If Glenn Horowitz comes calling, should you be flattered or alarmed? It means that you have an exceptional literary reputation. It also means that your time on earth is nearly up.
Horowitz, a rare-book dealer of matchless temerity and flair, has sold the papers and possessions of more Nobel laureates than anyone else; he describes himself, with derisive pride, as "the Grim Reaper with a sack of shekels on his back." He sold the archives of Gabriel García Márquez, J. M. Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer, and Bob Dylan, as well as books from Derek Walcott's library, manuscripts of Seamus Heaney poems and Saul Bellow stories, spicy letters that he acquired from one of William Faulkner's mistresses, and Isaac Bashevis Singer's Yiddish typewriter.
He also sold Alice Walker's papers for $1 million, Vladimir Nabokov's for $1.375 million, Cormac McCarthy's for $2 million, Norman Mailer's for $2.5 million, and John Updike's for $3 million, arranging a deal between Harvard University and Updike's widow a few years after Updike said that allowing him into the house would be like "visiting the undertaker who's going to bury me."
Horowitz's knock is the scrape of the chisel on your tombstone. When he was preparing to sell Tony Kushner's archive, Kushner insisted that he not be marketed as the "Angels in America" guy, a one-hit-wonder. The dealer replied, "If you hadn't written 'Angels in America,' we wouldn't be having this conversation."
Denne historien er fra October 28, 2024-utgaven av The New Yorker.
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Denne historien er fra October 28, 2024-utgaven av The New Yorker.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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AMERICAN REFRAINS
“Hold On to Me Darling,” Our Town,” and Sump’n Like Wings.”
GIG ECONOMY
The decline of the working musician.
CITY OF GOD
The Met’ revelatory show on Siena.
POP CULTURE
How dirty soda became a Utah delicacy.
CLOSED CHAMBERS
What can memoirs by Supreme Court Justices teach us?
BUCKS WITHOUT BORDERS
In the geography of the rich and mobile, sovereignty is for sale.
WAR DOGS
The facility lies two miles away from the main terminals but within the grounds of the airport, at the end of a service road that skirts a pond where geese flock during their migrations.
PURCHASING POWER
What do the biggest donors to Donald Trump's campaign expect to get in return?
PIVOTAL, SEMINAL, RARE
He built an empire in high-end books. Then a rock star pressed charges.
FOREIGN INFLUENCERS
How the U.S.government decides when to alert the public about election meddling.