Who reads Alfred Chester these days? Anyone? His huge, posthumous volume of Moroccan letters, edited with an introduction by Edward Field, is worth every page (even the ones I felt like skipping).
That’s Chester and Paul Bowles on the cover. And this is the novel, The Exquisite Corpse, which Chester is describing.
I’m giving up on trying any sort of form and will just throw everything in. First person, third person, outside characters, dreams. Maybe it will add up to a book. You see, we never became professional. —VOYAGE TO DESTRUCTION: The Moroccan Letters of Alfred Chester
I suspect that there will be much that is extraordinary within those pages. Just ordered the book and thanks for the tip.
you suspect right . . . and I owe my thanks to Mark Terrill, who tipped me to the letters and, secondarily, to his savvy, authoritative review of “The Exquisite Corpse” (published in the Rain Taxi Review of Books back in 2004): https://www.raintaxi.com/the-exquisite-corpse/ if you read that review, your suspicion will be amplified.
Hi there. If you are interested, I published an article on Alfred Chester and the legacy of his literary criticism in the Full Stop Magazine earlier in June. I find Looking For Genet, the posthumous collection of his essays and book reviews his most lasting work. Have to see if I can get my hands on this new release.
https://www.full-stop.net/2022/06/06/features/essays/arsialenius/i/
Best,
Arsi