For immediate release .
Steven A. Bassion
JANUARY 1999
Newsletter
AGOODBOOK.COM
Last fall I railed against The Modern Library naming James Joyce's Ulysses to be the best book of the 20th Century.
I raged that Christopher Cerf, chairman of Modern Library, had later explained
the selection process by saying, "I don't consider this a scientific or even a valid process. I consider
this a swell process. . ..I think the process is to some degree a scam, but a good scam. And I mean
that in the best sense of the word."
Recently, I came across an item in The New Yorker concerning the sale of first editions of Ulysses
that were expected to bring between $50,000 and $250,000. These were gifts made by the author,
inscribed to literary lights of the day. Many of the copies for sale were completely or partially
unread! It quoted Glenn Horowitz, a rare-books dealer, as saying, "...I think they got to the point
where they said, 'Life is too short.'"
I continue to believe that discrimination is the artistic issue of our time and I find some small
consolation and no small joke in the fact that these literary apostles of drivel apparently could not
endure what they themselves were espousing.
This newsletter is abbreviated due to my continued traveling. I hope to return to our usual format
with the February newsletter.
Wishing you every joy in 1999!!!
Reader's ideas are welcome on our bulletin board.
Email me at:
Steven A. Bassion
Other matters:
THE WINNER IS: is David Sinnot, who receives a complimentary copy of Kiss Houston
Goodbye, the techno-thriller on our list. This is a drama of starvation and bomb technology, of the
moral ambiguities of our times.
Register for the FEBRUARY giveaway, The Woman who hated Lawrence Darrell,
when you visit www.agoodbook.com .
YOUR BASIC $4.95 DOWNLOAD!