Vollman Revealed
William T. Vollman—the gun-toting, globetrotting, eyebrowless writing machine whose new book, Imperial (released tomorrow), weighs in at 1,300 pages—gets a thoroughly fascinating profile in the New York Times, courtesy of Charles McGrath.
McGrath describes him as “a loner, a bit of a recluse, despite being married and the father of a daughter, and a throwback: a wandering, try-anything writer-journalist in the tradition of Steinbeck or Jack London. Some people think he’s a little nuts.” Gawker, who rarely compliments anyone without using the back of their hand, says he’s “probably the last of a dying breed: The badass literary figure.”
The figure struck by the profile is at once reckless and calculating, intimidating and generously polite.
The most interesting comment, for me at least, is his acknowledgement that the length of his new book might cost him some readers: “The world doesn’t owe me a living, and if the world doesn’t want to buy my books, that’s my problem.”
Check out the entire piece here.
AuthorScoop
July 29th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
[...] just not care to stop and watch? If I ’spotted’ a member of the cast, I would… Vollman Revealed - authorscoop.com 07/29/2009 William T. Vollman—the gun-toting, globetrotting, eyebrowless [...]
July 29th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Mr Vollman is the last of a dying breed, more power to him, and long may he live! With a 1300 page novel, would anyone dare screen it on their Kindle or SONY E-Screener, or will that book have to be read on Mr. Paper in order to fully enjoy it? I rather think Mr Paper wins this round.