Coffman Christopher K. - William T. Vollmann : a critical companion

William T. Vollmann

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

William T. Vollmann : a critical companion / edited by Christopher K. Coffman and Daniel Lukes.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-61149-510-2 (cloth : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-61149-511-9 (electronic) 1. Vollmann, William T.--Criticism and interpretation. I. Coffman, Christopher K. II. Lukes, Daniel.

PS3572.O395Z95 2014

813'.54--dc23

2014023780

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

For Michael Glawogger and Michael Hemmingson

This book is a collaboration that grew from the panel William T. Vollmann: Methodologies and Morals, held at the 126th Modern Language Association Convention in downtown Los Angeles in January 2011. Thank you to everyone who made the panel possible and attendedthus helping to plant the seeds of this volume.

The editors would like to thank William T. Vollmann for his generous interest in this book; Larry McCaffery for his guidance, enthusiasm, and the contribution of a preface from the desert of the real; and Michael Hemmingson for his advice, knowledge, and insights into Vollmanns world. We would like to thank everyone who helped with the project along the way: all of our contributors, many of whom assisted in ways beyond sending us their words; those who expressed support for this book; those who entertained the idea of contributing but didnt make it in the end; those who politely declined our invitation; and even those who responded to our communications with stony silence. We would like to thank Donald C. Mell and Julia Oestreich at the University of Delaware Press for giving this book a home, the anonymous manuscript reviewers for their enthusiasm (and their critiques), and Brooke Bures, Amie Brown, and Catherine Mudge at Rowman and Littlefield for their assistance with practicalities.

We would like to thank Ken Miller for providing us with a cover image ( 1993); Natalie McKnight for her indispensable support; Tina Funk; Jessica Strand; Peter Cobus for Vollmann projects and conversations over the years; Jacques Lezra for his support and Deep Springs College suggestions; Michael A. T. Mellor for sharing his thoughts and manuscripts; Guadalupe Gonzlez Diguez; Anna Rosenberg; Eli Horowitz; Audacia Ray and the Red Umbrella Project; Kathleen Vandenberg; Lee Konstantinou; Ahmir Questlove Thompson and Rich Nichols; the members of the What Would William Tanner Vollmann Do? Facebook group and the Vollmann listserv; and Vollmann readers worldwide.