December 1, 2021
Rodham
Curtis Sittenfeld
Author
Minutes of the 12th Meeting of the 80th Year
Stephen Schreiber, President, called the meeting to order promptly at 10:15 AM on December 1, 2021, utilizing the Zoom platform due to COVID restrictions. He introduced Roger Moseley who read the minutes of the previous meeting. Mr. Schreiber then introduced Greg Dobbs who reported on behalf of the Membership Committee. Mr. Dobbs shared his screen and posted the following persons as candidates for an election to be held at the December 8, 2021, meeting. He stated that all had completed the application process and that their nominations were in order. Nominees are:
Kathy Lynne Ales; Florence Baumann Kahn; Ricardo J. Fernandez de Quincoces; Max Salas; Frances Fowler Slade; and Robert Frank Stengel.
The election procedure was outlined by Mr. Dobbs and will be held via ZOOM.
Mr. Schreiber next introduced four guests for the December 1 meeting: Janet Hartwell, Kathy Ales, Scott Magargee, and Leslie Price. He welcomed these guests and asked members to respect the Old Guard attendance rules requiring registration of visitors. He then asked for a moment of silence to recognize the passing of longtime member Allen Kassof.
Mr. Schreiber then asked Lanny Jones to introduce the speaker, Curtis Sittenfeld, author of the fictional novel Rodham. Mr. Jones provided background on our speaker saying that she was educated at Groton, Vassar, and Stanford. In addition to Rodham, published in 2020, which tells a fictionalized story of a woman named Hillary Rodham, a young woman of promise who has written five novels, many of which have been published in 25 languages for sale abroad. She has also published articles in numerous prominent publications such as The New York Times, Time and People magazines, as well as making appearances on NPR and being the answer four times to questions on Jeopardy.
Ms. Sittenfeld began by thanking the Old Guard for the invitation to speak before a Princeton audience. She pointed out that 50% of her immediate family had attended Princeton – father, class of 1969; brother, class of 2007, and one of her sisters, of an undisclosed class.
She began her talk in earnest by stating that her book is a book of fiction and that she did not interview Hillary Rodham Clinton, nor had she ever met personally either of the Clintons, nor did she interview any close friends of either of the couple. The author said she concluded that the Clintons had been a part of the news cycle nearly every day of her own adult life and that “everything that could be said had been said.” In 2016, however, she was asked to write an article for Esquire magazine, because they knew that she had recently published a novel about Laura Bush. The Esquire editor asked for an article written from the point of view of Hillary.
Ms. Sittenfeld then disclosed that she voted with the Democratic Party and that she was thrilled when Hillary Clinton became the party’s nominee. She also stated that she was “devastated” by the results of the 2016 election. She commented that she realized how the Clintons had moved to be a part of history when she learned that her elementary school-age children knew of Hillary but did not know that Bill Clinton existed and that a friend’s child dressed as Hillary for Halloween, complete with pants suit, dark glasses, and cell phone.
The author then read a fairly long passage from her novel in which Hillary announces her candidacy for president in 2015 and competes against the Silicon Valley billionaire Bill Clinton who had run and lost in 1992. The passage was an off-the-record discussion with the press corps during the run-up to the election. The passage described Hillary’s view of the press as being a group of mostly young wannabes who are “easily distracted by shiny objects” and who are “shamelessly critical of appearance.” They are, she observed, self-congratulatory and believe they pursue the noble cause of journalism. The fictional Hillary viewed them to be “children” to be guided and taught.
At that point, Ms. Sittenfeld, after 10 minutes paused and shifted to an inter-active discussion with the Old Guard members, who posed a series of questions:
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Mathews
Kathy Lynne Ales; Florence Baumann Kahn; Ricardo J. Fernandez de Quincoces; Max Salas; Frances Fowler Slade; and Robert Frank Stengel.
The election procedure was outlined by Mr. Dobbs and will be held via ZOOM.
Mr. Schreiber next introduced four guests for the December 1 meeting: Janet Hartwell, Kathy Ales, Scott Magargee, and Leslie Price. He welcomed these guests and asked members to respect the Old Guard attendance rules requiring registration of visitors. He then asked for a moment of silence to recognize the passing of longtime member Allen Kassof.
Mr. Schreiber then asked Lanny Jones to introduce the speaker, Curtis Sittenfeld, author of the fictional novel Rodham. Mr. Jones provided background on our speaker saying that she was educated at Groton, Vassar, and Stanford. In addition to Rodham, published in 2020, which tells a fictionalized story of a woman named Hillary Rodham, a young woman of promise who has written five novels, many of which have been published in 25 languages for sale abroad. She has also published articles in numerous prominent publications such as The New York Times, Time and People magazines, as well as making appearances on NPR and being the answer four times to questions on Jeopardy.
