Unamerican Activities
July 17th, 2005A great quote from Unamerican Activities, a Village Voice blog, written by Nathan Deuel. Deuel describes his experiences with William T. Vollmann after the author has given a speech in St. Petersburg:
“I was thinking: What if everyone in the English-speaking world—particularly its creative writers—each time they put pen to paper, or cracked a book, or visited St. Petersburg, asked, What Would William T. Vollmann Do? If they did this, I can’t guarantee the world would be a better place, but I do think the darker corners of the world would make more sense, that we’d come that much closer to bridging that enormous gulf of understanding between us and them.”
I’ve been asked by a few readers which Vollmann book to start with (I’ve only read 3 myself, the 4th on order from Amazon because I can’t find Vollmann books in any physical bookstores, even the Strand Annex near my office) and my response is Expelled from Eden: A William T. Vollmann reader, an “anthology” of pieces of his work (and other rarities) and the perfect introduction to WTV.