It's a good year for author-centenaries: Tove Jansson, Julio Cortázar, William S. Burroughs, among others.
Among them also: Arno Schmidt, whose birthday was 18 January.
Shockingly, his centenary passed pretty much unnoticed in the US/UK media -- and, it seems, by the reading public. This despite much of his work being available in English -- Dalkey Archive Press have published four beautiful volumes of his fiction, Green Integer another three volumes of fiction and dialogues. But when I most recently visited New York's Strand bookstore his books weren't displayed on a special counter or altar; rather multiple copies of each of the Dalkey volumes sadly filled more than half a shelf in the alphabetical-section, deeply discounted ($5.95 and $6.95 each -- seriously, folks, snap these up).
What to do ? I reacted the only way I could think of: I wrote a book. A Literary Saloon dialogue (yes, very much like the original Schmidt-inspired ones): Arno Schmidt: a centennial colloquy. A brief (100-page) helpful introduction and entertaining literary conversation -- that's what I hope, anyway.
Book/literature-obsessed like few others (Nabokov at least had his butterflies as distraction ...), Schmidt is a fascinating subject -- for those fascinated by the literary. And his work reflects that -- and I think my little not-quite-monograph conveys all that well (and entertainingly). Not surprisingly, it also wound up being, in its discussion-form, bigger than just Schmidt: it's more generally about literature, about reading, about writing. (And, of course, it's a little bit about me, too -- and if you enjoy this Literary Saloon you'll likely enjoy a visit to that one too, regardless of just how great your interest in Schmidt is.)
This is the 'soft' launch: for now it's available only in Kindle-form (Amazon.com (US), Amazon.co.uk (UK), and any other Amazon you care to buy from), in print from Lulu.com (here), and as an ePub from Lulu.com (here); additional distribution channels (iBooks, etc) should follow over the coming weeks.
I am curious as to how much interest there will be in this self-published work. My ambition is to sell fifty copies (in all formats) over the next year -- with the (I believe very reasonable) hope of selling an additional hundred if/when John E. Woods' translation of Zettel's Traum (Bottom's Dream) comes out. (There should be sufficient media-interest at that point that folks will come looking for Schmidt-background information, and, honestly, this is (and likely will remain, in the foreseeable future) the most useful summary-volume you'll be able to get your hands on in English).
(I suppose it would have also been 'commercially' publishable, but there's a lot to be said for having done it all myself. (Whereby, like Schmidt, it's the finished printed book that is the 'definitive' version -- i.e. my vision of the text. The e-versions are fine, but they're e-versions ... -- if readers can change the font-size (you can; it's not the dreaded pdf format ...) that limits how much I-as-author could tailor the text to my aesthetic vision -- so with the e-versions I'm satisfied with basic functionality (done) over aesthetics (yeah .. not so much done). On the other hand, the e-versions did allow me to embed some hyperlinks, which is sort of neat and useful.)
'Commercial' publication would probably make getting the book into libraries (which should have copies, at least if they have any Schmidt in their holdings) and the like easier, but otherwise the distribution-advantages don't seem that great: this isn't a title that's likely to find a place in your local (if there still is one ...) Barnes & Noble. However, while for now it's still early days -- like I said: soft launch so far; 'official' publication to follow in a few weeks' time -- any bookstore that is interested in carrying it should certainly feel free to contact me. And translation rights are also still available. All of them.)
Shockingly, his centenary passed pretty much unnoticed in the US/UK media -- and, it seems, by the reading public. This despite much of his work being available in English -- Dalkey Archive Press have published four beautiful volumes of his fiction, Green Integer another three volumes of fiction and dialogues. But when I most recently visited New York's Strand bookstore his books weren't displayed on a special counter or altar; rather multiple copies of each of the Dalkey volumes sadly filled more than half a shelf in the alphabetical-section, deeply discounted ($5.95 and $6.95 each -- seriously, folks, snap these up).
What to do ? I reacted the only way I could think of: I wrote a book. A Literary Saloon dialogue (yes, very much like the original Schmidt-inspired ones): Arno Schmidt: a centennial colloquy. A brief (100-page) helpful introduction and entertaining literary conversation -- that's what I hope, anyway.
Book/literature-obsessed like few others (Nabokov at least had his butterflies as distraction ...), Schmidt is a fascinating subject -- for those fascinated by the literary. And his work reflects that -- and I think my little not-quite-monograph conveys all that well (and entertainingly). Not surprisingly, it also wound up being, in its discussion-form, bigger than just Schmidt: it's more generally about literature, about reading, about writing. (And, of course, it's a little bit about me, too -- and if you enjoy this Literary Saloon you'll likely enjoy a visit to that one too, regardless of just how great your interest in Schmidt is.)
This is the 'soft' launch: for now it's available only in Kindle-form (Amazon.com (US), Amazon.co.uk (UK), and any other Amazon you care to buy from), in print from Lulu.com (here), and as an ePub from Lulu.com (here); additional distribution channels (iBooks, etc) should follow over the coming weeks.
I am curious as to how much interest there will be in this self-published work. My ambition is to sell fifty copies (in all formats) over the next year -- with the (I believe very reasonable) hope of selling an additional hundred if/when John E. Woods' translation of Zettel's Traum (Bottom's Dream) comes out. (There should be sufficient media-interest at that point that folks will come looking for Schmidt-background information, and, honestly, this is (and likely will remain, in the foreseeable future) the most useful summary-volume you'll be able to get your hands on in English).
(I suppose it would have also been 'commercially' publishable, but there's a lot to be said for having done it all myself. (Whereby, like Schmidt, it's the finished printed book that is the 'definitive' version -- i.e. my vision of the text. The e-versions are fine, but they're e-versions ... -- if readers can change the font-size (you can; it's not the dreaded pdf format ...) that limits how much I-as-author could tailor the text to my aesthetic vision -- so with the e-versions I'm satisfied with basic functionality (done) over aesthetics (yeah .. not so much done). On the other hand, the e-versions did allow me to embed some hyperlinks, which is sort of neat and useful.)
'Commercial' publication would probably make getting the book into libraries (which should have copies, at least if they have any Schmidt in their holdings) and the like easier, but otherwise the distribution-advantages don't seem that great: this isn't a title that's likely to find a place in your local (if there still is one ...) Barnes & Noble. However, while for now it's still early days -- like I said: soft launch so far; 'official' publication to follow in a few weeks' time -- any bookstore that is interested in carrying it should certainly feel free to contact me. And translation rights are also still available. All of them.)