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Transcription: June 11, 1979 Seal Press
Seattle, WA 98111 Backbone Two is a Crime Against Literature Dear Ladies, You don’t know how pleased I was to get a reply from you. It wasn’t much, but at least it was something… I really got a kick out of your fire engine red sticker: THIS IS A CRIME AGAINST WOMEN! Very eye-catching, very effective, but so was the swastika.[1] Was my story really a crime against women? Did anyone even read it? I hope you’re never on the supreme court and are asked to define the word “crime.” You would undoubtedly jump up and yell, “A short story by [name redacted] called ‘Mister Roger’s Cul-de-sac’.’” [sic] As far as you not accepting any stories by men, this is the most disgustingly sexist maxim since a man named Hugh Hefner had “Entertainment for Men” as the caption for his magazine.” Literature is not a man. Literature is not a woman. Literature is letters on a page, that add up and make words, that also add up, and (hopefully) tell a story, and it is either good or bad. Please invite me to your book burning ceremony so we can all watch the immolation of the likes of Joyce, Faulkner, Mailer, Salinger, Updike…[2] Yours truly, [Handwritten: name redacted] [name and address redacted] Transcribed by Natalia Shevin |
[1] Here the author makes a clear connection between his inability to handle rejection and the slur directed towards feminists, “feminazi.”
[2] James Joyce, William Faulkner, Norman Mailer, J. D. Salinger, and John Updike. Note that these are all canonical male authors, justifying the need for feminist presses in his own rant against them.
