Expelled from Eden A William T. Vollmann Reader

by Vollmann, William T.; McCaffery, Larry; Hemmingson, Michael

• ISBN13: 9781560254416
• ISBN10: 1560254416
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-12-21
• Publisher: Da Capo Press

Summary

William T. Vollmann is one of our greatest living writers. Masterworks such as You Bright and Risen Angels, The Royal Family, and Rising Up and Rising Downhis latest work, a stunning 3,300-page tour-de-forcehave launched him into the literary stratosphere. He stands today as one of America's leading contenders for a future Nobel Prize in literature. Here is his long-awaited "best-of" collection, intended both as an introduction for the curious reader, and as a necessary addition to the existing fan's collection. With excerpts from all of Vollmann's novels (including several not yet published), journalistic pieces, essays, correspondence, and poetry, Expelled from Eden creates a unique, kaleidoscopic portrait of one of America's most notorious, protean, devastating, and necessary writers.

Author Biography

William T. Vollmann is an American novelist, journalist, war correspondent, short story writer, and essayist. He won the 2005 National Book Award for Fiction for the novel Europe Central.

Larry McCaffery has published or edited numerous books, essays, and journals about postmodernism.

Michael Hemmingson is an accomplished novelist in his own right, who has also edited several anthologies of contemporary fiction.

Table of Contents

PREFACE by Michael Hemmingson	xv
INTRODUCTION by Larry McCaffery	xvii
PART I Background and Influences
Biographical Statement (c. 1989)	3	(4)
From "The Land of Counterpane"	7	(4)
The Butterfly Boy	11	(14)
Hanover, New Hampshire, U.S.A. (1968)	25	(4)
Some Thoughts on Neglected Water Taps	29	(6)
List of "Contemporary" Books Most Admired by Vollmann (1990)	35	(4)
From "The Ghost of Magnetism"	39	(16)
Preface to Ken Miller's Open All Night	55	(4)
Ken Miller, Selection of Photos	59	(4)
Honesty	63	(6)
PART II On Death, War, and Violence
Three Meditations on Death	69	(22)
Across the Divide	91	(30)
Regrets of a Schoolteacher	121	(4)
Zoya	125	(6)
From "The Grave of Lost Stories"	131	(6)
Review of Reporting Vietnam	137	(6)
Some Thoughts on the Value of Writing During Wartime	143	(12)
From "Moral Calculus"	155	(6)
PART III On Love, Sex, Prostitues, and Pornography
The Agony of Parker	161	(6)
The Shame of It All	167	(20)
Nicole	187	(6)
Decisions, Decisions	193	(10)
The Hermophrodite	203	(12)
List of What Porn Is (and Isn"t)	215	(4)
Sunflower	219	(6)
From "The Best Way to Smoke Crack"	225	(8)
Prayer Against Angels	233	(4)
PART IV On Travel
Antarctica	237	(2)
The Conquest of Kianazor	239	(4)
The Advantages of Space (1978)	243	(2)
A Bizarre Proposition (1979)	245	(2)
Subzero's Debt, 1991	247	(28)
The Water of Life	275	(30)
PART V On Writing, Literature, and Culture
Writing	305	(6)
Letter Against Cuts	311	(6)
Whores for Gloria: A Note to Publishers	317	(2)
Crabbed Cautions of a Bleeding-hearted Un-deleter-and Potential Nobel Prize Winner	319	(6)
"My Life's Work" (2002)	325	(4)
American Writing Today: Diagnosis of a Disease	329	(4)
Afterword to Danilo Kis's A Tomb for Boris Davidovich	333	(10)
Debts and Debtors	343	(10)
To the Right Honourable Reader	353	(14)
The Stench of Corpses	367	(4)
Melville's Magic Mountain	371	(8)
Steinbeck: Most American of Us All	379	(4)
POSTFACE by Michael Hemmingson	383	(4)
APPENDICES
A. A William T. Vollmann Chronology by Larry McCaffery	387	(60)
B. Seven Dreams: Description of Project	447	(4)
C. Lists	451	(8)
D. CoTangent Press Book Objects	459	(14)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	473	(2)
PERMISSIONS	475	(2)
ABOUT THE EDITORS	477	(2)
A TRAVELER'S EPITAPH	479