VOLLMANN

[...]

I remember a guy from Russia coming to visit us and seeing these two girls, saying they must be sisters - and we had to say "no, it's just all English girls (in fact people) look like that" but he wouldn't believe us and insisted in asking if they were sisters. They weren't.

 

[IdleRich]

Saw this in a second hand shop today. I dunno if/when I'll get round to reading it but I got it anyway.

 

[version]

I just read an interesting piece of his on a trip he took to Afghanistan around 2000. He goes around interviewing various people: Taliban, women reduced to begging, former members of the educated elite, etc. Fascinating to read now, knowing what was coming. It was printed in the New Yorker as 'Across the Divide' but you can't seem to access it without an account. I read it in this...

 

[version]

An overview of his journalism for SPIN was published the other day. I didn't realise the story about rescuing a sex slave was pitched as an article. Horribly cynical, even if it was ultimately a good thing. Seems too out there for even something parodying that sort of magazine like Nathan Barley.

SPIN DNA: William T. Vollmann on Journalism

“For his first article for us,” recalls Guccione, “he suggested going to Thailand to free a sex slave. He might not have thought I’d go for it, but I went for it in a heartbeat. I said, ‘Brilliant idea. Good luck. Keep your head down.’ And that began that fantastic, wonderful adventure together which lasted several years.”

That first story of Vollmann’s, “Sex Slave,” in which he buys an underage girl from a horrible brothel in Ranong province, on Myanmar’s southern border, before delivering her to a women’s refuge and training center in Bangkok, made a splash when it hit the stands in the December ‘93 issue.

 

[IdleRich]

From A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius which I am just reading

 

[william_kent]

From A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius which I am just reading

View attachment 20075

I was going to DM you but I can't afford "sex workers'

I hope this isn't a hint

 

[IdleRich]

How dyou mean?

 

[william_kent]

How dyou mean?

it was a joke not aimed at you

you can safely ignore because only I will laugh

edit: in fact I've forgotten the punchline, I think someone may have done a "version" and deleted the set up

edit: I am so fucked, nothing I type makes sense

 

[version]

From A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius which I am just reading

It was Eggers who ended up publishing Vollmann's huge seven-volume work on violence.

Rising Up and Rising Down - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Now and then a full set appears on eBay for a fortune.

Rising Up and Rising Down, 7 Volume Set, William T Vollmann | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Rising Up and Rising Down, 7 Volume Set, William T Vollmann at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[version]

I think this might be too much, even for someone like me who's liked what they've read of him.

 

[IdleRich]

Someone on twitter does this podcast, gonna listen to the one on the Ice Shirt while I do some gardening

First Dream: The Ice-Shirt - VOLLMANNIA

In this episode, we’re joined by Sean Spillane to discuss THE ICE-SHIRT, the first entry in Vollmann’s ongoing cycle, Seven Dreams: A Book of North American Landscapes.Sean is a PhD candidate in English in New York City. He specializes in Old Nors...

vollmannia.buzzsprout.com

 

[version]

Someone on twitter does this podcast, gonna listen to the one on the Ice Shirt while I do some gardening

First Dream: The Ice-Shirt - VOLLMANNIA

In this episode, we’re joined by Sean Spillane to discuss THE ICE-SHIRT, the first entry in Vollmann’s ongoing cycle, Seven Dreams: A Book of North American Landscapes.Sean is a PhD candidate in English in New York City. He specializes in Old Nors...

vollmannia.buzzsprout.com

One of the hosts of that is mates with a bloke in the Discord some of us are in.

 

[IdleRich]

Oh old news, sorrry

 

[version]

Have you read The Ice-Shirt yet? Is it any good?

 

[hmg]

Be real.

You'd all have vollmann on ignore if he posted here.

 

[version]

I don't have anyone on ignore.

 

[luka]

Nor do i

 

[IdleRich]

Nor do i

 

[IdleRich]

Have you read The Ice-Shirt yet? Is it any good?

Yeah it was interesting... singular... you have to adjust to reading something that at first feels more like an account than a novel but then it clicks.

 

[IdleRich]

Never mind HMG, it stood up longer than most of your points before being utterly demolished.