For the past two years I have appended any biographical statement requested of me with “His translation of Osip Mandelshtam’s Tristia is forthcoming….” On the surface, my intention seems only to inform any interested parties that the book will be published soon. It's also gratifying to me as a translator; It lends legitimacy to my project and is proof that other people are interested in Russian poetry written in the first third of the twentieth century. But more than likely I'm just bursting to let everyone know that I finally have a book coming out. The announcement of which makes for a wonderful fashion statement, like a nice new sports coat.
“This is Kevin.
“Hi.”
“His book is being published.”
“Well, nice to meet you!”
Before this happy event, I had listed a long string of the publishers who had graciously provided a venue for earlier instances of my work. I also threw in any literary miscellany that I could come up with. The strategy: to overwhelm by sheer numbers.
Kevin Kinsella is a poet and editor living in Providence, R.I. A graduate of the New School for Social Research in New York, his work has appeared in Radio Void, Tourist Trap, Tear Duct Modifier, Release, Perspectives, Down City Literary Journal, The Stone Soup Poetry Zine, Thayer St. Review, the Newport Review, and Poets Against the Gulf War. Kevin, who participated in the Eugene Lang College Young Writers Conference in 1993 and 1994, has also appeared at the Wave Café (Newport), AS220 (Providence), the Druid (Boston), T.T. the Bears (Boston), and the Nuyorican Poet’s Café (New York). His poem, “The Gravediggers,” was awarded First Prize in the University of Rhode Island’s New Poets competition. His chapbook, Double Monster, was published in May.
When you’re famous, there’s brand recognition, so you can keep it lean and mean:
Philip Roth’s latest novel, Everyman, will be published in the fall.
The “emerging” writer feels that he has to give it everything he’s got.
Then happy day: The publisher called! Of course this was some ten years later and I no longer considered myself a poet, but rather a writer and a translator. Once I was able to utilize the “is forthcoming” construction, I didn’t have so much to prove. I could add “Most recently,” to my opening “His work has appeared in” and just list my latest victories, which were achieved in a stunning e-mail assault on literary Web sites. This, of course, gives the impression, whether true or not, that “I am published on a regular basis and my credits are too numerous to mention," as well as that I have a book on the way. I also feel no need to list live appearances.
Kevin Kinsella is a writer and translator living in Brooklyn. Most recently, his work has appeared in/on Identity Theory, Yankee Pot Roast, Uber, and Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood. His translation of Osip Mandelshtam’s Tristia is forthcoming from Green Integer Books.
A shedding of the baby fat! The first real fruits of success!
But now the book is more than a year past due. Any social currency afforded to me by “is forthcoming” has now all but lost its value. The fine sports coat has become threadbare. The cuffs are frayed and it's missing a couple of buttons. Friends who once congratulated me now say “What’s up with that book?” or “That thing still hasn’t been published?” Some seem to believe that I made it up altogether. Perhaps it is best that I retire it. Or at least take it to the tailor.
While the manuscript remains somewhere on the publisher’s list of things to do, I will file it away with past victories. Until it actually does appear — and I have received repeated assurances that it will — I’ve been trying to resist the urge to note that I am working on a novel or translating a Sostakovich libretto for an opera troupe from St. Petersburg, that a Soviet literary goup has named me “Comrade of the Month,” or that I maintain a blog.
Kevin Kinsella is a writer and translator living in Brooklyn.
You can't go wrong by living in Brooklyn, Kevin.
Posted by: Richard | March 03, 2006 at 07:16 PM