Wild beasts cannot help it
From the Department of Just Plain Weird Austen Allusions, Dave Eggers gives a talk and mentions bears that hate Jane Austen.
Eggers still seems a bit lost, squinting from the podium in the wind-wracked marquee. “Man, that is amazing,” he says in awe when a particularly violent gust seizes the canvas. But the eyes, shrewd and narrow beneath an electric shock of wavy dark hair, are those of someone in full control of the virtual circus he creates as he speaks: a ring of weird images that will include, by the end of the hour, the boxing promoter Don King, President Bush as a double amputee, bears that hate Jane Austen and a State Department official who “looked about 12″.
