Books are what I do : Write (very slowly), Read (rapidly or at leisure), Re-read (for pleasure or reference), Buy and Sell (my livelihood), Catalogue and Describe (ditto), Edit, Publish, Review (for The New York Review of Science Fiction and others), Recommend or Give away, Receive, and — unavoidably and repeatedly — Lift (whether singly or in boxes). I concede a fondness for private eye novels, equalled by my interest in the quirky, erudite, or obscure, and surpassed only by my love of the literature of the fantastic.
— Henry Wessells
22 January 2012
links
Five Years of the Endless Bookshelf
Thank you for reading the Endless Bookshelf throughout the past five years, during which time more than 1,000 books have been reviewed, illustrated, listed, evoked, invoked, puzzled over, alluded to, or simply cited. The best source of new material has been word of mouth and suggestions from friends, so please keep sending books, writing notes, or reporting the Last Three books you have read. And if you have been meaning to write the Endless Bookshelf, now is the time [¡ this means you, DVS !].
I am looking forward to continuing to read my way through the works of Joseph Conrad, and to reading The Mirage by Matt Ruff (forthcoming from Harpers, 2012). As I am engaged upon a couple of longer term writing projects, updates to the Endless Bookshelf may be irregular during the coming months.
[HWW]
* the picture is a detail from the title page of Claudia Cohen’s Counting (2009), with Dutch postage stamps designed by Jan van Krimpen.
— — — —
My Man and other Critical Fictions
You may order a copy of the newest book from Temporary Culture, My Man and other Critical Fictions by Wendy Walker, here.
— — — —
California International Antiquarian Book Fair
Your correspondent will be exhibiting at the 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair, in Booth 615, James Cummins Bookseller, 10-12 February at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena. Come say hello . Let me know if you would like a ticket. Copies of My Man and other Critical Fictions (including the beautiful hand bound subscribers issue) will be on display.
Recent reading :
— Karin Altenberg. Island of Wings. Quercus, [2011]. Novel of life on the remote island of St Kilda in the early 1830s.
— — — —
— [Scènes de la] Vie Privée et Publique des Animaux. Vignettes par Grandville. 1842 ; Hetzel, 1868. A wonderful comic work, with classic illustrations. The picture of ape-daguerrerotypists must rank among the very earliest satirical responses to the new art of photography. Topaze, the ape portraitist, opens a photography studio in Brazil ; after an elephant-Sultan, enraged at his portrait, kicks the equipment to pieces, Topaze casts himself into the Amazon.
— — — —
— Keith Roberts. Pavane. 1969 ; Old Earth Books, [2011]. Re-reading a masterpiece. Superb alternate history novel, gritty, technologically obsessive, and brilliant : he knew to leave gaps. From my first reading theirty years ago I remembered the broad sweep but not the richness of the language ; until I came to this passage towards the very end, where the castles of England and Wales declare for the revolt, and the litany of place names and crunchy historic syllables took my breath away, again :
And from far out of the west, calling through the sea mist, the words that were like the tinkling of old armour ; Berry, Pomeroy, Lostwithiel, Tintagel, Restormel ; while the lights crawled forward from the heath, and far out on the sea.
— — — —
— William Gibson. Distrust That Particular Flavor . G.P. Putnam᾿s Sons, [2012]. Collected nonfiction, including “ The Net is a Waste of Time ” (1996), and “ An Invitation ” (2007), his introduction to the New Directions re-issue of Labyrinths by Borges, and his recollection of how his first reading of “ Tlön, Uqbar, Orbus Tertius ” “ opened something within me which has never yet closed ”.
— — — —
— Jo Walton. Among Others . A Tom Doherty Associates Book. Tor, [2010]. A fine novel of making sense of the world through reading. Walton’s diarist reflects upon deniable magic : “ You can almost always find chains of coincidence to disprove magic. ” And yet a genuine magic occurs : what lovely leafy joy triumphs in the final confrontation, and how fully rooted (from the very first page) is the long, healing trajectory from desolation to the sylvan final image.
— — — —
— Farel Dalrymple. Pop Gun War. Gift. Dark Horse Comics, [2003]. With a signed vignette by the artist on the title page. Wild story of fantastical events in a gritty, beautifully drawn city. The opening chapter recalls the conclusion of Perdido Street Station (though Miéville did not employ a chain saw !). Originally published in five parts in 2000-2002.
