Nathan "N.R."’s
Comments
(group member since Oct 28, 2012)
Nathan "N.R."’s
comments
from the William T Vollmann Central group.
Showing 201-220 of 734
Update on the two outstanding Dreams --From the KBOO radio interview, aired 09/17/15, Between the Covers.
http://kboo.fm/thedyinggrassbywilliam...
@40:50
Q :: The Dying Grass is the fifth book in the Seven Dreams series. What’s the status of the remaining two books, which are actually books four and seven because you had published The Rifles which is book six in this.
A :: That’s right. Well, book seven is about Hopi and Navajo in the 1980s. And I completed a substantial amount that book in 1986 when the Navajo were about to be expelled from the joint use area at least in part so that Peabody Coal could do a bunch of strip mining there. And the other Dream I had originally wanted to be about King Philip’s War in Rhode Island and the great swamp and all that kind of stuff.
Q :: What year was that?
A :: That was in the 1600s. But I’ve worried that it might be too close to Argall you know which is set in the same period (17th century). So I might possibly make the Dream about the annexation of Hawaii. Anyway, I have a few years to figure that out. I don’t want to start any more work on the Seven Dreams for a while because I want them all to be different.
[cross posted]
Update on the two outstanding Dreams --From the KBOO radio interview, aired 09/17/15, Between the Covers.
http://kboo.fm/thedyinggrassbywilliam...
@40:50
Q :: The Dying Grass is the fifth book in the Seven Dreams series. What’s the status of the remaining two books, which are actually books four and seven because you had published The Rifles which is book six in this.
A :: That’s right. Well, book seven is about Hopi and Navajo in the 1980s. And I completed a substantial amount that book in 1986 when the Navajo were about to be expelled from the joint use area at least in part so that Peabody Coal could do a bunch of strip mining there. And the other Dream I had originally wanted to be about King Philip’s War in Rhode Island and the great swamp and all that kind of stuff.
Q :: What year was that?
A :: That was in the 1600s. But I’ve worried that it might be too close to Argall you know which is set in the same period (17th century). So I might possibly make the Dream about the annexation of Hawaii. Anyway, I have a few years to figure that out. I don’t want to start any more work on the Seven Dreams for a while because I want them all to be different.
[cross posted]
Vollmann wrote an afterword to the new ddition of Bernard Wolfe's The Great Prince Died: A Novel about the Assassination of Trotsky (1959). That afterword is available at the NYRB ::"The Trotsky Paradox"
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/...
Jonfaith wrote: "This airs on our PBS station tonight http://www.wellread.org/the-tv-show/w..."Nicely done! That will mark Bill's second Television appearance!
Just in case it's needed, two radio interviews re: The Dying Grass ::KCRW ::
Part I ::
http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/show...
Part II ::
http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/show...
KBOO ::
http://kboo.fm/thedyinggrassbywilliam...
Nathan "N.R." wrote: ""Jewish Museum’s ‘Unorthodox’ Group Show Will Include, Among Others, Writer William T. Vollmann""Another note on this exhibit ::
http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwart/a...
...featuring some of his Dolores work.
And a charming little video bookclub Q&A.https://vimeo.com/137201460
The related video interview re: The Dying Grass ::
https://vimeo.com/139804718
What appears to be a major new interview with Vollmann ::"Writers are both incredibly arrogant and insecure simultaneously, and those two things are so close, really." --WTV
William T. Vollmann: The Willow Springs Interview
19 Sept 2015 (conducted in Summer of '14)
http://thebarking.com/2015/09/william...
"William T. Vollmann visits a San Francisco S&M club and Many More!"Not sure what the piece is, whether it's already appeared elsewhere (eta :: probably not), but I think it was commissioned for this publication? State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America. A little bit visible in the Look=Inside at ama=zone ::
http://www.amazon.com/State-Panoramic...
The Dying Grass long=listed for the 2016 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction ::http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/carne...
An update on this volume ::There is no update expect to say that it would appear that publication has been suspended. amazon lists it now as simply "currently unavailable". Best case scenario is that it is delayed in order to add in a few bits and pieces from The Dying Grass. [Nothing at the pub'ers website]
Vollmann coming (back) to Idaho ::A Conversation with Author William T. Vollmann
September 30 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
The Community Library Lecture Room
415 Spruce Ave North
Ketchum, ID
http://www.comlib.org/event/a-convers...
Patrick wrote: "Also, what about his nonfiction? Imperial sounds interesting but it feels like people don't love it the way they love the novels. "Geoff pretty much fell in love with Imperial. It was originally conceived as a novel. I'd recommend Rising Up and Rising Down for readers of EC ; it serves as Vollmann's preparation for EC ("I couldn't have written EC without first having written RURD" (approx. quote)) and contains lots of portraits in a similar manner. Unfortunately, I'm not wild about recommending the abridged ; and the unabridged is a lot of moneys.
Patrick wrote: "I'm starting to get worried that nothing of WTV's is ever going to reach the heights of Europe Central at its best. Please tell me if I'm wrong about this, and if I am, where to look next. "I think I had a similar experience with reading The Ice-Shirt first ; nothing was every quite the same. But then I realized that the thing about this was that his books in fact differ rather widely among themselves. They always have that Vollmann=factor, but he doesn't really repeat himself (too often). But in general, I think his Seven Dreams taken together are pretty magnificent -- and Fathers and Crows was his own favorite for a time.
ATJG wrote: "He said this novel is a new creature entirely. "Nice! Time to get those publishers to do their jobs!
A brief little interview from Sacramento ::http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/b...
Q: How’s it going with your current project, one about fossil fuel and nuclear energy, and their relationships to climate change?
A: (My research has taken me to) Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Japan, Mexico and Bangladesh, and may go to Saudi Arabia. I don’t want it to be a monster (in length). The climate is changing at such a frightening rate that if I take five years to write it, it will be too late. I’d like to finish it by the end of 2016.
Q: What else is happening?
A: I’m working on a novel relating to the extraordinary torture and rendition in the George W. Bush years. I want to focus on the effects they had on ordinary citizens. (Also) a book about lesbian and transgender sex workers. That one gives me an excuse to go to bars and write it off.
NR: .........that last one makes it sound like maybe he's reopened work on How You Are?
A short biographical piece ::"William T. Vollmann: A Writer Who Dives Head-First"
By Matt Staggs
July 31, 2015
http://www.biographile.com/william-t-...
Bookworm [radio] interview (Part I) with Bill re: The Dying Grass ::"William T. Vollmann: The Dying Grass, Part I
The rise of corporate America begins with the ruthless acquisition of Indian land in this massively researched epic which evokes the language, the food, and the lost customs of the Nez Perce. This is the first of two conversations about William Vollman’s [sic! dammit!] novel of the 1877 war that destroyed the Nez Perce."
http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/show...
Part II forthcoming.
Just occurred to me.... "Very Beautiful and Almost Automatic" is the piece of technology I was asking about above ; in so far as there's a thing about technology running through these Dreams. Today we might speak of a 'military machine'.
Zadignose wrote: "Because you are reading The Dying Grass, you may also enjoy:"And if you've read too much Vollmann already, he's created a few fantastic lists of his own reading. The most recent ::
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/boo...
His list of favorite "contemporary" books (from 1990), from Expelled from Eden, which I've done up for your convenience (but if you're already this deep into Vollmann you already have Eden) ::
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
And there's a recent interview in which he rambles off a few sci-fi/fantasy titles he's enjoyed lately.
