Rationalizations

I've had some inklings at to the REASONS used to justify PEN's stonewalling; rationales to support established literature's blackballing. Judge how valid they are.

A.) I'M AKIN TO A SMELLY BUM OR A MADMAN.
It's true that someone would have to be mad to take on literature's totalitarians.

B.) THOSE WHO SIGN THE PETITION ARE AMBITIOUS.
Are writers ambitious for wanting to be heard? For expecting to be part of a democratic conversation by and about literature? A serious charge.

C.) I'VE USED A DISPARAGING TONE.
When you approach the Overdogs of Lit, do so with a submissive mien on your face and your hat in hand.

D.) PEN AMERICAN CENTER IS IMPOTENT.
This is strong argument for changing it.

E.) I'M NOT A WRITER
The quickest way to exclude writers you disagree with is to designate them "not writers."

F.) MY ARGUMENTS ARE UNPERSUASIVE.
The arguments are persuasive enough that they have to be stonewalled. Any argument becomes unpersuasive when it's censored; when it's not heard.

There must be other rationales for PEN's stonewalling. We don't know what they are, because PEN's staffers and bloggers aren't talking.
www.penpetition.blogspot.com

George Garrett (1992)

A 1992 quote from George Garrett which appeared in the Rollyson-Paddock Sontag biography on page 241; originally in Garrett's hard-to-find My Silk Purse and Yours:

"Most of the writers (practically anybody you ever heard of) are involved in a close symbiotic relationship, cozy you might say, with the publishing world. Without the acquiescence and tacit support of the writers (especially the most successful ones), the whole creaky system might collapse. They can fool you, though, the writers. Take PEN, for example, forever using our dues to battle against some form of overt censorship here and there, against racial separation and segregation in South Africa if not, say, Kenya or Ghana, firmly committed against torture everywhere in the world except in certain Eastern Bloc nations, and mostly keeping their own mouths shut about the inequities and injustices, trivial and profound, perpetuated on the American public by the same folks who give writers their advances against royalties and publish their books. Whatever the price is, it doesn't include a vow of silence or even very much self-sacrifice."

I wonder about that vow of silence!
www.penpetition.blogspot.com
Have a Happy Fourth, writers. Show your own independence by joining this protest FOR free speech and AGAINST stonewalling.

Man Bites Dog

There are three levels to the Petition to PEN American Center protest, centered at
www.penpetition.blogspot.com
I.) The well-documented corruption of PEN itself, including grants, parties, and salaries, as well as its incestuous relationship with multinational conglomerates.
II.) The refusal of PEN to respond to questions regarding these matters. PEN staffers and bloggers remain silent. A stone wall has been erected around the organization.
III.) The failure of media outlets, other than Z Magazine, to cover this. That a "public charity" whose mission is to protect dissenting writers, is instead ostracizing them, is a bizarre enough happening to warrant press coverage. Yet where are journalists from outlets like the New Yorker? Has their presence at swanky PEN affairs swamped their judgement?

All Welcome

ALL writers, high and low, are invited to join the campaign to return PEN American Center to its original principles.

I'd love to see a "popular front" of writers develop to support this. Only a mere handful of reactionaries could want to oppose a move for openness and democracy in the literary world.

The timing of this campaign is crucial. Current PEN Executive Director Michael Roberts is stepping down from his post. Roberts was installed a decade ago to serve the interests of New York plutocrats. He did that well-- but times have changed.

Is it too much to ask for a Gorbachev-like moderate to take his place? It's time for some Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring) in PEN, and in the literary world as a whole.

Join the cause!
www.penpetition.blogspot.com

The Literary Underground

How does it benefit literature to wipe out an entire class of writers?

Underground writers face two strong obstacles.
1.) The indifference (or hostility) of the literary world.
2.) The daily struggle for survival-- money to eat; a roof over one's head.

Such battle makes one in parts tough, angry, resourceful, and, of all things, hopeful; for if one can survive the continual assault of lower-class American LIFE, one can accomplish anything.
www.penpetition.blogspot.com

Phoniness Dept.

The literary establishment wages constant war on independent publishers and writers, by co-opting them. I've previously written about establishment darling Miranda July's portrayal by her promoters as "Do-It-Yourself." It turned out she wasn't DIY at all.

Latest maneuver is "HarperStudio," a project from the Murdoch-owned HarperCollins publishing empire. Note the web site--
www.theharperstudio.com --
and the claim of publishing "on the edge." (Anything but.) Click "About" and note the yuppified staff. See the pose of DIY. What's lacking from these system pets is the hard-knock AUTHENTICITY which comes from true independence.
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HarperStudio's claim to be "publishing on the edge" is a lie. Underground writers, on the other hand, ARE living, writing, and publishing on the edge. Outfits like PEN should be defending and celebrating them.
www.penpetition.blogspot.com

"The Literary System"

"The Literary System":
A short essay now up at
www.happyamericaliterature.blogspot.com

(Have you joined the protest at
www.penpetition.blogspot.com
yet?
Show your independence! Join an all-star cast of fearlessly exciting writers.
The future is with us.)

Burn WHAT Book?

PART I
The media monopolies have a way of skewing perception and turning reality on its head, so that any attempt to stall their totalitarian dominance becomes viewed, bizarrely, as censorship.

This is the impulse behind the in-your-face title of PEN American Center's new collection of essays, Burn This Book. The contributors include bonded members of the literary establishment like John Updike. Even though Updike is dead, his words still never fail to find outlets. He's hardly a writer who's been in any way ostracized or restricted. (As some dissident writers in this country are.)

Who, you ask, is the publisher of Burn This Book? WHO?

Harper-Collins, a giant book conglomerate which is part of the Brontasaurian-sized Rupert Murdoch media empire.

Or: A gigantic media monopoly is co-opting dissent, with PEN's assistance. The book monopolies, akin to Starbucks or McDonald's, want not just most of the market. They want ALL of it. They want every streetcorner; every shelf of every library and bookstore; every corner of the globe. PEN eagerly offers their help.

Opposition is steamrolled.

Join the movement for literary change at
www.penpetition.blogspot.com

(p.s. In response to requests to cover "popular" conglomerate authors, I'll soon be presenting a review of neocon novelist Vince Flynn. Stay tuned.)