Library Stuff » William Vollmann

William T. Vollmann: The dispassionate chronicler

Steven — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:49:34 +0000

A profile in the LA Times.

I’m about half way through Imperial. It is clearly one of WTV’s best works.

Interview with WMV

Steven — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:58:18 +0000

From Claw Magazine. I only read a few lines, but it seems like a good one. One quote:

“What no one knows is that Vollmann just might be the nicest person alive.”

I’m beginning to think the same thing, evidenced by reading the first 400 pages of Imperial.

William T. Vollmann, an Author Without Borders

Steven — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:07:50 +0000

NYTimes – “Mr. Vollmann’s newest book, “Imperial,” which comes out from the Viking Press on Thursday, costs $55 and is 1,300 pages long — so heavy, he observed recently, that if you dropped it, you’d break a toe. A companion volume, to be published next month by powerHouse Books, contains some 200 photographs he took while working on “Imperial,” for which he also wore a spy camera while trying to infiltrate a Mexican factory, and paddled in an inflatable raft down the New River in California, a rancid trench that is probably the most polluted stream in America. The water, he writes, tasted like the Salk polio vaccine.”

See a companion slide show

I’ll be getting to this before the end of the year, although it will probably take a long time to finish. It took me over 7 months to get through Europe Central.

PEN USA announces 2008 literary award winners

Steven — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:55:44 +0000

CSmonitor – William Vollmann wins for â€œPoor Peopleâ€ in the “Research Nonfiction” category. I can’t wait to read Imperial.

William Vollmann Turns In Uncharacteristically Slim Childrenâ€™s Book

Steven — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:31:49 +0000

Best April Fool’s day post so far, from Edward Championâ€™s Return of the Return of the Reluctant – “The book, entitled Shooting Guns at the Gnus, is also illustrated by Vollmann. Vollmann hoped that the book would encourage young children to start firing guns early, so that they could get a sense of â€œwhat it means to be freeâ€ at a very early age.”

Hopping trains, riding rails in search of the real America

Steven — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:41:24 +0000

Vollmann hs a new book out. I just finished Poor People. I miss his long novels. Hopefully, one will appear soon.