“This is an artwork by Richard Prince. Any similarity to a book is coincidental and not intended by the artist.” © Richard Prince - so says the colophon.Richard Prince has made a very good living out of appropriating and transforming material from the cultural ether. So why not take what many believe is the quintessential American coming of age novel and make it his own.With the exception of the title page Prince's "sculpture" is an exact facsimile of the first edition with the second issue dust jacket (lacking the author photo). The dust jacket text reads: “Anyone who has read...
Writers Helping Writers. Or Not. Cheever, Bradbury, Salinger and Vonnegut
In 2004, Nicola Nikolov, an émigré to the U.S. in 1976 from communist Bulgaria, walked into William Dailey Rare Books in Los Angeles with a small archive of letters.Briefly recounting a dark biography past and reduced, if freer, circumstances present, he told of his life as a published Bulgarian author and his difficulty establishing a writing career for himself in the United States. It was extremely important to him that his writing be accepted.In August of 1978, he wrote, heart in hand, two-page long, well-written, typed letters to a small number of American novelists, with full, dire biographical details, limning...
J.D. Salinger Files Lawsuit From Grave
BOOK PATROL ALERT: SALINGER DIES, FILES LAWSUIT.Reclusive and litigious author J.D. Salinger, just hours after having been reported dead by the New York Times, appeared in ethereal form in New York Superior Court to file suit against the Times and a number of other major media outlets for the unauthorized reporting of his demise. Cornered in a men's room stall shortly thereafter, Mr. Salinger responded by sliding a written mimeographed statement under the door to waiting reporters, in which he stated:"Reports of my death are MINE and MINE ALONE, and any unauthorized reporting of this alleged event will be considered...