William T. Vollmann: a history

William T. Vollmann: a history

By Alexander Laurence

I remember I first heard of William T. Vollmann in late 1989 or early 1990. There was some guy named Stuart who was couch-surfing at my place in North Beach in San Francisco. Stuart had a VW van and his girlfriend was my roommate. He lived there for free the whole time I was at that apartment in Spring 1990. I later saw him working at the library or at some bookstore. But the only conversation we had was about new writers. I think Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland came out around that time. Stuart mentioned that Vollmann was good. I had only read one excerpt by him in Conjunctions about skinheads. It was more documentary style writing with photos by Ken Miller. I used to read Conjunctions and Paris Review back then. Vollmann only had two books out at the time. I think that I read Rainbow Stories first.

A year later the editor of Conjunctions, Bradford Morrow, hosted a reading in downtown SF, maybe fall 1991. The readers were Vollmann, plus Quincy Troupe, Kathy Acker, and the poet Norma Cole, who were all contributors. For such a spectacular lineup there was hardly anyone there: mostly other writers and people who I knew. It was the first time I met Vollmann. He came in the room in a camouflage jacket, looking like he just came back from a war zone. His latest book was the very difficult read The Ice-Shirt. As I recall Vollmann read mostly from 13 Stories and 13 Epitaphs, which hadn’t been published yet in the USA. Back in those days Vollmann fired a starter pistol with blanks at certain points in the reading, as punctuation. He read for quite a long time, and left right after. Quincy Troupe also read for at least a half hour. By the time we got to Norma Cole and Kathy Acker, many people had left. Kevin Killian told me later that he chased down Vollmann and got him to sign his books.

So there was a time around 1992, where it seemed like Vollmann came out with 6 books in less than two years. In 1993, there was an issue of the Review of Contemporary Fiction, by Larry McCaffery, that was about Vollmann, DF Wallace and Susan Daitch. By this time I was writing for a few Bay Area publications. I was a writer at Cups Magazine that was edited by Dave Eggers. Most publications at the time were not very interested in doing an interview with Vollmann. There was a bigger focus on gay writers or multiculturalism I suppose. Eggers was more interested in this sort of interview. So the first interview was arranged in fall of 1993. I met Vollmann at Brainwash café. I soon learned that Vollmann lived in Sacramento now, and he didn’t drive a car. We spoke for about an hour or more. Some friends came by. It was a positive meeting. I didn’t like the final result though. Very little of the interview was used, and Eggers didn’t even use the picture that I gave him.

 

So during that time I ran in to Vollmann often. He was at book readings, he was at Book Fairs, and he would be at City Lights. I ran into him at Book Expo in LA in 1994, not long after his accident in Bosnia, that killed his friend, Francis Tommasik. I met other writers like Larry McCaffery, Michael Hemmingson, and Eurydice, who all came to San Francisco at that time, and knew Vollmann.

I met Ken Miller and Jerome Caja, and also Ben Pax who were Vollmann’s friends from    when he first lived in SF. Ken Miller ended up giving me some photos to use in Cups Magazine. He was very down to earth and also larger than life. He did wedding photography. He lived in the Richmond with his wife, who was from exotic place. Ken told me that he heckled DF Wallace at a reading in NYC one time. It was funny. Jerome Caja was a drag queen who I had taken photos of at Folsom Street Fair. Jerome had many art openings around town. His lipstick paintings are mentioned often in Vollmann’s books. Both Ken Miller and Jerome Caja went to SF Art Institute when it was crazy in the early 1980s. Ben Pax lived around 24^th and Sanchez, and Vollmann used to stay there a lot. I met him there once and we walked down to 24^th Street BART. I was with Vollmann for an interview and a book reading in Berkeley.

Another coincidence was I knew Brandi the prostitute who is mentioned in many of Vollmann’s early books. I used to see her a lot when I lived in the Mission District. Around this time Vollmann made it clear that he was looking for nude models. I asked a few people and they weren’t too interested. There was one person who was the managing editor of Cups Magazine who ending up doing it. Around this time, Vollmann also hooked up with Dave Eggers and Might Magazine. He ended up writing something for them or Eggers also found some nude models for him. I don’t know exactly what happened. Vollmann also gave me a piece for Cups Magazine about how we should eliminate cars, and go back to the horse.

