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Books
I Spit on Your Graves
The novel J'irai cracher sur vos tombes ("I spit on your graves") was published in France in 1946. It was promoted as being a work so steamy and controversial that no American publisher dared to print it. It was said to be authored by one Vernon Sullivan, a black American writer. The plot involved a black man who was able to pass as white who went on a violent quest for revenge after his brother was lynched. The book quickly became a bestseller.In reality, the book was written by Boris Vian who was French, white, and had never set foot in the United States. In other words, the book was written in French, but passed off as a translation from English. Though soon the book was published in English.
The success of the book prompted Vian to quickly write three more "Vernon Sullivan" novels. But the book's popularity ended up being Vian's undoing. As reported by wikipedia:
I Spit on Your Graves reached the peak of its infamy when it served as an instruction manual for a real-life murderer, whose copy of the book was found on the bedside table next to the murdered body of a prostitute with the following passage circled and underlined: "I again felt that strange sensation that ran up my back as my hand closed on her throat and I couldn't stop myself; it came; it was so strong that I let her go ...". Following this copycat crime, when the book went into reprints, it sold more than 500,000 copies, and Vian was tried for translating "objectionable material" (as Vernon Sullivan was still nowhere to be found). Vian ended up paying a fine of 100,000 francs, and in the summer of 1950 the French government banned any further sales of the book...
The book was adapted into a film with the same title, directed by Michel Gast. Vian had already publicly denounced the adaptation while it was still in production, but he attended the premiere on 23 June, 1959. A few minutes into the screening, he stood up and began to shout out his dissatisfaction with the film, and while doing so he collapsed and died of a sudden cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital.
The book was adapted into a film with the same title, directed by Michel Gast. Vian had already publicly denounced the adaptation while it was still in production, but he attended the premiere on 23 June, 1959. A few minutes into the screening, he stood up and began to shout out his dissatisfaction with the film, and while doing so he collapsed and died of a sudden cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Feb 27, 2025 -
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Category: Hoaxes and Imposters and Imitators, Literature, Books, Racism, 1940s
Human Authored
The Authors Guild is now offering a certificate that an author can display on their book "to certify that their book is created by a human."More specifically:
"Human Authored" means that the text of the book was written by a human and not generated by AI, with the exception of minimal, trivial uses, such as AI applications that check spelling and grammar or for brainstorming or research.
I wonder if an author will first have to pass a Voight-Kampff test to prove they're human and not a replicant.
More info: Authors Guild
Posted By: Alex - Tue Feb 11, 2025 -
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Category: AI, Robots and Other Automatons, Books
“Peace At Last: The Afterdeath Experiences of John Lennon”
You can get a cheap used edition, or an inexpensive Kindle copy, if you want to learn what the ex-Beatle was up to.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 06, 2025 -
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Category: Death, Music, Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal, Books, 1980s
The Order of Christian Mystics
Wikipedia entry here.The Order of Christian Mystics was a 20th-century spiritual order that was promulgated to give to the Western world advanced Christian mysticism based on the Western mystery school tradition.[1][2]
The order was founded in Philadelphia in 1908 by Harriette Augusta and Frank Homer Curtiss. Its original name was The Order of the Fifteen, but it was later changed to The Order of Christian Mystics. Their intent was to combine Theosophy with traditional Christian doctrine. Their teachings were transmitted through Harriette by the Founder of the Theosophical Society, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, otherwise simply referred to as The Teacher of the Order.
The teachings of the order were promulgated mainly through a system of correspondence, extensive publishing of books and delivering of lectures at many centres. Their pupils numbered many thousands in over 70 countries. Mainly their works were aimed at the American esoteric fraternity, for it was believed that America would remain the spiritually dominant nation regarding Western mysticism for many years to come.
