DEAR MR. BECKETT—LETTERS FROM THE PUBLISHER

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DEAR MR. BECKETT—LETTERS FROM THE PUBLISHER

Name: DEAR MR. BECKETT—LETTERS FROM THE PUBLISHER
Author: Barney Rosset
ISBN: 978-1-62316-070-8

THE SAMUEL BECKETT FILE CORRESPONDENCE, INTERVIEWS, PHOTOS

by Barney Rosset edited by Lois Oppenheim ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 13, 2016

Not the last word on Beckett, Rosset, or Grove, but a vivid snapshot of a revolutionary era in the culture.

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An evocative but somewhat slapdash scrapbook of documents and interviews concerning the iconoclastic publisher of Grove Press and his most famous author.

As Paul Auster notes in his appreciative preface, the late Barney Rosset (1922-2012) made it Grove’s business to challenge the mid-20th-century status quo both by battling censorship with the publication of the unexpurgated Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Tropic of Cancer and by introducing America to a host of challenging new writers, from the Beat poets to such avatars of the European avant-garde as Alain Robbe-Grillet, Eugène Ionesco, and Harold Pinter. Some of them get nods here, but the focus is on Samuel Beckett, first and foremost among this stellar group from the time Rosset contacted him in 1953 to arrange an English-language edition of Waiting for Godot. The author and publisher’s increasingly warm professional and personal relationship is chronicled in rather spotty fashion here: Rosset’s letters—there are only a handful from Beckett—could use a lot more annotation than they receive from editor Oppenheim, who apparently thinks that a list of “Characters” up front is sufficient for general readers, who may be baffled by fleeting references to Beckett’s fiction (also published by Grove) and to Rosset’s notorious ouster by Grove’s new owners in 1986, which should have been covered in more detail or not at all. Still, a wonderful period aroma emanates from the reproductions of typewritten letters on Grove letterhead, telegrams, newspaper clippings, etc., and the detailed documentation of such projects as Beckett’s Film starring Buster Keaton and the world premiere of Rockaby with Billie Whitelaw is most welcome. Interviews with Les Editions de Minuit principal Jérôme Lindon and British publisher John Calder give a nice perspective on the international avant-garde.

Not the last word on Beckett, Rosset, or Grove, but a vivid snapshot of a revolutionary era in the culture.

Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-62316-070-8

Page Count: 480

Publisher: OPUS

Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
ROSSET
by Barney Rosset

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THE OUTLAW BIBLE OF AMERICAN LITERATURE
edited by Alan Kaufman & Neil Ortenberg & Barney Rosset

- BOOK REVIEW
EVERGREEN REVIEW READER, 1957-1966
edited by Barney Rosset

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DYLAN GOES ELECTRIC!

NEWPORT, SEEGER, DYLAN, AND THE NIGHT THAT SPLIT THE SIXTIES

by Elijah Wald ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 25, 2015

An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...

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Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.

The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.

An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.

Pub Date: July 25, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
JELLY ROLL BLUES
by Elijah Wald

- BOOK REVIEW
HOW THE BEATLES DESTROYED ROCK ’N’ ROLL
by Elijah Wald

- BOOK REVIEW
RIDING WITH STRANGERS
by Elijah Wald

- BOOK TO SCREEN
Searchlight Drops Trailer for Bob Dylan Biopic

- BOOK TO SCREEN
‘A Complete Unknown’: It Ain’t Him, Babe

- BOOK TO SCREEN
20 Adaptations Nominated for Golden Globes

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HOMAGE TO CATALONIA

by George Orwell ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1952

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A history, published in Britain shortly after the author wrote it in 1937, of the few months surrounding the Barcelona Telephone Exchange riots and what the writer determines as the Communist betrayal of all of Spain's anti-fascist forces. The crux of Orwell's writing is to show the ridiculous misrepresentations of the actual happenings in Barcelona and on the front and their meaning for the rest of Spain. The Communists were joined with the Government. Another anti-fascist faction was the P.O.U.M. or anarchist militia. They were closely allied with socialist worker movements, ready to build up a workers' revolution. In the beginning when issues were but hazily defined, Orwell joined the P.O.U.M. and fought with them- at the front. The Communists, considering anarchist-socialist revolutionary policies as presumptive, sought successfully to purge the P.O.U.M. and rendered them through messy journalism, coercive police methods, withdrawal of arms, false reports- as Trotskyists, pro-Franco, anything but the potent patriotic force they were. Thus republican Spain lost a power that could have helped beat Franco. Orwell's report is as exciting as it is meditative. With his quiet exactitude the midnight skirmishes, the political issues, and the utter futility of war come clearly into focus. Perhaps not a book to create sensation in a day when much of what happened at Barcelona has been realized, but one enlightening in terms of showing the war way toward mutual understanding and fair play.