{"id":356,"date":"2011-05-25T21:22:43","date_gmt":"2011-05-25T21:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/new-website\/?page_id=356"},"modified":"2011-05-25T21:22:43","modified_gmt":"2011-05-25T21:22:43","slug":"qa-with-alex-prudhomme","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/books\/qa-with-alex-prudhomme\/","title":{"rendered":"Q+A with Alex Prud\u2019homme"},"content":{"rendered":"
Q+A with Alex Prud\u2019homme about My Life in France<\/em><\/strong><\/h5>\n


\n<\/em><\/strong>
\n <\/strong>
\n <\/strong>
\nWhat was your original connection to Julia Child?:<\/strong>
\nWe were related by marriage: Julia\u2019s husband, Paul, was the twin brother of my grandfather, Charles Child.\u00a0 So she was my great aunt.\u00a0 I grew up knowing her on TV and in person.\u00a0 The two Julias were one and the same.\u00a0 In other words, the personality you saw on TV was the same personality I saw at home — funny, smart, and happiest when cooking something delicious for an appreciative audience.
\nPaul was shorter and quieter than Julia.\u00a0 He\u2019d been a diplomat, was an accomplished artist, and was an essential part of Julia\u2019s success.\u00a0 In fact, our book is dedicated to him.\u00a0 He was ten years older than she was, knew all about wine, and entertained us with unusual tricks — how to tie a bowline knot with one hand (he\u2019d been a sailor), how to trip someone (he was a black belt), how to hold a wineglass when making a toast (by the stem).\u00a0 He and I shared a love of bacon and bananas, and Julia thought we looked alike — which is probably one reason she liked me.
\n 
\n 
\nHow well did you know Julia and Paul Child growing up? <\/strong>
\n 
\nQuite well.\u00a0 Although they lived in Cambridge Mass, and we lived in New York, they were frequently in Manhattan as Julia\u2019s career flourished.\u00a0 We\u2019d often have Thanksgiving together, and we\u2019d see each other in Maine during the summer, where Paul helped my grandfather build a log cabin.
\nThey never had children of their own, but were close to Charlie\u2019s children (my mother, aunt, and uncle).\u00a0 They weren\u2019t quite another set of grandparents to us — Julia was a celebrity, and they were always flying off to exotic places like France or California — but they were very down-to-earth people, and always curious about what WE were up to.
\nJulia and Paul were generous, and would pass on gifts of food and cookbooks they\u2019d been given from well-meaning friends.\u00a0 But their biggest gift was to live their lives in an exemplary way: they taught us the importance of passion, doggedness, creativity, and humor.
\n 
\n 
\nWhat are some of your favorite memories of Julia and Paul?<\/strong>
\n 
\nMostly about eating, of course.\u00a0 Julia\u2019s kitchen in Cambridge was her laboratory, and the center of the house.\u00a0 We\u2019d sit around the big table there talking \u2013 about movies, politics, food \u2013 while she tinkered with some new recipe on her old Garland stove.\u00a0 There were all sorts of giant knives and copper pots and exotic culinary contraptions in her kitchen — like the giant mortar and pestle she bought in Paris.\u00a0 (Her entire kitchen is on display at the Smithsonian.)\u00a0 This seemed natural to me, and it was only much later that I realized how lucky I was to spend time with her.
\nIn Maine, Julia would join us in picking strawberries, fishing for mackerel and digging for clams.\u00a0 She\u2019d make chowder, bouillabaisse, lobsters, bread, and — our favorite — lace cookies, jams and berry pies.
\nIn New York, Julia would sometimes take us along to a fundraiser she was doing, and then we\u2019d go out to a restaurant, where they\u2019d seat us in the middle of the room and feed us way too much food.\u00a0 Afterwards, Julia made a point of going into the kitchen to thank everyone from the dishwasher to the head chef.\u00a0 Entering a restaurant with her was an experience — I\u2019ve seen near-riots break out when Julia walked into a room.\u00a0 Once, a woman nearly broke her ankle in front of a Howard Johnson\u2019s when she saw Julia and tripped off a curb.\u00a0 Another time, a woman at a fancy restaurant set her napkin on fire when she knocked a candle over in a rush to get Julia\u2019s autograph.\u00a0 Julia handled the crush of attention very well; Paul didn\u2019t like it much, but put up with it for her sake.
\nIn France, we visited Paul and Julia in Provence a number of times.\u00a0 Shopping at the great outdoor market in Cannes, Julia spoke to every vegetable and meat purveyor, and, naturally, they loved her.\u00a0 In 1976, when I was 14, she took us to La Colombe d\u2019Or, a restaurant in St. Paul de Vence, where I had my first really extraordinary, three-plus hour French lunch.\u00a0 On that visit I also learned how to drive a stick-shift car in their field (I ground the gears and put a dent in the bumper, but it was fun!).\u00a0 Then Paul set up a TV on the veranda, and we watched the Montreal Olympics while Julia grilled the most delicious chicken I\u2019ve ever eaten.
\nOf course, one of my best memories of all is spending time with Julia at the end of her life: we were writing this book together, and getting to know each other — and our family stories — all over again.\u00a0 I feel very lucky.
\n 
\n 
\nWhen did you first learn that Julia was writing a book about her life?
\n 
\nThe years she lived in France, Julia said, were \u201camong the best of my life.\u201d\u00a0 It was there that she figured out who she was and what she wanted to do with herself.\u00a0 And for almost as long as I can remember, she talked about writing a book about that time — \u201cthe France book.\u201d
\nIn 1969, Paul suggested printing the letters that he and Julia had written to my grandparents from France.\u00a0 But the publishers weren\u2019t interested.\u00a0 Julia liked the idea, though, and kept mental notes about it.\u00a0 She kept files of things she had written about her experiences there — her first meal in Rouen; how to shop for partridge in Paris, or fish in Marseille; the trials and tribulations of getting Mastering the Art of French Cooking<\/em> written and published.\u00a0 But for some reason, \u201cthe France book\u201d never got written.
\n 
\n 
\nHow did you first become involved in the writing of MY LIFE IN FRANCE?
\n 
\nI was a professional writer, and had long wanted to do something collaborative with Julia.\u00a0 But she was self reliant, and for years had politely resisted my offer.
\nBy December 2003, Julia had retired to Santa Barbara, CA, and when I made my annual visit, she once again mentioned \u201cthe France book\u201d in a wistful tone.\u00a0 She was 91, and growing frail, and I once again offered to assist her.\u00a0 This time she surprised me by saying, \u201cAll right, dearie, maybe we should work on it together.\u201d\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t especially prepared, but we sat down and did our first interview the next day.\u00a0 Our collaboration grew from there.
\n 
\n <\/p>\n

