An Honest Ghost


My most recent work is an experimental novel called AN HONEST GHOST. The semi-autobiographical narrative consists entirely of sentences from other books. I limited myself to using 300 words per book (in accordance with Fair Use); never took two sentences together; never made any changes, even to punctuation; and attributed every sentence to its source in a list following the text. I stole from about 500 books. Publishers to whom the manuscript has been submitted have been curious and cordial, but wary, and all have so far rejected the book. Other writers have been more enthusiastic:

Edmund White: "Reading An Honest Ghost is an exhilarating, percussive experience, proof that literature is capricious and exalted."