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The decision to write anonymously here seems especially freighted, less a mere throwback to the Shawn years and having something more to do with the nature of Lish’s initially invisible and essential influence.On the other hand, maybe everyone was just anxious to get out the door for the holiday, and the crucial line was dropped. As if that would ever happen. Here’s the piece in question, and don’t forget the nifty slide show and a very illuminating demonstration of the lishian pen, not to mention the
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OK, so maybe I am being a little crazy here but I went to the Gordon Lish page on Wikipedia and found this entry,
“In February 1977, Esquire published “For Rupert - with no promises” as an unsigned work of fiction: this was the first time it had published a work without identifying the author. Readers speculated that it was the work of J. D. Salinger, but it was in fact a clever parody by Lish, who is quoted as saying, “I tried to borrow Salinger’s voice and the psychological circumstances of his life, as I imagine them to be now. And I tried to use those things to elaborate on certain circumstances and events in his fiction to deepen them and add complexity.” The Wall Street Journal February 25, 1977”
So, Lish has a history of publishing unsigned work. Could it be that he wrote this piece about himself, borrowing the voice of a literature scholar?
I’m sure emdashes will get to the bottom of this…
Tess Gallagher seems like a more likely guess, but it feels collectively written to me, by the team of fiction editors, maybe. I’m intrigued!