— — — —
— Robert Wolff. William Carleton. Irish Peasant Novelist . Garland, 1980. Ireland’s great nineteenth-century literary figure, almost as prolific as Dickens ; this study turns up fascinating tensions between his roots and his joining the establishment side. Carleton is author of Valentine M'Clutchy, the Irish Agent ; or the Chronicles of Castle Cumber Together with the Pious Aspirations, Permissions, Vouchsafements, and Other Sanctified Privileges of Solomon M'Slime, A Religious Attorney (Dublin : James Duffy, 1847).
— — — —
— Mark L. Valentine. Time, A Falconer. A Study of Sarban. Tartarus Press, 2011. Short biographical study.
— Neal Stephenson. Reamde. William Morrow, 2011. Early on in this engaging romp, I identified a couple of key sentences “ . . . it would always be a place of exile. ” “ I was perhaps naive. ” And I knew it would be fun when I read this indicator of new twists in the plot : “ competitive fury at the fact that he had been outdone by the suicidal improvisations of this fanatic ” — as if there were a chance that a Stephenson plot would not be spurred and goaded to delightful complexities .
— — — —
en direct de Paris
— Michel Houellebecq. H. P. Lovecraft. Contre le monde, contre la vie . [1991; J’ai
Lu, 2010]. « De ses voyages dans les terres douteuses de l’indicible, Lovecraft
n’est pas venu nous rapporter des bonnes nouvelles. » In his « essai » Houellebecq
identifies racism
and fears at root of cosmic horror, and marvels at the rigorousness
of
character displayed by Lovecraft. This is one of the best reflections upon Lovecraft.
An English translation was published in 2005 ; I avoided it with care, because I wanted to read the essay in French. I think
that this Wellbeck chap must have discovered Lovecraft about the same time I
did (as a teenager in Paris, I read Lovecraft
in
English, Derleth & others in French paperbacks).
Eugène Marais, revisited
In one of the earliest posts of the Endless Bookshelf, I noted my persistent interest in the life and writings of Afrikaans poet and pioneering ethologist Eugène Marais. One day last year, in a library far from London or South Africa, I opened a very early printed book and was surprised to recognize this bookplate :
— [Marais, Eugène] Bookplate, London, 1897. 4-3/4 x 6-1/4 inches. Artist unknown. The motto, Dit of Dood, translates as “ This or Death ” ; in The Dark Stream. The Story of Eugène Marais (Jonathan Ball, 1982), reflecting upon the time Marais spent in London in the 1890s, Leon Rousseau devotes a substantial passage to discussing the symbolism and implications of this bookplate.
I am interested in the long reach of ideas : I learned of Eugène Marais through reading Reno W. Odlin’s reflections on Adventures in Unhistory by Avram Davidson ; in the course of our correspondence, Odlin sent me a photocopy of “ The Bavenda’s Sacred Beads ”. Guy Davenport mentioned another essay by Marais in The Geography of the Imagination . A decade later, perhaps, I found a copy of the Rousseau biography, where the bookplate is reproduced. * Eventually I even found a copy of the Versamelde Werke (1984). The acquisition of specialized knowledge (and the context of understanding in which to apply it) occurs over time ; while it is not a process calculated on a geological scale, neither is it something that can be crammed in an instant — and yet it can be summoned in a lightning spark of recognition, as when I opened a thick vellum bound book and saw the bookplate.
* In early 2003 I lent The Dark Stream to Janwillem van de Wetering, who wrote, “ Afrikaans poets all seemed to be on opium, dagga (marihuana) and alcohol (in die kar nog ’n sopie op die kerkhof nog ’n hopie). They didn’t live long and had a way with words. Many Dutch writers say Afrikaans is the ideal language to write poetry in. ”
8 January 2012
In Memoriam : John McWhinnie
Portrait of John McWhinnie by Peter Sutherland.
John McWhinnie drowned on Friday afternoon 6 January. He was a sharp and unconventional thinker, a great rare book dealer, and someone whom I was honored to call a friend. He was a specialist in “ original manuscripts and letters, as well as inscribed books, from the period nearest my literary sensibility : the beats and sixties counterculture ”. It was always interesting to talk with him, and he really appreciated and “ got ” stuff that was off the beaten path. Some of the legendary science fiction material that I have handled went to him. He was 43 years old.
