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literati fistfight

April 24, 2006

 

j.t. leroy, fin

And that seems to be the end of that. At parties and readings, Laura enjoyed watching from the sidelines while celebrities fawned over her increasingly confident stand-in. "It was always ironic," Geoff says, "because Laura would be sitting nearby, the true genius." The sadder irony was that many of J.T.'s fans and professional associates actively disliked the woman who had created him. They found Speedie/Emily pushy and abrasive, grasping, even trashy. Laura...
Posted by xtop at 07:38 PM | Comments (0)
 


January 18, 2006

 

from kurt eichenwald's 'conspiracy of fools'

p. 290-291 from Kurt Eichenwald's massive, compulsively readable rundown of the entire Enron debacle: On December 20, Collins was ready to throw in the towel. He was weeks from quitting in frustration, but before he did, he wanted somebody to hear the truth. He banged out an e-mail to one of his supervisors. Enron's ballyhooed effort to develop a software-driven network was fizzling, he wrote, with no market share, no purchasers, and...
Posted by xtop at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)
 


January 12, 2006

 

the stare-able candide

Chris Ware makes Voltaire hip for the kids again. This shot doesn't even come close to describing just how well-designed and funny a job Ware did on the cover, which includes fake jacket flaps inside and a character diagram. I picked it up last night, knowing I already owned a well-thumbed paperback of Candide, one I'd tried to read a time or two without success. But this, this was like buying...
Posted by xtop at 02:04 PM | Comments (0)
 


January 09, 2006

 

james frey & jt leroy vs. the truth

James Frey gets called on his shit: Frey compared those two stints: "Jail is really fucking boring, and occasionally, really fucking scary. It is about doing time and getting it over with and staying out of trouble. Rehab is about fixing and changing your life. It, however, can also be boring and scary." When recalling criminal activities, looming prison sentences, and jailhouse rituals, Frey writes with a swaggering machismo and bravado...
Posted by xtop at 01:38 AM | Comments (0)
 


October 14, 2005

 

jt leroy vs. all rational thought, steve almond vs. bloggers

Stephen Beachy investigates whether former truckstop hustler and wunderkind author J.T. LeRoy is actually real, or just a wig-and-glasses bedecked illusion conjured up by a 39 year old woman: We can never know for sure who’s on the other end of a screen name or a phone line, and given that these were JT’s two chosen media, the possibilities of his identity seemed endless. I didn’t believe that he was either Ewert...
Posted by xtop at 07:29 PM | Comments (3)
 


June 16, 2005

 

a technical guide for editing gonzo

What Hunter is justly celebrated for, among his other virtues, is his authorial voice, his truest creation, as powerful and unique a voice as exists in American letters. But this instrument, as his editors knew, existed only on paper. Those poor souls who booked him for public speaking gigs found that out soon enough. But Hunter’s authorial voice was perhaps at its purest and most potent in the memos and marked-up manuscript...
Posted by xtop at 10:33 PM | Comments (0)
 


June 14, 2005

 

the black ~ bradbury interview

Frank Black asks Ray Bradbury some strange questions. FB: Are you a believer in human gathering? As humans, are we meant to gather? FB: Speaking of directors, I feel emotionally scarred to this day by a guy who almost punched me out in a barroom where my girlfriend worked. This was someone I did not know. You were almost punched out by John Huston, who you admired. Can you laugh about...
Posted by xtop at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)
 


May 17, 2005

 

vinny's gentle madness

People see my collection and inevitably ask, “Have you read all of these?” They want me to say “no” more than they want me to say “yes”, as perhaps that will make them feel less guilty about not having read very much. I certainly feel as though I have read very little, but this is based on the vast amount of material there is to read. Walking into a shop stuffed with...
Posted by xtop at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)
 


May 12, 2005

 

bradbury on productivity

Why do you think Bradbury has had such a prolific career? His career is the career that other writers hope for. He has never stopped writing and being published. Why has he succeeded where so many others have floundered? It’s hilarious because he often says, “I wonder what other writers do with their time?” People are always asking him, "How did you get so much accomplished in your 83 years?" In reality...
Posted by xtop at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)
 


May 06, 2005

 

radosh v. landesman

Daniel Radosh calls a fellow journalist on the credibility issues of his article about white slavery in America. Said journalist shows up on Radosh's site and unloads both barrels of juvenile behavior. The he said/he said goes on in equal parts measured disagreements and schoolyard insults. Radosh responds in kind. The only thing better than people arguing on the internet is two professionals arguing on the internet, especially when it's decided from...
Posted by xtop at 02:11 AM | Comments (1)
 