The spiritual philosophy as espoused by this Order was based on a system of personal regeneration, otherwise called spiritual alchemy, by transmuting the base creative energy, through Divine purity, prayer, devotion, study and meditation. This was put forth in the Western mystical tradition, a system of mysticism suitable for the Western culture and mindset, encompassing a new interpretation on all former teachings given under the names of Rosicrucianism, Gnosticism and the Western mystery school teachings.
I am fond of their advice book to youngsters. No mere admonitions about washing behind your ears!
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jan 02, 2025 -
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Category: New Age, Religion, Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal, Books, Twentieth Century
Double Bind
Published in 1978 by the artist Richard Olson, Double Bind consists of only six pages, but good luck reading those pages because, as the title implies, the book is bound on both ends.I could see this being an interesting addition to a library of odd books, but I don't know how many copies Olson created. I imagine not that many. One of them went up for auction in 2017 with a list price of $200-$300, but remained unsold.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 14, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Books, 1970s
Jim’s Guide to San Francisco—an update
Back in June we posted about an oddball guide to San Francisco called Jim's Guide to San Francisco in which artist Jim Finnegan posed outside SF businesses named Jim.Finnegan published this back in 1977.
Joshua Bote, a writer for Gazetteer SF, recently came across our post, and it inspired him to seek out more info about Jim's Guide. He contacted me, but I wasn't much help. I told him I came across a reference to it in an old art journal named Umbrella. But then he was able to track down Finnegan himself, who's now 80 years old, living in the town of Woodacre in Marin County.
Bote reports:
He seemed amused that anyone has remembered this relic of his youth. None of the places in the book have lived on — save for the church. He has no plans to recreate the guide; he doesn’t come around to San Francisco much anymore, anyway.
Check out the whole article.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 07, 2024 -
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Category: Books, Tourists and Tourism, 1970s
The John Quinn Letters
Peter Kavanagh published The John Quinn letters: a pandect in 1960. The book consisted of extracts from the letters of the lawyer John Quinn who had corresponded with many famous literary figures such as James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, etc.The book is a literary oddity not because of its subject matter but because of the way that Kavanagh collected the extracts. He gained access to Quinn's letters in the manuscript room of the New York Public Library. But he was only allowed to read the letters, not take any notes on them. So he transcribed them, from memory, outside the library.
It was a form of spite publishing because the library had forbid the publication of any of Quinn's letters until 1988, and Kavanagh disagreed with this on principle. Also, he published the book on his own handmade printing press. The NYPL promptly sued him and barred distribution of the book.
I don't think it's possible to buy a copy of Kavanagh's book today, but a few libraries have copies of it. I believe there are only 12 copies of it still in existence.
More details from Life magazine (Feb 8, 1960):
When he died in 1924, Quinn bequeathed his letters to the New York Public Library, but the courts construed his will as barring publication in any form until 1988. Scholars who have been permitted to read them in the library's Manuscript Room have to sign a special form agreeing not to use direct quotation, and are forbidden to take notes.
But to Kavanagh, these restrictions were outrageously unjust...
In the Manuscript Room, he had no compunction about signing the pledge not to quote from the letters. "To me," he explains, "that paper had no more validity than posting a sign in my flat, 'Not responsible if the roof falls in.' I was driven and had no choice."
For 13 days Kavanagh pored over the letters. Unable to take notes, he simply memorized salient passages, then rushed outside to jot them down. When he had all he wanted he went on to the most arduous task of all: hand-setting the book and printing it...
Kavanagh had not sold a single copy of the Quinn Letters when the library served him with a restraining order, preventing him from distributing the edition and demanding its confiscation. At that point, Kavanagh made a heartbreaking decision.
"I don't want their bloody hands on my book," he said, and on the morning of the hearing he systematically hacked 117 volumes with a shoemaker's knife, shearing them down the middle. "It's like tearing my heart out," he said...
Kavanagh arrived in court with a briefcase crammed with the literary remains. He approached the bench and addressed the judge as "your lordship." Then he upended his briefcase and scattered his shredded copies as evidence that he had obeyed the injunction. The judge explained that he was not "his lordship" and gave Kavanagh permission to keep two unshredded copies of the book for himself.
