“Remember, too, the story of novelist Pierre Jourde, author of Pays Perdu. A year or so after his novel reached the shelves of French bookstores, he returned on holiday to the tiny rural hamlet where his family had lived for generations. His novel was a comic account of life in that very village, and though he fictionalized his account, the inhabitants were nonetheless insulted. According to court records, six or seven of his former neighbors began kicking Jourde, pelting his car with ‘stones the size of sugar,’ and insulting his wife and three children. Jorde has filed charges of attempted murder.”
–Dinty W. Moore, “Forty-Four Reasons Why You Absolutely, Positively Should Never Write That Book” from The Normal School (Issue #1)
“I write sonnets and I embalm, and I’m happy to take questions on any subject in between those two.”
–Thomas Lynch to Mandy Iverson, “A Conversation with Thomas Lynch,” from Willow Springs (#63
“Don’t worry hon. When I come back I’ll take you with me. I am the bride of both Jesus Christ and Charles Manson. When all of it’s over we’ll rule the world. There’ll be peace and harmony and everybody can be married to as many people as they want and the only music will be rock and roll.”
–C.T. Lawrence, “Wish You Were Here,” from Event (V.37 #3)