Behind the Scenes
Breaking News on Paris Review Scandal
Sheep in Wolf's Clothing
Latest in the controversy regarding manuscripts recently turned down post-acceptance at the Paris Review, apparently we may get to see the maligned documents see daylight after all. According to insiders at the Peemsmen Monthly, a second-shift janitor at the P.R. headquarters, upon realizing what literary-scandal-wrongdoing-travesty he’d been made to take part in, ran back out into the trashyard where the massive P.R. dumpster is and fished out said to-be-and-no-longer-ParisReviewianed language.
The janitor, who wishes to remain anonymous for now, is currently looking to publish the lot as a “found manuscript.” He is available for contact via representation by Marble-Withersby Agency in New York.
Currently tallied among the rubble:
– A haiku by Jonathan Franzen on the brevity of life and the deliciousness of fat free yogurt
– An erasure by Nam Le of his mother’s travel diaries as a child, concerning her impregnation with him, which Nam Le erased himself from entirely, a retroactive comment on the Gulf War
– Two halfcompleted crossword puzzles teamwritten by Alice Mattison & Barbie Smeemersund
– A photograph by Charlize Theron taken from the midgrade-price seating of a recent Chicago Bulls practice (kinda blurry)
– Another haiku by Jonathan Franzen about the writing process of the first haiku, which originally appeared on a popular upcoming literary journal’s twitter feed at the tune of $400 a syllable
– A concrete poem self portrait by Rick Bass repeating the word fishinglure in various crazy anagrams
– A transcript of every adjective Richard Ford spoke while restringing his son’s guitar twice in the same afternoon
– A third haiku by Jonathan Franzen regarding the phone call he received from his mother while writing the poem about the writing of the poem, and her subsequent medical condition
– A tear-out unfoldable paper shirt designed by Martin Amis’s agent’s neighbor, a previously unpublished author
– Letters written to Al Gore by Denis Johnson in the voice of Al Gore’s dog, with audio samples contracted to have been available online for $.99 a download on a portion of the website that also will no longer grace the web
I don’t know about you, but I’m positively peeping in anticipation and great terror. Robin Hood or hoodrat? Sylvia Beach or motherfucker? We’re living in a no-holds-barred world here, people, where wicker elephants walk among the real ones. First Tin House is trying to force people to actually buy books, and now these guys want to change their minds on history. Hold me!
Tags: rejection, Richard Ford, the paris review
Sounds like it should stay in the dumpster.
you said larry crews down there when you meant to say harry
The Bareass Review, Shitty of Lights.
oh shit you fixed it now you’ve unpublished larry crews in favor of the more famous harry crews, nice going JERK
larry lives on in the heart for sure, like all good larries do
http://games.holyfile.com/upload/screenshot189-0.jpg
<3
LEISURE^2.
Blake Butler? This delicate, wicker elephant is holding you! As for Sylvia Beach or motherfucker, motherfucker. I’m a fabulist.
Sounds like it should stay in the dumpster.
you said larry crews down there when you meant to say harry
The Bareass Review, Shitty of Lights.
oh shit you fixed it now you’ve unpublished larry crews in favor of the more famous harry crews, nice going JERK
larry lives on in the heart for sure, like all good larries do
http://games.holyfile.com/upload/screenshot189-0.jpg
<3
Best post.
LEISURE^2.
Blake Butler? This delicate, wicker elephant is holding you! As for Sylvia Beach or motherfucker, motherfucker. I’m a fabulist.
No kidding I really would like to read Bass repeating the word fishinglure in various crazy anagrams.
Lishing Uref
i hung is rifle
The possibilities are endless…
Best post.
No kidding I really would like to read Bass repeating the word fishinglure in various crazy anagrams.
Lishing Uref
i hung is rifle
The possibilities are endless…
[…] Blake Butler has a good response, as usual. […]
Thank you for this. This is the only bit of coverage so far that can match my anticipation of a “holy shit” poetry section from the Paris Review. :)
Blake, you should do a one-issue journal called Paris Rejected to publish all the pieces that PR retracted acceptance of. Just put out an open call for all the screwed-over writers, and have them provide both their piece and a copy of the PR retraction notification.
Thank you for this. This is the only bit of coverage so far that can match my anticipation of a “holy shit” poetry section from the Paris Review. :)
Blake, you should do a one-issue journal called Paris Rejected to publish all the pieces that PR retracted acceptance of. Just put out an open call for all the screwed-over writers, and have them provide both their piece and a copy of the PR retraction notification.
[…] Blake Butler at HTML Giant offers some original reporting. […]
[…] doubt the best thing to come of the event was Blake Butler’s pitch-perfect parody over at HTMLGIANT: Latest in the controversy regarding manuscripts recently turned down post-acceptance at the Paris […]