Will Trade Small Manuscript for Fat Field

Reading and writing were for Harry [Crosby] — as for Kafka — a form of prayer. And perhaps because he was as literal as he was literary, he began to dwell on books as sacred artifacts as well as sacred processes. He noted in his journal that “books should be real things — they were so once when a man would give a fat field in exchange for a small manuscript.” He was both intimidated and exhilarated by his realization that every age throws up only a few books able to stick to the ribs of literature — “news that stays news,” in Pound’s formulation. He never gave voice to his ambition to produce even one such enduring work, but it was his entire purpose, why he worked so hard to learn the trick of genius, why he transformed himself into what he perceived to be an artistic character.