A book that asks the question,
"Am I nuts?" How would you know
if you were? How will you know if
you aren't? Compare yourself to the masters.
Go ten rounds with Mr. Hemingway, like he went ten
with Mr. Turgenev. He even went ten with Mr. Tolstoy,
if I'm not mistaken. James Michener writes that Life magazine
asked him to vet The Old Man and the Sea, as a hedge against
its being as bad as Across the River and Into the Trees.
They told him he was the only one, but Michener found out later
they asked 600 writers. Each in secret. Hemingway wasn't crazy.
They really were out to get him. They really were dealing behind
his back. Under the table. In America, the editor works for
the company. The company owns the product.
The writer is a hireling. Don't forget it.
Don't think you're an exception.
You think he didn't know this?
You think it didn't undermine him?
You think it wasn't supposed to?
Maybe I am crazy.
Wouldn't it undermine you?
I'm not telling, I'm asking. Help.
What's happening here? Am I nuts?