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Since the publication of her debut novel, Surveys, in 2016, Natasha Stagg has established herself as one of New York City’s foremost chroniclers of life in the age of relentless self-branding. To celebrate the Semiotext(e) release of Artless: Stories 2019-2023, a collection of Stagg’s essays, short fiction, and other assorted ephemera, the author will be coming to Metrograph to introduce a personally curated collection of films that have occupied an outsized role in her personal and creative life.
“Welcome to the Dollhouse and New York, New York might seem two selections that couldn’t have less in common, but beyond being two works I have mentioned in my latest book, they represent outsiders looking in, or further out, as it may be. The protagonists are hoping for social recognition—something sharp and new compared to the constant hum of familial relationships—and wishing that the stages set up for such an exchange were slightly smaller, that their pained lives didn’t have to be so on display. They are set in suburban New Jersey and the show business undercurrent of New York City, the places from where my mother and father, respectively, each hail. That forced dichotomy wasn’t quite intentional, but it must partially answer the question of why I feel such affinities for these films.”—Natasha Stagg
Presented with Semiotext(e)