Proposals: Books as Author, Essays
Proposals: Books as Author, Poetry & Fiction
Proposals: Books as Editor
Proposals: Performances
Proposals: Exhibitions
Proposals: Media Commissions
Proposals: Misc.

Proposal for a structurally alternative Autobiographies at Fifty and Autobiographies at 60

Like its conceptually original predecessor, Autobiographies (Mudborn, 1981), these new books are not a chronological narrative, like most autobiographies, but a pastiche of autobiographical materials, on the assumption (dear to me) that an audobiographical gathering contains more truth than any attempt to force a conventional exposition. Nothing from the previous volume is included, though I hope to draw upon the German Autobiographien New York Berlin (Merve, 1985), which contained some new material. Imaginatively designed first by Peter Buchanan-Smith and then by Aryeh Cohen-Wade as a 192-page dummy, 8 1/2” high, 11” wide, Autobiographies at Fifty contains "Person of Letters in the Contemporary World," from Contemporary Authors: Autobiography Series, Vol. VIII (1989); "Keeping Afloat in New York: A Memoir" from Menu (1985) and, revised, Home Planet News (1989); “My House Wordship,” and two extended interviews, each section imaginatively designed. As before, one recurring theme of these essays is surviving as an independent writer. As the principal changes in my life in this decade resulted from living and working in Europe, several chapters will draw upon essays reflecting this subject "A New Yorker's Berlin," from Exquisite Corpse (1985) and Views of Berlin (Birkhauser, 1989); my contribution to "Writing and Politics" in Fiction International (1984). It also incorporates new examples of self-revelatory documents similar to those included in the predecessor, including "1986," "Alternative Complements," “Career Contradictions,” and "Dedications." Autobiographies at Sixty, similar in structure, reprints from the 1990s. Any publisher interested in considering the camera-ready dummies should contact me. Thank you.