Somehow another interview was set up with Vollmann towards the end of 1994. We had a longer interview and pictures by Ken Miller. We had an interview with Eurydice. Both Vollmann and Eurydice were writers at Spin Magazine at the time. I sent a big stack of the magazine to the Spin offices and I heard it was very popular there. In a couple years in SF, it seemed like Vollmann was far more known in the Bay Area and all the readings were well attended.

One time I was with my girlfriend at City Lights Bookstore. It was around Christmas time. Vollmann was there with his family and his parents. He told me that they were staying at the Hyatt and I should come down and visit. I came with my girlfriend Laura. We were late. Vollmann left me a note. We went upstairs and we chatted with Bill and his sister. Vollmann’s wife made him put on some dress slacks for some dinner they were going to later that night. So we watched Bill try to avoid the pants for almost an hour. It seemed weird so we left.

I moved to NYC in early 1996. Infinite Jest had just come out. DF Wallace did a few readings in NYC back then. I went to one with Susan Daitch, who was a friend by then. They were packed and uncomfortable, and one was in the middle of summer. I never really met Wallace, or ever interviewed him, although we talked about it and exchanged letters. I thought he was academic at the time. Vollmann was also in NYC a lot in 1996.

He was doing a reading at Books and Company, in the upper east side. Jonathan Franzen was there. My friend Gabor had wanted to translate Whores For Gloria into Hungarian. Not sure if that ever happened. Some other famous writers were there. Some others not so famous. My writer friends Joanna Rakoff and Robert Anasi were with me. They both have published books since then. A group of us headed over to some bar on 81^st and York. Apparently this was some place that Vollmann and Franzen used to hang out five years previously. When they sat down they both ordered rosemary hamburgers. I was trying to seem different so I ordered a French dip sandwich. I was sitting next to Franzen and across from Vollmann, so I was considered someone important. That didn’t prevent Joanna Rakoff from calling Vollmann “ugly” and Franzen “some dork from Oberlin College." I doubt that they heard them. At the end of the night publicist Paul Slovak, who I had met at Book Expo, pulled out a credit card, and paid for everyone’s food and drinks. “This is for you, Bill!” he said.

Another time Bill came back to NYC for another reading. This must have been our 10-12 time meeting. It was somewhere in Chelsea. I was with the writer Eurydice. It was a good reading. Afterwards we stopped by a bar nearby called Man Ray. There were about 10 of us. We had some drinks and spoke about some crap. One good looking guy who I didn’t know, who didn’t say anything the whole time, stood up and said: “Man, I like your books, but in person you are disappointing.” And then he walked away and left. Eurydice was a little pissed. Vollmann laughed it off. I only half heard what he said.

Another time Vollmann was staying at the Algonquin Hotel. I get the feeling he stayed there before. He invited me over. He was with his sister. His sister made me do some personality psychological test. I had to make some drawings and describe them. We had some more rosemary hamburgers. I think they cost close to 25 dollars at the hotel. But he paid for it since I took the test.

I didn’t see Vollmann much from 1998 to 2001. It was a very dark period for me. I went through a divorce. There was a lot of changes. As I remember, Vollmann was sick during this time as well.

I decided to do an interview over the phone for Free Williamsburg. It was 2000 and The Royal Family had just come out. It would be my third interview with Vollmann. After this I rarely did any literary interviews. I started writing about music. I saw him again at a reading in LA. I brought a friend with me who hadn’t read any Vollmann books or anything at all.

At the end of 2002, I decided to go visit him in Sacramento. My photographer friend Carla was taking pictures of authors, Wallace and Vollmann among them. Carla lived in NYC. I was in LA at the time. We had a rendezvous in San Francisco. After a successful portrait of Dave Eggers, we took a bus out to Sacramento, and met Vollmann at a café near his house. We chatted for an hour. Carla took some pictures. He even tried to make out with Carla, which was a laugh.

In 2003, my book of stories was being designed and formatted. I was looking for some book quotes. I called up Vollmann a few times during this time. I thought he would give me a book blurb. By 2004, the book was ready to be published, and there was a delay. It finally came out later in fall 2007. I remember sending Vollmann a layout of what it would look like. I called him soon after Vollmann won the National Book Award. I spoke to him around then, and wished him luck.

My own books came out: Hipster Handbook (2004) and Five Fingers Make A Fist (2007). I have written some others since then. It was difficult to keep up with Vollmann post Europe Central. Everything the Greeks wrote can be collected into 40 volumes. I have met only a few people who have read them all. With Vollmann, there is a lot, but you don’t feel like you have to read everything.