they deem worthwhile. My hunch is we will see a book coming from the Roberts' house in the next year or so, but, as you know, predictions are difficult, especially about the future. Thanks for this interview The video of David the Dancer started my day with a good laugh and nothing beats the endorphins.