April 17, 2005

 

malisznewski v. chabon / almond v. foer

Two literary fistfights in one month. Well, the first one, mostly, the second one is just one author critically examining another, which, in the more outraged instance of a tibor fischer/martin amis or colson whitehead/richard ford review feud is always a fun time (especially in the case of the latter, 'cause grown men spitting on others because of bad reviews never loses its shock value). It was the kind of headline that...
Posted by xtop at 11:41 PM | Comments (2)
 


March 24, 2005

 

from Robert Sullivan's 'Rats'

Biologists refer to rats as thigmophilic, which means touch loving. Consequently, rats prefer to touch things as they travel. Their runways are often parallel to walls, tracks, and curbs; in infested basements, grease slicks parallel ceiling beams and the run of sewer pipes. Rats are thought to feel especially safe at comers, when they are simultaneously touching a wall and free to escape. As they travel again and again for food, as...
Posted by xtop at 09:41 PM | Comments (4)
 


March 21, 2005

 

richard hell goes off

As a poet now, Richard Hell is perhaps not as good as he could have been had he not spent upwards of twenty years playing music. Fuck you. If you want to say something like that, say it to my face. You don't hear me making claims about how "good" my poetry is, but who the fuck do you think you are? All this writing of yours is presented as if you're...
Posted by xtop at 10:46 PM | Comments (6)
 


February 20, 2005

 

selah

"We do have confirmation that Hunter Thompson was found dead this evening of an apparent self-inflicted wound"...
Posted by xtop at 11:28 PM | Comments (9)
 


February 04, 2005

 

the other hollywood

happytrac14: Why should we care about the history of porn, and what is the conclusion of your book? Legs McNeil: It's just the story of porn. I don't give a f**k if you care about it or not. Don't buy it. Go back to reading Jewel's book of poetry. I don't care what you do with your life. I'm interested because it's about America, and the story has never been told,...
Posted by xtop at 01:19 AM | Comments (2)
 


January 14, 2005

 

kafka on the shore

Got the call today from my local bookstore, they're now holding one for me and it is apparently available for purchase as we type, though amazon and murkami's official site says not until Tuesday. Still...new Murakami!...
Posted by xtop at 01:02 PM | Comments (2)
 


November 28, 2004

 

the dna of literature

Welcome to the DNA of literature—over 50 years of literary wisdom rolled up in 300+ Writers-at-Work interviews, now available online—free. Founder and former Editor George Plimpton dreamed of a day when anyone—a struggling writer in Texas, an English teacher in Amsterdam, even a subscriber in Central Asia—could easily access this vast literary resource; with the establishment of this online archive that day has finally come. Now, for the first time, you can...
Posted by xtop at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)
 


October 21, 2004

 

fear and loathing, campaign 2004

"I look at elections with the cool and dispassionate gaze of a professional gambler, especially when I'm betting real money on the outcome. Contrary to most conventional wisdom, I see Kerry with five points as a recommended risk. Kerry will win this election, if it happens, by a bigger margin than Bush finally gouged out of Florida in 2000. That was about forty-six percent, plus five points for owning the U.S. Supreme...
Posted by xtop at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)
 


July 25, 2004

 

will christopher baer: .com

so here’s the deal. I promise not to let this sucker die. too many good people have worked too hard to make the site happen, and I by god intend to nurture it. I will post fresh log entries long and short every week or so. I will trot out short stories and essays new and old whenever it feels ripe to do so. I will answer questions, provided I know the...
Posted by xtop at 09:56 PM | Comments (0)
 


July 09, 2004

 

wow

sweet...
Posted by xtop at 07:18 PM | Comments (4)
 


March 29, 2004

 

suffer the fool

I see myself in the dark glass of a storefront window. The image is wavering, untrue. I slip a cigarette from my pocket with pinched fingers and stare at it for two or three minutes, maybe longer. Then place it between my lips and strike a match as if I never hesitated. This is a nervous condition I developed in jail. Time becomes narrow, physical. My perception of self is incidental, and...
Posted by xtop at 09:39 PM | Comments (1)
 


 

super goat man

When Super Goat Man moved into the commune on our street, I was ten years old. Though I liked superheroes, I wasn’t familiar with Super Goat Man. His presence didn’t mean much to me or to the other kids in the neighborhood. For us, as we ran and screamed and played our secret games on the sidewalk Super Goat Man was only another of the guy who sat on stoops in sleeveless...
Posted by xtop at 06:18 PM | Comments (5)
 


March 05, 2004

 

will christopher baer: communicado

Will Christopher Baer's blog....
Posted by xtop at 07:12 PM | Comments (0)
 


