DS: It's really funny. There was a lot of funny stuff that happened. That was the problem, too. I didn't want these pathologists to come off sounding like monsters. You know, they sent a photographer down there, and all the pathologists came to work practically in tuxedoes. [Laughs] You know, they came to work really dressed up. They'd never been written about, and it meant so much to them. I thought, "I can't put that in the article, because they wouldn't like it." I felt like I couldn't reveal certain things. Or else you spend three paragraphs setting it up about how nice they are. Nice, nice, nice, nice, nice. And then you have the horrible thing they say about the pregnant dead woman, it just doesn't work. [Laughs] But there were certain things, no problem, I could tell the truth. They have an observation room with a glass wall where you watch the autopsies. It had the best air-conditioning in the whole building. People would eat lunch in there. They would eat lunch watching bodies being dissected.
PB: In one of your earlier stories, "Diary of a Smoker," in Barrel Fever, you wrote about aggressive nonsmokers who refuse to let you light up. You said, "They seem to think you'll look back and thank them for those precious 15 seconds they just added to your life. What they don't understand is that those are just 15 more seconds you can spend hating them and plotting revenge." Do you still hate aggressive nonsmokers?
DS: I got a letter from a woman who read an interview that I did in which I said I moved to France for the smoking. She said, "It's because of people like you that I can't go to a single restaurant in Paris outside of McDonald's. And I just hope you don't get lung cancer, or have to care for somebody who does. Because then, believe me you, talking pretty will not be an option." I thought, that is such an American letter. I heard on the news that this guy won $3 billion. He sued R.J. Reynolds or something, saying they had convinced him that smoking is cool, and that they didn't warn him of the dangers of smoking. I think it was $3 billion. You know, even before they put warnings on cigarettes, you would notice, "Oh, I'm having a hard time getting up these stairs." [Laughs] Anyone could have figured that out. Anybody.
PB: Has your work made you a celebrity in France?
DS: Well, I went on TV and did a lot of radio interviews when Me Talk Pretty One Day came out in France. I thought, I'm in France, I live here, I might as well speak French on TV. That was pretty scary. I can say a lot in French, but being interviewed is sort of different. I said that before going on TV, I had worried about what to wear. And I said [gestures to his neck]: "This shrimp is brand new." Because a tie is a cravate, and a shrimp is a crevette.
PB: What's big in France right now?
