Grove Press Number

The first book I ever worked on came out almost 25 years ago. All the interviews with Gilbert Sorrentino, Hubert Selby Jr, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Maurice Girodias were done in 1989. I still have some of the original tapes. S.E. Gontarski did most of the work. I transcribed most of the tapes and interviews. Barney Rosset and Fred Jordan weren't too happy about the Sorrentino and Girodias interviews. They thought that they made up stuff. It was entertaining nonetheless. The original Sorrentino interview was never used. Gilbert Sorrentino didn't care for the transcription of the tape, and chose to rewrite and recast it. It was very exciting when this book came out. I was in New York City at the beginning of 1991 and the book was proudly displayed in bookstore in St. Marks Place and Astor Place. Bookstores that, of course, don't exist anymore. The whole experience influenced me and my first literary interviews with Gilbert Sorrentino and Harry Mathews I did in the next few years.

--Alexander Laurence