January 15th, 2010 / 12:12 am
Author Spotlight & Reviews
Peer Review: “A Common Pornography” by Kevin Sampsell
I don’t know if anyone else on this site is planning to write about my pressmate Kevin Sampsell’s new book–I hope someone is–but I feel like sharing some thoughts about it, so here goes. The main thing that strikes me is how effortless and propulsive the reading experience is. The package containing A Common Pornography (and a galley of Dennis Cooper’s Smothered in Hugs–it was like Christmas all over again!) arrived this afternoon around five, and yet, somehow, here it is a quarter after ten and I’m about three quarters through it. I read it sitting in my desk chair. I read it on the subway. I read it in the checkout line at Trader Joe’s. I read it on my couch. If I hadn’t put it down to write this blog post about it, I’d be reading it now.
Now, I know that Kevin is–like me–a Richard Brautigan fan, and I think there’s a very Brautigan-y energy at work in this book. Not a Brautigan tone, mind you–Kevin’s book isn’t emo or surrealistic–but here, as in a Brautigan, the chapters are very short, typically a page or two at most, and tend to be anchored by a single image or idea. The book doesn’t demand so much as suggest your attention–hey, you wanna hear a story? Sure. The subject matter (the author’s superlatively deranged upbringing) is sometimes dark (and/or gross) but Sampsell doesn’t plea for your sympathy, he doesn’t go for pointless shocks, and he doesn’t attempt some sort of showy “defiance” or “reclamation” or whatever. He’s just this guy remembering stuff that he did or that happened to him, or to people he knew, and sort of thinking about how it was all maybe a little weirder than he thought it was at the time. Some of it’s funny, and some of it’s touching, and some of it’s sad–and a lot of it is two or more of these things at once–but I think what it really succeeds at doing is creating an atmosphere that encompasses all of those states without forcing the reader to choose one, and that too for me is very Brautigan.
So anyway, that’s my first reaction to Kevin’s book. I’m excited to see him in February, because Harper has us scheduled to do a handful of events together–we’re doing a night in Boston (2/17) and then the following two nights in NYC, and hopefully I’ll be out to see him in Portland sometime later this spring. Want to know how we met? Okay, I’ll tell you the story. We met because right before I moved to Portland, Oregon from NYC in early ‘05, I found a copy of Susannah Breslin’s You’re A Bad Man Aren’t You? which he had published through Future Tense, on the bookshelf at St. Mark’s. So I emailed him to say that I was moving to his town and we should get together. He was, I think, looking for an intern, and I know that I was looking for someone to publish the mess of short stories in my backpack. So we had lunch one day near Powell’s. There are a number of ways this meeting might have ended poorly, but instead what happened was I interviewed him for Bookslut, and we’ve been friends ever since. You can read that interview here. Fun interview fact: Kevin Sampsell was the first person I ever heard mention the following names–Sam Lipsyte, Gary Lutz, Gordon Lish, Diane Williams, Amy Hempel, Tao Lin. Not bad, right?
Tags: A Common Pornography, Future Tense, kevin sampsell
This sounds so, so fucking good. I can’t wait to read it. Thanks a lot, Justin.
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indeed, what alec said
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i agree. kevin’s book looks amazing. can’t wait to read it! thanks, justin.
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Looks great. You may want to check out another of your labelmates, Holly Goddard Jones, and her book GIRL TROUBLE. Some wonderful short stories, really powerful, and not afraid of the dark.
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In a dream world I’ll be in Portland, go to Powell’s, buy Kevin’s book, and read it while eating the biscuits and gravy at Bertie Lou’s.
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January 15th, 2010 / 3:12 pmLily Hoang—
you can talk to kevin too, ask him to recommend a book to you, because he’s nice & at powell’s. i love portland
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January 15th, 2010 / 9:03 pmaaron—
true. i can’t get in and out of powell’s without kevin loading me up with at least a dozen books. which i love, obviously but… you know… damn. it would be hell on my meager bank account if i actually lived anywhere near there.
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I read CREAMY BULLETS, Kevin’s collection of short stories, and it was the thing that got me writing stuff because before that I just kept a journal of all the venereal diseases I got from guys who weren’t my boyfriend. In other words, I can’t wait to read A COMMON PORNOGRAPHY.
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[...] Justin Taylor pens a “peer review” of Kevin Sampsell’s wonderful book, A Common Pornography. “Some of it’s funny, and some of it’s touching, and some of it’s sad–and a lot of it is two or more of these things at once–but I think what it really succeeds at doing is creating an atmosphere that encompasses all of those states without forcing the reader to choose one” [...]
Dude’s massive. February Hobart interview with him.
If the Cardinals win the Superbowl, 2010 will be The Year Sampsell.
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Kevin Sampsell Week forthcoming.
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p.s. i read the book as well just yesterday and it delivers on every inch. seriously moving.
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January 15th, 2010 / 3:32 pmMatthew Simmons—
Burned my house down. So very, very good.
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Well put Justin. Sampsell was the first to introduce me to Joe Wenderoth and Joe Brainard as well as other Joe’s of note. I just completed an interview with Kevin about his memoir and it will be up on the Rain Taxi website pretty soon. Look for that…
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i’m so psyched to read a common pornography. like i can’t remember the last time i got this excited about a new book.
i’m at bennington this week and i told amy hempel to read it. blake, you should email amy and tell her to read it too. i think she would dig it mightily. i also told her about htmlgiant. actually, ivy pochoda and i have been talking up the giant to everybody around these parts.
spreading this here gospel
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January 15th, 2010 / 6:45 pmBlake Butler—
hehe, awesome, thanks jackie! damn, miss it up there. please tell amy i said hello…
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Thanks, Justin–and thanks, everyone. I love you all. This is a special time for me and I’m happy that people are being so excited and supportive. I’m doing a rare tour soon and I hope to see as many of you as possible. Here are the dates: http://kevinsampsell.com/book-tour-2010/
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January 15th, 2010 / 6:06 pmKen Baumann—
See you at Skylight!
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January 15th, 2010 / 8:45 pmKevinS—
Ken! Yes! Maybe we can go to that pie place down the street after.
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January 15th, 2010 / 8:55 pmKen Baumann—
I’d love to.
hurrah for kevin s!!!
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ballin’.
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