Re: Publication

citycabn (citycabn@gateway.net)
Tue, 05 Oct 1999 11:13:41 -0700 

Jason,

 You wrote:  "Once you have that you are free to cut the apron strings of
society and 'give it' to the Man."

Yes, and  if your scissors include worldwide royalties from a Catcher, and,
this is just speculation, a sizable inheritance from a very successful Sol,
doesn't hurt either.

 But what I can't *truly* understand is why, why , why JDS got it into his
head to republish Hapworth.  I don't mean the debatable literary merits of
the text. I mean, it seems it was *that* announcement of its imminent
publication which unleashed the many subsequent boulders over the past two
years--from Maynard to Alexander to his own daughter--aimed at him (and just
to ingratiate myself with all of the film buffs, I allude here to Seven
Chances by Buster Keaton).

--Bruce

-----Original Message-----
From: jason varsoke <jjv@caesun.msd.ray.com>
To: bananafish <bananafish@lists.nyu.edu>
Date: Tuesday, October 05, 1999 10:40 AM
Subject: Re: Publication


>On Tue, 5 Oct 1999, citycabn wrote:
>
>> On October 1, Scottie, in part, wrote:
>>
>> "Publication--which we all long for--is, finally, irrelevant."
>>
>> I image JDS, when he ran his eyes over that, nodded his head.  More than
>> once.
>>
>> And a quote from the Rilke translator and scholar, J.B. Leishman:
>>
>> "One of the most remarkable facts about the last twenty years or so of
>> Rilke's life is that publication seems to have become more and more
>> indifferent, or even irrelevant, to him, as though all that mattered was
>> that he should continue to be and to remain a poet."
>>
>> (Which is not to forget  that JDS and RMR published some books *before*
they
>> reached this stage.)
>
>Bruce, thank you so much for mentioning that last part.  I personally get
>peeved when people who have accomplished state that it isn't important to
>accomplish.  They forget the complexity of causation.  They forget that it
>is precisely because they published that makes publishing irrelevant for
>them.  Publishing is acceptance.  Once you have that you are free to cut
>the apron strings of society and "give it" to the Man.  Before that you
>are just a crank.
>
>   Of course, being unpublished does have its freedom too . . . Give me
>shackles!
>
>-j
>
>