March 02, 2004

 

George Saunders' Amendment

In the town where I live, I have frequently observed a phenomenon I have come to think of as Samish-Sex Marriage. Take, for example, K, a male friend of mine, of slight build, with a ponytail. K is married to S, a tall, stocky female with extremely short hair, almost a crewcut. Often, while watching K play with his own ponytail as S towers over him, I have wondered, Isn’t it odd...
Posted by xtop at 07:18 PM | Comments (0)
 


February 16, 2004

 

everyone vs. everyone

Close observers of Amazon.com noticed something peculiar this week: the company's Canadian site had suddenly revealed the identities of thousands of people who had anonymously posted book reviews on the United States site under signatures like "a reader from New York." The weeklong glitch, which Amazon fixed after outed reviewers complained, provided a rare glimpse at how writers and readers are wielding the online reviews as a tool to promote or pan...
Posted by xtop at 01:21 PM | Comments (1)
 


February 12, 2004

 

doyle v. joyce

Roddy Doyle, the Booker prize winner and the bard of raucous Dublin demotic, chose a Joyce birthday celebration to slam the epic story of one day in the life of Leopold Bloom as overrated, overlong and unmoving. "Ulysses could have done with a good editor," Doyle told a stunned audience in New York gathered to celebrate the great man who is credited with inventing the modern novel. "You know people are always...
Posted by xtop at 11:09 PM | Comments (1)
 


January 10, 2004

 

worshipping the tweed

The only newspaper clipping I've ever held on to. Recently re-excavated from my recently renovated deskspace....
Posted by xtop at 11:24 AM | Comments (2)
 


December 16, 2003

 

they said the same thing to pound

From Vinny: Alright, the best I can remember it: In Hemingway's allegedly non-fictional account from "A Moveable Feast" he was rumored to get some big award from a Parisian literary journal. He was excited or as excited as he could get considering he was Hemingway. The editor of the magazine took him aside and pretty much assured him that he was a shoe in for the accolade. When he casually mentioned this...
Posted by xtop at 09:50 AM | Comments (2)
 


December 03, 2003

 

will christopher baer

"I learned early on that I do everything in binges, drink, work, relationships: A ten-day day writing binge is ideal but it requires total isolation, solitude— no telephone, no mail. That’s why I started checking into motel rooms, what I called “going under.” And after 24 hours of getting into a flow, I lose all track of time. I’ll nap for an hour, then wake up and I've got my laptop right...
Posted by xtop at 11:42 PM | Comments (1)
 


November 01, 2003

 

mark ames vs. chuck klosterman

Klosterman and his type are one of the reasons why I went into exile (I’m writing this from Moscow). I wanted out of a paradigm in which his type dominated the narrative when in fact his type should be rotting in a death camp, begging for a clump of grass to suck on. I understood 10 years ago that fighting against the Klostermans in America is utterly pointless: Klosterman is the metaphor,...
Posted by xtop at 02:43 AM | Comments (6)
 


October 17, 2003

 

tibor fischer vs. martin amis

So jettisoning [my former agent] Wylie was very much the right decision. It still gives me a satisfying glow to think of it. But I did wonder, what does Wylie actually do all day long? Is he still writing poetry? I've recently discovered that he likes to spend his time creating embargoes. I received a copy of Martin Amis's new novel, Yellow Dog, and an embargo letter that demands that no part...
Posted by xtop at 10:14 PM | Comments (0)
 


October 15, 2003

 

booker prize fights

Predictably enough, there were a couple of sticky moments. The extended discussion that saw Martin Amis's Yellow Dog squeezed on to the longlist by the width of its collar ended with one judge, avid to clinch the argument, reading aloud what he considered to be a passage of scintillating brilliance. It was so clearly not a passage of scintillating brilliance that two of the other judges began to giggle. A month later,...
Posted by xtop at 01:29 PM | Comments (0)
 


October 09, 2003

 

Jonathan Lethem & Me

this is a long one, bear with me So I interviewed Jonathan Lethem a few weeks ago, an event that filled me with as much exuberance as it did abject flopsweat. Lethem is way up in my pantheon of great modern writers, jockeying for position among Haruki Murakami and Colson Whitehead. The first piece is from the Pitch, here in Kansas City. It was a huge battle on edits and content between...
Posted by xtop at 08:43 AM | Comments (2)
 


October 08, 2003

 

Free Keo!

