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Hysterically Happy Non-Discovery
This week I had e-mails from a young woman who had found a book she
believed to be a "lost" and "unknown" work of a Victorian fantasist. She wrote to me asking how she could reveal this work to the public and be assured of getting full credit from now on for its discovery. This was a book she found at a yardsale, and it was called "My Wonderful Wife." I e-mailed her back that the little book had three editions that I was aware of, and was included in two of the author's short story collections, and on all bibliographies of her work, so while it was somewhat rare, it was neither valuable nor a lost unknown work. Then I got another email claiming she had additionally discovered only two copies of the book remained in the whole world and she had the third one, so while it was not lost & unknown, surely it was important. I was really tempted to get peevish at this point and tell her to learn to use an actual library, but I wrote a reply that the web was not the best place to do primary research, & I told her how she might go about making actual "lost & unknown" discoveries if that was her goal in life (it meant first getting away from the computer & into some surprisingly little-mined Special Collections at major university libraries). Well, today I got a missive from her full of embarrassment, but still containing a considerable childlike delight for the book she had discovered, which I was suddenly glad I hadn't squelched. She admitted she got a unrealistically enthusiastic about a book she was personally thrilled by. This was followed by a note from an academic she'd been pestering about the same topic, saying this young woman's enthusiastic notes had at the very least informed him that my website exists, and he told me the most wonderful story of his daughter winning an essay contest that had as its prize a trip to Japan. The essay was about my novels of a parallel-world Japan, and how she wanted to visit Japan in order to see the places where such brave women had lived. During the girl's journey, she kept meeting Japanese people who were amazed that she knew so much about women samurai, & whenever they asked how she knew all that stuff, she credited me. I sometimes feel that having written genre novels is about the biggest non-achievement anyone can have, next to picking one's nose & shaping the results into little booger-ball people. But this kind of story of influences I've had makes it all seem less ridiculous. And if hearing about this must be credited at least indirectly to yet another young woman who convinced herself she'd made a lost & unknown book discovery at a yardsale, then hey, damned good thing I didn't say, "Learn to use a library you dufus" but elected to encourage her enthusiasm where it might better pay off. -paghat the ratgirl -- "Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher. "Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature. -from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers" See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/ |
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"paghat" wrote...
This week I had e-mails from a young woman who had found a book she believed to be a "lost" and "unknown" work of a Victorian fantasist... [snippage] This was followed by a note from an academic... ...and he told me the most wonderful story of his daughter winning an essay contest that had as its prize a trip to Japan. The essay was about my novels of a parallel-world Japan, and how she wanted to visit Japan in order to see the places where such brave women had lived. During the girl's journey, she kept meeting Japanese people who were amazed that she knew so much about women samurai, & whenever they asked how she knew all that stuff, she credited me. I sometimes feel that having written genre novels is about the biggest non-achievement anyone can have, next to picking one's nose & shaping the results into little booger-ball people... Ah, at last! Someone familiar with my work! Regrettably, even my best known piece, "Booger-ball Norman Mailer Punching Booger-ball John Updike" (in the permanent collection of MOMA--Museum of Mucus Art), has never inspired a story as good as yours. Ditto Robert's comment: Thanks for sharing. -- Jon Meyers [To reply, lose your way.] |
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damned good thing I didn't say, "Learn to use a
library you dufus" but elected to encourage her enthusiasm where it might better pay off. -paghat the ratgirl Thanks for this story. When someone makes an approach in this way, it is an exercise in vulnerability of some sort. God, don't let me sound Robert Pirzig or anything, but I think that the biggest test you (I?:-) can have in life is the one where you are approached by somebody vulnerable. The world turns on your reaction. Richard. |
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