The photograph above (courtesy of Peter Sutherland) accompanies his interview of John McWhinnie. This short excerpt gives a sense of John’s zeal :
“ The chase, the pursuit of the book that no one thinks exists, or if they think it exists they figure it is no longer attainable. And, once I find that book, because I usually do as I’m relentless in my pursuit, I love cataloguing it. Cataloguing is an activity that I imagine would have made for a good short piece by Jorge Luis Borges. It’s basically a practice akin to detective work. You try to understand the book, its provenance, to whom it was inscribed, how it travelled from author out into the world : everything you need to know to make the thing a living artifact, not just a museum bound mummified object. ”
The complete interview is worth reading and can be found here :
http://petersutherland.tumblr.com/post/3043979570/john-mcwhinnie-is-a-rare-book-dealer-publisher
21 December 2011
That Time of Year : Best Book of 2011
— Reggie Oliver. Mrs Midnight and other stories . With illustrations by the author. Tartarus Press, [2011]. The most compelling and accomplished book that I read this year ( as reviewed here ), with close competition from Lisa Goldstein’s outstanding novel The Uncertain Places and On the Road to Babadag by Andrzej Stasiuk (see links for reviews). The original edition of Mrs Midnight , of four hundred copies, was out of print upon publication ; the publisher has announced a paperback reprint for early 2012.
older books *
—
H. Alain-Fournier. Le Grand Meaulnes , 1913. notice
— Timothy d’Arch Smith. Alembic. A Novel . Dalkey Archive Press,
[1992]. notice
— Charles Reade. The Cloister and the Hearth. A Tale of the Middle
Ages (1861). notice
— Rebecca Solnit. Wanderlust. A History of Walking .
(Viking Penguin, 2000 ; Penguin paperback). Just read it : it’s great
— Larry Wolff. The Idea of Galicia. History and Fantasy in
Habsburg Political Culture . Stanford University Press, 2010 [but : Edwards Brothers Inc. | Ann Arbor, MI. USA | March 7 2011]. A
remarkable book, fascinating topic. review
* This has been a Conrad year of reading, in which I have
encountered some real delights, including Nostromo. A Tale of the
Seaboard (1904),
the ancestor of the political thriller ; and the utterly devastating Victory.
An Island
Tale (1915).
highlights of 2011 : eleven books
— Lauren Beukes. Zoo City (2010 ; Angry Robot
paperback, 2011). review
— John Clute. Pardon This Intrusion. Fantastika in the World Storm .
Beccon Publications, 2011. brief notice
— Lisa Goldstein. The Uncertain Places . Tachyon Publications,
2011.The best novel I read this year. review
— Will Hermes. Love Goes to Buildings on Fire. Five Years in New
York That Changed Music Forever . Faber & Faber, 2011. One
upon a time, when New York City was still a scruffy destination
for starry-eyed musicians from the outer boroughs, New Jersey,
or the midwest, everyone really
did come to each other’s gigs. A lovely, information-dense story of
the mid-1970s, with rigorous documentation and unmistakable love
of music.
— Robert Irwin. Memoirs of a Dervish. London: Profile Books,
2011. notice
— Johan Kugelberg and Will Swofford Cameron, curators. Dreamweapon.
The Art and Life of Angus MacLise 1938-1979 . Boo-Hooray, 2011. notice
— China Miéville. Embassytown . Macmillan, 2011.
notice
— Nat Segnit. Pub Walks in Underhill Country . Fig
Tree / Penguin, 2011. An absolute nutter of a book, great fun. brief
notice
— Andrzej Stasiuk. On the Road to Babadag. Travels in the Other
Europe .
Translated from the original Polish by Michael Kandel. Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt, 2011 review & interview with the translator
— Mark L. Valentine. The Peacock Escritoire [issued
with:] Shards.
Journal Notes [and:] Santiago Caruso. Portfolio . Bucharest - Orient :
Passport Levant, 2011. review
— James Walsh. The Ephemera. [Selections
from the Travels (1791) of William Bartram : a
found poem]. Edition
of thirty copies printed by the artist, October 2011. notice
Wander in the Archives
The Archives of the Endless Bookshelf have been swept and tidied and a guide has been prepared to assist wanderers. Index would be too strong a term : the headwords tend to be suggestive rather than directive. Start here. Have fun.
This creaking and constantly evolving website of the endless bookshelf : I expect that some entries will be brief, others will take the form of more elaborate essays, and eventually I will become adept at incorporating comments or interactivity. Right now you’ll have to send links to me, dear readers. [HWW]
electronym : wessells
at aol dot com
Copyright © 2007-2012
Henry
Wessells and individual contributors.
Produced by Temporary
Culture, P.O.B. 43072, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043 USA.