What Elizabeth Gilbert Wants You to Know About Sex, Creativity, & Grief

TL;DR

Elizabeth Gilbert wants people to know that sexual choices need not ruin women, grief can open creative paths, and accepting life’s transience can encourage joyful, authentic living. Her novel City of Girls places promiscuous young women in New York City’s 1940s theater world, where they face consequences without being destroyed by desire. Read on for her inspiration, research process, and reflections on loss and vitality.

Transcript

Hey, it's Marie Forleo, and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business and life you love. My guest today, she's a legend, and she continues to inspire me, and millions of other to live joyfully and boldly, and with our hearts wide open. Elizabeth Gilbert is the number one New York Times Best-selling author of Big Magic, and Eat ... Read More

Key Insights

• 👶 Grief can be a transformative creative challenge, guiding individuals to explore new paths and connections.
• 😀 Dance can be a powerful tool for processing emotions and embracing vitality in the face of loss.
• 😃 Embracing the transience of life can lead to a lighter, more adventurous approach to decision-making and experiencing joy.
• 💦 Elizabeth Gilbert's work and personal experiences highlight the importance of friendship, finding meaning in loss, and living authentically.

Questions & Answers

Q: What does Elizabeth Gilbert want people to understand about sex, creativity, and grief?

Gilbert rejects the idea that women must be ruined by sexual desire, arguing that they can survive their choices and their consequences. She also presents grief as a transformative creative challenge and dance as a way to move through loss while reconnecting with vitality.

Q: What is Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel City of Girls about?

City of Girls is set in the New York City theater world of the 1940s and follows showgirls, playboys, actresses, and dancers. Its central concern is promiscuous young women who behave with sexual recklessness, face consequences, and remain capable of surviving their choices.

Q: What inspired Elizabeth Gilbert to write City of Girls?

Seven or eight years earlier, Gilbert’s 90-year-old great-aunt gave her out-of-print books that included essays by theater critic Alexander Woollcott. His profiles of British and American stage divas made the era seem impossibly glamorous and inspired Gilbert to place promiscuous women at the center of that world.

Q: Why did Elizabeth Gilbert want to portray promiscuous women differently?

Gilbert struggled to find stories in classic Western literature where sexually adventurous women were not destroyed or expelled from society. She wanted to depict a woman who experiences real consequences but is still able to survive her own choices.

Q: How did Elizabeth Gilbert balance sexual freedom and consequences in City of Girls?

Gilbert did not want either a punishment story or a romantic fantasy in which reckless choices have no consequences. She created a character who behaves with abandon, experiences what follows, and continues living rather than becoming a supposedly “ruined woman.”

Q: How did Elizabeth Gilbert research the world of City of Girls?

Gilbert immersed herself in the culture of the 1930s and 1940s through historians, novels, and conversations with former showgirls. This research helped her portray the period and its theater world authentically.

Q: What role did dance play in Elizabeth Gilbert’s grief for Rayya?

Dance gave Gilbert a physical release for grief after losing her beloved friend Rayya. It helped her move through painful emotions while embracing vitality in the midst of mourning.

Q: How does Elizabeth Gilbert’s view of life’s transience affect how she lives?

Gilbert treats impermanence as a reason to approach life more lightly and adventurously. Her perspective encourages trying new things, finding joy in the present, and continuing the journey despite the inevitability of death.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Elizabeth Gilbert discusses her new novel, City of Girls, inspired by the 1940s theater world.

• She shares her experience of grief and the transformative power of dance in processing loss.

• Gilbert emphasizes the importance of embracing life's transience and finding joy in the journey.