Ms. Sittenfeld began by thanking the Old Guard for the invitation to speak before a Princeton audience. She pointed out that 50% of her immediate family had attended Princeton – father, class of 1969; brother, class of 2007, and one of her sisters, of an undisclosed class.
She began her talk in earnest by stating that her book is a book of fiction and that she did not interview Hillary Rodham Clinton, nor had she ever met personally either of the Clintons, nor did she interview any close friends of either of the couple. The author said she concluded that the Clintons had been a part of the news cycle nearly every day of her own adult life and that “everything that could be said had been said.” In 2016, however, she was asked to write an article for Esquire magazine, because they knew that she had recently published a novel about Laura Bush. The Esquire editor asked for an article written from the point of view of Hillary.
Ms. Sittenfeld then disclosed that she voted with the Democratic Party and that she was thrilled when Hillary Clinton became the party’s nominee. She also stated that she was “devastated” by the results of the 2016 election. She commented that she realized how the Clintons had moved to be a part of history when she learned that her elementary school-age children knew of Hillary but did not know that Bill Clinton existed and that a friend’s child dressed as Hillary for Halloween, complete with pants suit, dark glasses, and cell phone.
The author then read a fairly long passage from her novel in which Hillary announces her candidacy for president in 2015 and competes against the Silicon Valley billionaire Bill Clinton who had run and lost in 1992. The passage was an off-the-record discussion with the press corps during the run-up to the election. The passage described Hillary’s view of the press as being a group of mostly young wannabes who are “easily distracted by shiny objects” and who are “shamelessly critical of appearance.” They are, she observed, self-congratulatory and believe they pursue the noble cause of journalism. The fictional Hillary viewed them to be “children” to be guided and taught.
At that point, Ms. Sittenfeld, after 10 minutes paused and shifted to an inter-active discussion with the Old Guard members, who posed a series of questions:
- The author reconfirmed that she had done no interviews for the novel but that she had read many memoirs of/by women in politics, including two by Hillary Clinton and the first 250 pages of the expansive memoir of former President Bill Clinton.
- She said that she had no idea whether either of the Clintons had read her novel, although she surmised that they had not. She said that Hillary Clinton has been so much in the public eye and has been so bruised by “irrelevant chatter” that she would likely classify this novel as just that and ignore it. She also had had no comment from personal friends of Hillary, as they are polite and protective. She believed they would view the novel as “weird and intrusive.”
- The decision to have the fictional Hillary not marry and not have kids was calculated by the author as being dictated by reality. Once Ms. Sittenfeld had her not marry Bill Clinton, she did not want just to create a law partner in the Chicago suburbs.
- Ms. Sittenfeld said that she had absolutely zero interest in researching or writing a novel about Melania Trump. She elaborated saying that she could never imagine being married to Donald Trump and therefore had no interest in going there.
- When asked about Phillip Roth’s novel The Plot Against America, and if there were parallels, Ms. Sittenfeld answered that “alternative histories are interesting but not the driver for Rodham.” She said she believed that Hillary is talked about as a symbol, but she should be viewed as a person who brushes her teeth and who does real people things.
- In response to a question about how the real Hillary was perceived by foreign leaders when she was Secretary of State, the author demurred saying that much of the real Hillary’s career was left out. She said that it seems to be well known that Putin of Russia did not like the real Hillary but that she believed the real Hillary was generally appreciated and respected.
- When asked to speculate on why the real Hillary was disliked by many, the author responded with a one-word answer: “Sexism.”
- In response to another questioner who asked about the frequent criticism that the real Hillary did not seem to be authentic, the author countered that “how can one prove that you are authentic. It is a no-win situation.”
- The discussion then shifted to the question of ethics in writing a fictional account about a living person, thus creating an alternative life. The author acknowledged that this was a serious issue but countered with how long one should wait. She further commented that it seems okay for Saturday Night Live to parody living politicians in humorous skits.
- A classmate of the real Hillary’s from Wellesley asked if the author believed there was a change for women in today’s politics, resulting from her running in 2016. The author said that she believed there had been a real change and that many women ran in the 2020 primary and that there is now a woman vice president. Still, she said, there seems to be sexism, remembering the chatter about whether or not Elizabeth Warren was “electable.”
- The author then made a long exposition about her research into the real Hillary’s so-called scandals, such as Whitewater and the famous emails. The author stated that if you dig into the details, there is really very little of substance there. She described the real Hillary as “hard working” and “a thoughtful person” and, as a friend, fun and flirty. She said she found that the real Hillary is not unscrupulous or immoral.
- When asked why Trump was included in the novel as a candidate, the author answered that she wanted the billionaire Bill Clinton to fictionally encourage Trump as a Republican candidate because he believed that he would be easy for the fictional Hillary to beat.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Mathews