You are a human animal. You are a very special breed,

or you are the only animal.

Who can think, who can reason, who can reason.

Hi, this is Michael Silverblatt, and welcome to Bookworm.

I'm talking today to Alexander Theroux, and it's a fairly unusual show.

As you know, most of the time

we have a show because the writer has a new book, and it's available, and, you know,

the show is a celebration of that fact. This show is a anti-celebration. Alexander Theroux has

three books. None of them are available. And he's a writer I've

always admired. There was a recent issue of the review of contemporary fiction celebrating his work.

The Our Local Arts Foundation, the Lannin Foundation, gave through a writing grant this year.

But the nightmare is that all three of his major books, his first three wogs, his second

and widely regarded as his major work, Darkinville's cat, and his third and adultery,

have all vanished. Now, listeners, I believe that liking this show, you have become bookworms like me.

And so, you know, of course, if you scour the used bookstores in Los Angeles, which are very good,

if you go to your libraries, you can find the works of Alexander Theroux, and I recommend it.

But this show is being created in protest of this unfortunate situation.

Alexander Theroux, welcome.

Thank you, Michael.

I wanted to talk to you about the state of American publishing that's led to books that are widely regarded as, you know,

masterpieces by some, and even by opponents, certainly they're regarded as, you know,

major minor curiosities. How is it that a book disappears?

...