Conjunctions #59, Colloquy

Conjunctions #59

by Bradford Morrow (Editor)

Colloquy offers a major portfolio of never-before-published correspondence by William Gaddis (1922-1998), a towering figure in twentieth-century literature and author of such novels as The Recognitions and JR. Readers will encounter Gaddis as a Harvard undergraduate making his first forays into fiction; struggling with his first book while scraping by in rented rooms in Panama, Spain and Paris; and grappling with his evolving status as an American writer and public figure. The selection includes his fan mail to other authors, passionate missives to his wives and lovers, tender and intimate notes to his children, frank and funny messages to friends such as David Markson and Saul Steinberg, and revelatory exchanges with scholars of his work.

380 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2012

About the author

Bradford Morrow has lived for the past thirty years in New York City and rural upstate New York, though he grew up in Colorado and lived and worked in a variety of places in between. While in his mid-teens, he traveled through rural Honduras as a member of the Amigos de las Americas program, serving as a medical volunteer in the summer of 1967. The following year he was awarded an American Field Service scholarship to finish his last year of high school as a foreign exchange student at a Liceo Scientifico in Cuneo, Italy. In 1973, he took time off from studying at the University of Colorado to live in Paris for a year. After doing graduate work on a Danforth Fellowship at Yale University, he moved to Santa Barbara, California, to work as a rare book dealer. In 1981 he relocated to New York City to the literary journal Conjunctions, which he founded with the poet Kenneth Rexroth, and to write novels. He and his two cats divide their time between NYC and upstate New York.

Visit his website at www.bradfordmorrow.com.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

i always enjoy conjunctions, my only real exposure to contemporary fiction and new, young writers as well as a great way of keeping up with some of my favorites. in this case the biggest impact from a name i didn't know was matt bell, who wrote a long story about violence and difference. i'll have to follow up with some of this books.

but it's the old names who really dominated this issue. most prominently, a selection of the letters of william gaddis, spanning from before he published his first novel into his later life success. the man was a wonderful writer and these letters are no exception. i'm looking forward to the full volume edited by steven moore in the near future. other favorites of mine who appear in this issue include robert coover (a writer inventing his perfect reader and accidentally finding connection too), john crowley (a sad and slow story of aging and relating), and william gass (a tribute to borges that was probably a fair chunk over my head).

excellent issue.

[Mike Zinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Conjunctions. The beginning was a long selection of letters from William Gaddis which I found quite interesting, but the last selection was an overly long rambling about Borges that I really didn't enjoy. There were many of my favorite writers, but they mostly had minor pieces. I really think there were too many theme sections in this issue. Still really enjoy this journal, but hope the next issue will focus more on fiction.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

For 18 bucks a year you get two issues of this journal/anthology/state of the union that brings together a wide net of modern fiction and essays. This is the first one in a while I read from cover to cover, but I had a great time wrestling with it. The stories by John Crowley and Shelley Jackson were expectedly top-notch, but some other fun stuff here as well. A real deal at twice the price.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good conjunctions edition. I picked this one up for the William Gass essay on Borges (an admitted obsession, and also Gass is one of the best living essayists) and, secondly the "Portfolio" on the Monstrous which features many great writers. Even the excerpt of letters by William Gaddis is mostly interesting (probably not enough to convince me to take on The Recognitions, though).