But to Kavanagh, these restrictions were outrageously unjust...
In the Manuscript Room, he had no compunction about signing the pledge not to quote from the letters. "To me," he explains, "that paper had no more validity than posting a sign in my flat, 'Not responsible if the roof falls in.' I was driven and had no choice."
For 13 days Kavanagh pored over the letters. Unable to take notes, he simply memorized salient passages, then rushed outside to jot them down. When he had all he wanted he went on to the most arduous task of all: hand-setting the book and printing it...
Kavanagh had not sold a single copy of the Quinn Letters when the library served him with a restraining order, preventing him from distributing the edition and demanding its confiscation. At that point, Kavanagh made a heartbreaking decision.
"I don't want their bloody hands on my book," he said, and on the morning of the hearing he systematically hacked 117 volumes with a shoemaker's knife, shearing them down the middle. "It's like tearing my heart out," he said...
Kavanagh arrived in court with a briefcase crammed with the literary remains. He approached the bench and addressed the judge as "your lordship." Then he upended his briefcase and scattered his shredded copies as evidence that he had obeyed the injunction. The judge explained that he was not "his lordship" and gave Kavanagh permission to keep two unshredded copies of the book for himself.
Windsor Star - Jan 18, 1960
Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 03, 2024 -
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Category: Literature, Books, Lawsuits, 1960s
The Forsaken Army—lost, rewritten, then found
Heinrich Gerlach's semi-autobiographical novel, The Forsaken Army, recounts events at the Battle of Stalingrad, which he participated in as an officer in the 14th Panzer Division. But what sets the novel apart as a literary curiosity is that Gerlach wrote much of it while under hypnosis.
The story goes that Gerlach wrote the book while he was being held prisoner by the Soviets after the battle. However, the Soviets then confiscated his manuscript.
Years later, after he had been freed and was back in Germany, Gerlach used hypnosis to reconstruct his lost manuscript. When it was published in 1957, it became a bestseller.
Life - Mar 7, 1960
In 2012, after Gerlach was dead, his original manuscript was found in Russian military archives. It was published a few years later as Breakout at Stalingrad (or, sometimes, Breakthrough at Stalingrad). So, if you want, you can read both versions.
Somewhat related, the Guardian has a list of 10 famous lost manuscripts.
More info: wikipedia; The Forsaken Army (archive.org link)
Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 19, 2024 -
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Category: Hypnotism, Mesmerism and Mind Control, War, Books
Nati-anal Airlines
Joshua Alper's 1978 book, The Documentary Record of an Infringement, documents his "pseudovandalist" alteration of a damaged billboard to make it read "anal Airlines."Pre-alteration and damage, the billboard was for National Airlines, which is now defunct.
The book is quite rare, but you can get a copy for $100.
I haven't been able to find a picture of the billboard post-alteration, and I'm not going to pay the money for his book.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Nov 07, 2024 -
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Category: Books, Air Travel and Airlines, 1970s, Billboards
1000 Cigarettes
Plexiglas book. Pages are laminated with collage elements embedded. Collage elements comprised of debris from smoking 50 packages, a total of 1000, of Camel cigarettes including cigarette butts, match-book covers, burnt matches, ashes, and smoke. Book is Coptic bound with various colored threads. The front cover of the book is laser-etched with the title; the back cover is laser-etched with the name of the press. Dimensions: Book 29 x 22.5 x 6 cm. Container/box 32 x 25.5 x 9 cm. Unique, one-of-a-kind.
The box cover and internal tray are made by Mark Wagner. The cover is collaged from 1/4-inch slivers cut from packages of Camel cigarettes. These cut slivers are reconstructed to form the image of the camel and desert landscape as they appear on the package of Camel cigarettes.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 24, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Fey, Twee, Whimsical, Naive and Sadsack, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Books, Smoking and Tobacco, Twenty-first Century
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