WRITE NAKED

Another day at writing camp. I'm still amazed at the caliber of writing not only in the faculty here at Tin House, which would be expected, but also in my fellow students. In my small workshop group most or all are published fiction writers, and many teach writing on the college level--but I won't hold that against them.

Some complain that the proliferation of MFA writing programs results in homogenized and lackluster work that is competent but takes no risks, and I tend to agree, but the academics have brought some amazing stories--and so have the civilians who haven't gone the conventional route. School doesn't seem to be the deciding factor here. I guess the caliber of work reflects the edgy, barn-storming intelligence of Tin House Magazine (and those drawn to it) more than it reflects the current state of conventional writing programs.

Some of us read in the amphitheater this evening, under the trees, by a duck pond. It felt good. Later, there were faculty readings. I was especially amazed by Charles D'Ambrosio. Go buy his work to see how it's done.

Denis Johnson, National Book Award Winner 2007

Todays writing advice comes from Denis Johnson, author of Jesus' Son and Tree of Smoke, and guest here at Tin House:

"Write naked, write in exile, write in blood."

In our ongoing writers' week, here is the master of footnotes and endnotes in MLA style, David Foster Wallace.

NEW BOOK BY KEROUAC AND BURROUGHS

pictured above: Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs, 1944

Crazy Beatnik Killers! That would be the title of the 1950s Hollywood cheapo exploitation film, anyway. No surprise that an even better title was cooked up by co-writers Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. "The Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks", a new novel co-written by the two giants of the Beat Generation, is set to be published. The book was written over sixty years ago, was inspired by a murder that led to their arrests, the 1944 stabbing of David Kammerer by Lucien Carr, a friend of the writers and another Beat.

Carr served two years after pleading guilty to manslaughter, claiming Kammerer had been obsessed with him and had become a violent stalker.

After the killing, Carr confessed to Kerouac and Burroughs, who helped him dispose of the knife but did not go to police. Kerouac was arrested as an accessory to the killing in 1944 and was put in a Bronx jail but he was freed after his girlfriend, Edie Parker, posted bail. Burroughs was also arrested, but escaped incarceration.

The book is an early work, and probably not very good since neither writer was eager to see it published. Of course, Kerouac and Burroughs went on to worldwide fame with the publication of their later works, "On the Road," and "Naked Lunch," respectively. Penguin Classics will publish the new book in November.

Hear Kerouac recite "The Moon in Her Majesty" by clicking here.