Rick Simonson

ARCHIPELAGO LOVE
July 18, 2007

As many could attest, I am not always the most attentive to e-mail. Right now is such a run of time, owing in biggest part to dealing with an offsite event or two, and reps right there to work with.

Nevertheless, a friendly e-mail from Jill Schoolman, publisher and editor of the intrepid enterprise that is Archipelago Books, did catch my eye (though I haven't actually yet replied ... hi Jill, I will ...).

In any small grouping of presses that have come along in the past few years that have demonstrated commitment and seriousness in high measure, Archipelago would be right at the top. The books are beautifully made/designed, and their contents are of a beauty, too. That they are mostly brought over in translation, be they contemporary works or classics, makes them even more vital. Elias Khoury's Gate of the Sun is a favorite novel of the past few years (and next winter's publication of his newest, Yalo, is one already to anticipate). On the recent New York BEA trip, a bilingual edition of 16th-century French poet Maurice Sceve's Emblems of Desire was bought (and savored) on a memorable little visit to Three Lives & Company. In the odd pile that is there for the reading by the bed, there is almost always an Archipelago book in progress: 86-year-old Polish poet Tadeusz Rozewicz's New Poems, a collection with its share of biting humor, is the book du jour.

Shortly after Jill's email, there was another from a colleague of hers, Zoe Ward. It had the innocuous-sounding title, "Summer News from Archipelago," and attached to the note was a six-page newsletter, rendered via a pdf file (which I did print out). It was par for the course with any number of other bulletins, brochures or newsletters that arrive via e-mail or in the mail. What wasn't par for the course was what happened next, and still, 18 hours later, seems to be happening: people started, initially, writing in to have themselves removed from the mailing list. This probably happens to some degree with most mass e-mailings, and I have no idea how many were/are on Archipelago's list. This was the first time that people wanting to be removed seemed to have to notify everyone else. Quickly my in-box, and no doubt others, were in short order packed with people doing 'RE' to 'Summer News' - some started reply lines, 'Please remove me.' Extensive study didn't get put into this, but there soon was goofiness. The names replying were many, some quite familiar in literary circles. Here and there, people were also starting to appeal to others not to reply to all or to the the grouped names on the send-lists. Pleadings, implorings, appeals for calm ...

Then, there were the voices counter to the cancellers ... one well-known book trade journalist writing to have himself removed from the list of those who wanted to be removed from Archipelago's list ... and then the ones sending messages, 'Archipelago Love,' and cooing supportive words (send me your newsletter anytime) ... and 'let's meet for coffee' ...? 

It's a big country, friends, translated work making the world more intimate, notwithstanding. Maybe some of this was a virus thing (I saw Zoe Ward's name in there at one point offering a solution). Mostly, it read as a mix of road rage and playful MySpace 'connectedness' ... whatever. Fun for the moment. Most ironic was all this quick-electronic darting-about of words, concerning a press utterly devoted to the long, perilous, often slow-working way of bringing  books from languages all over the world to readers' hands here.

Posted by Rick Simonson on July 18, 2007 | Comments (1)