From NY Newsday. Oddly, no mention of Jonathan. A big break may have turned into a big bust for a Manhattan graffiti artist who created a backdrop for presidential candidate Howard Dean's visit to Bryant Park this summer. Blake Lethem - aka KEO - was arrested Monday on an outstanding warrant from 1999, police said. Lethem, 36, and six others are accused of vandalizing nine subway cars at 148th Street and Lenox...
Posted by xtop at 07:48 AM | Comments (0)
 


September 07, 2003

 

from the acme novelty date book

"Overheard in rural Illinois rest.. "Mom asks 6 year old boy what he's going to be when he grows up. "boy: I'm going to kill myself. You're going to find my dead body."...
Posted by xtop at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)
 


September 03, 2003

 

fortress of solitude - english cover

sure makes the american cover look like total crap...
Posted by xtop at 11:34 PM | Comments (2)
 


August 07, 2003

 

j.g. ballard v. alfred jarry

Oswald was the starter. From his window above the track he opened the race by firing the starting gun. It is believed that the first shot was not properly heard by all the drivers. In the following confusion, Oswald fired the gun two more times, but the race was already underway. Kennedy got off to a bad start. • • • Barabbas, slated to race, was scratched. Pilate, the starter, pulling out...
Posted by xtop at 01:17 AM | Comments (0)
 


July 24, 2003

 

the voynich manuscript

When, in 1639, the Prague citizen Georg Baresch wrote to the famous Jesuit scientist Athanasius Kircher that he owned a mysterious book which was written in an unknown script and profusely illustrated with pictures of plants, stars and alchemical secrets, he thought that Kircher would be able to decipher this book for him. He could not have guessed that not only was Kircher unable to do this, but that a long row...
Posted by xtop at 10:46 PM | Comments (7)
 


 

N+7

excerpt from THE OULIPO COMPENDIUM: A notorious procedure invented by Jean Lescure that (in Queneau's terse definition) "consists in replacing each noun (N) with the seventh following it in a dictionary." Choose a text and a dictionary. Identify the nouns in the text and replace each one by counting seven nouns beyond it in the dictionary. Using The Living Language Common Usage Dictionary: English-Russian, the opening of the book of Genesis becomes:...
Posted by xtop at 01:02 PM | Comments (4)
 


July 19, 2003

 

bookglut: 7.18

what a gift certificate to amazon got me: Photobooth - Babbette Hines Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace - Gore Vidal Conjunctions: 39, The New Wave Fabulists - Peter Straub (Editor) Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages – Manuel Puig Curiosa: Celebrity Relics, Historical Fossils, & Other Metamorphic Rubbish Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder - Lawrence Weschler Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel in 100,000 Words/Male Edition The Horned Man:...
Posted by xtop at 12:24 AM | Comments (2)
 


July 06, 2003

 

fortress of solitude

Jonathan Lethem's forthcoming masterpiece (no, really) is being pushed by Random House as their big, important book of the high stakes fall season. With good reason. It somehow straddles youth and old age, nostalgia and disgust, punk and soul, comics and super powers, friendships and families, crippling minutae and massive strokes. All in a tight package just over 600 pages. It's about things, actual things, and radiates a sense of importance that,...
Posted by xtop at 04:35 PM
 


May 21, 2003

 

Shelley Jackson

Shelley Jackson: author, illustrator, hypertext writer. View her bio, doll games and front page stories. Or start from square one....
Posted by xtop at 12:26 AM
 


April 16, 2003

 

who killed lingua franca?

The "apparent demise," noted David. D. Kirkpatrick in a New York Times report on October 18, "elicited exclamations of dismay in the world of letters." ("Eggheads are anguished," began the lead in the Chicago Tribune's story four days later.) Adding to the surprise was the odd way the news first broke ÷ not in a company announcement or a press release or even in reported rumors but in a hurried, threeösentence letter...
Posted by xtop at 11:35 PM
 


March 13, 2003

 

fakebook perseveration

The Invisible Library is a collection of books that only appear in other books. Within the library's catalog you will find imaginary books, pseudobiblia, artifictions, fabled tomes, libris phantastica, and all manner of books unwritten, unread, unpublished, and unfound....
Posted by xtop at 08:55 AM | Comments (1)
 


March 08, 2003

 

the author project

One Ring Zero is currently working on a new studio album. Each song will feature lyrics contributed by a differnt author. As of now, the album does not have a title, but will probably be called JUMP INTO MY YELLOW. It will hopefully be available by July / September 2003. Contributing authors include: Jonathan Ames, Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Clay McLeod Chapman, Michael Cunningham, Dave Eggers, Amy Fusselman, Neil Gaiman, Mary Gaitskill...
Posted by xtop at 01:29 AM
 


an empty telephone Products

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