Talk about the process of writing this book with Julia:<\/h2>\n

 
\nFor a few days every month, I would sit in Julia\u2019s modest living room, asking questions, reading from a stack of family letters, looking at Paul\u2019s evocative photographs, and listening to her stories.\u00a0 Occasionally\u00a0 we\u2019d watch a tape of one of her old TV shows, and she\u2019d tell me about it.
\nIt wasn\u2019t always easy, though.\u00a0 Julia could only work for a couple of hours at a time.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t like to talk about her innermost thoughts.\u00a0 My tape recorder distracted her, so I took notes instead.\u00a0 But after some fits and starts, we finally got into a good working rhythm.\u00a0 Many of our best conversations took place over a meal, on a car ride, or while I rolled her wheelchair through the farmer\u2019s market.\u00a0 Something would trigger her memory, and she\u2019d suddenly tell me how she learned to make baguettes in a home oven, or how one had to speak very loudly in order to be heard at a French dinner party.
\nWhen I had enough material, I would write up a vignette.\u00a0 Julia would read it, correct it, and add new thoughts.\u00a0 She loved this process, and was an exacting editor.\u00a0 \u201cThis book energizes me!,\u201d she\u2019d say.
\nWe worked like this from mid-January to mid-August, 2004, when she passed away in her sleep from kidney failure.\u00a0\u00a0 She died on August 13th<\/sup>, two days before her 92d birthday.\u00a0 I spent the next year finishing My Life in France<\/em>, and wishing I could call on her to fill in the gaps.
\nThe final product is a true collaboration, featuring the voices of Julia, Paul, and a bit of me.\u00a0 It is not a scholarly treatise, and in some places I have blended Paul and Julia\u2019s words.\u00a0 Not only was this practical, but Julia encouraged it, noting that they often signed their letters \u201cPJ,\u201d or \u201cPulia,\u201d as if they were two halves of one person.\u00a0 I wrote some exposition and transitions, and used her funny words — \u201cYuck!,\u201d \u201cPlop!,\u201d \u201cHooray!\u201d
\n 
\n 
\nWhat was it like to work on this with Julia\u2019s long-time editor and friend Judith Jones?
\n 
\nJudith is a legend in her own right, and working with her was one of the best experiences I\u2019ve ever had as a writer.\u00a0 What is amazing is that she lived in Paris at roughly the same time that Julia did (though they didn\u2019t know each other there), and so when the twice-rejected manuscript for Mastering the Art of French Cooking<\/em> landed on her desk, Judith instantly understood it in a way that no one else did.\u00a0 She was a young editor, but her passionate advocacy for Mastering<\/em> persuaded the rather skeptical Alfred Knopf to publish it.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t like the title, which Judith had written, and said, \u201cIf anyone buys a book with that title, I\u2019ll eat my hat.\u201d\u00a0 She says: \u201cI like to think he\u2019s eaten a lot of hats!\u201d
\nJudith has a deft and sensitive editorial touch — something any writer can appreciate.\u00a0 Added to that, she worked with Julia for forty years, and her deep understanding of our subject helped this book immeasurably.
\n 
\n <\/p>\n

What are you currently working on?<\/h2>\n

 
\nMy new book is about the perilous state of the world\u2019s fresh water, the people and forces that are defining how we use it, and why water will be the<\/em> central issue facing the planet this century.
\nI came to this subject in part through Julia: not only is France the place where bottled water and private water companies got their start, but her niece is married to a globe-trotting hydrogeologist who is full of amazing water stories.\u00a0 It should be a lot of fun.\u00a0 I think Julia would approve.
\n 
\n 
\n 
\n 
\n 
\n 
\n 
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q+A with Alex Prud\u2019homme about My Life in France What was your original connection to Julia Child?: We were related by marriage: Julia\u2019s husband, Paul, was the twin brother of my grandfather, Charles Child.\u00a0 So she was my great aunt.\u00a0 I grew up knowing her on TV and in person.\u00a0 The two Julias were one…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":17,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nQ+A with Alex Prud\u2019homme - Alex Prud'homme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/books\/my-life-in-france__trashed\/qa-with-alex-prudhomme\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Q+A with Alex Prud\u2019homme - 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