Memoirs of a Not Altogether Shy Pornographer
Selected and Introduced by Jonathan Lethem
Biography & Memoir, Literary
| Author: | Bernard Wolfe, Jonathan Lethem | ISBN: | 9781940436258 |
| Publisher: | Counterpoint | Publication: | March 1, 2016 |
| Imprint: | Counterpoint | Language: | English |
| Author: | Bernard Wolfe, Jonathan Lethem |
| ISBN: | 9781940436258 |
| Publisher: | Counterpoint |
| Publication: | March 1, 2016 |
| Imprint: | Counterpoint |
| Language: | English |
In this funny and telling portrait of the artist as a young pornographer, Bernard Wolfe chronicles his own unlikely entrance into the world of letters. The year was 1936, and Depression laden America had no great need for a Yale Phi Bete whose primary talent was for words. After working variously as a secretary-bodyguard for Leon Trotsky in Mexico, a cataloger of the Irving Fisher papers, and a hopelessly inept drill-grinder, Wolfe landed his first professional writing job: turning out piecework porn at $2.00 a page for an Oklahoma millionaire. He credited his pornographic efforts with teaching him to write to specified lengths while facing deadlines: I acquired the work discipline of a professional writer, capable of a solid daily output.”
In this funny and telling portrait of the artist as a young pornographer, Bernard Wolfe chronicles his own unlikely entrance into the world of letters. The year was 1936, and Depression laden America had no great need for a Yale Phi Bete whose primary talent was for words. After working variously as a secretary-bodyguard for Leon Trotsky in Mexico, a cataloger of the Irving Fisher papers, and a hopelessly inept drill-grinder, Wolfe landed his first professional writing job: turning out piecework porn at $2.00 a page for an Oklahoma millionaire. He credited his pornographic efforts with teaching him to write to specified lengths while facing deadlines: I acquired the work discipline of a professional writer, capable of a solid daily output.”
