Metacognition on Creativity with Alexander Chee

Cultural Mixtapes

Alexander Chee is the author of two novels, Edinburgh, and The Queen of the Night and one collection of essays called How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. He was also the editor for the 2022 edition of The Best American Essays Anthology, which was just published by HarperCollins. Alexander has the uncanny ability to methodically examine his own psyche while making connections that surprise both his reader and himself. His writing is guileless and he is simultaneously able to control his prose while allowing his thoughts to meander, leading to an often shocking, but infinitely exciting reading process. He’s always in complete control, but simultaneously at the mercy of his creative muse.

Most of the conversations thus far on Cultural Mixtapes have illuminated a certain aspect of the creative process, and examined the reasons and drive behind art-making. In addition to doing that, this conversation contains a sort of “meta-commentary” on how we examine our own processes and express them in writing.

Note: Towards the end of the conversation I keep wrongly referring to an interview Alexander gave to Guernica Magazine. I later correct it to an essay that he wrote for the magazine. Here is that essay.

Alexander's Website
The Best American Essays 2022

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