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Standaert: How did you get into writing, and where do you
see yourself now?
Spitzer: I started publishing poetry a decade ago in the obscure
small press journals of American underground lit, and worked my
way up the ladder. One thing I did while doing this was to move
to Paris and work at the infamous bookstore, Shakespeare and Company.
This provided for years of crazy experiences plus run-ins with
some big-time writers, while getting some serious translating
done. Meanwhile in the States, Andrei Codrescu published a story
of mine what was considered slander by many. This was back in
1995, and it got me a whole lot of attention by raising a whole
lot of hackles. When I came down to the swamps a few years later,
I ended up taking some classes with Andrei, which led to many
a late nights boozing and carrying on. Andrei and I were on the
same page, which led to my position at The Corpse.
It couldn’t have worked out any better.
Standaert: Since this issue of Critique is ‘On Writing’,
could you go into some of your daily habits? How about advice
to younger writers, especially those who work outside of the norm?
Spitzer: I write every single morning while drinking coffee.
It used to be I’d listen to some tape over and over again,
but now I just like it quiet. Usually, I work on a novel for a
bunch of months, then I switch to a translation project, then
back again. I go to The Corpse Headquarters in the afternoon,
get on the e-mail, read submissions, edit various things, stuff
like that. Then I go home to my cats and my gal Robin and we eat
roast beef.
For
writers who are doing work outside the mainstream tastes, I’d
point them to the Hot Links section in The Corpse. These
links go to a bunch of different websites, many which publish
or support avant-garde and/or weirdly twisted mentalities. Besides
offering hours of intriguing reading and examples of cutting edge
poetics in action, these sites can lead you to publishing opportunities
outside the norm.
My
advice to younger writers is the same as my advice to any writer:
Don’t be boring! And do this in your very first line. There’s
too much stuff out there imitating popular trends, and trying
to fit in by remaining unobtrusive, or realistic, or poetic in
that it goes for the heartstrings. This stuff is the enemy of
writing that knows how to suck a reader in and keep a reader in.
We should really pay more attention to whether or not the first
line is anything special. Then they should examine their second
line. And so on. As an editor, I usually give a poem a stanza
to impress me, or a story a paragraph, and if nothing happens
in the next twenty seconds, it goes straight into the Cyberbag
(which is a column I write in The Corpse, consisting mainly
of submitters who didn’t make the cut). I’m looking
for something that sticks out, either style-wise or context-wise
or both, something with attitude, something with guts, something
that’s sexy even if it doesn’t concern the subject of
sex. Sometimes I find works of genius, but I’ll settle for
intelligent and honest with a sharp sense of irony. Personally,
I don’t understand why people just don’t create manifestos
and masterpieces from the get go. Go balls out, that’s what
I say.
Standaert: Can you go into some of the writers that have influenced
you, and anyone out there now that inspires you?
Spitzer: I used to be highly influenced by Louis-Ferdinand Celine,
but it’s hard to go waving that flag. Even at his best, he’s
a dark, dark soul, but man whatta stylist! Edward Abby is important
to me politically, but Bukowski always keeps me entertained. Lately,
I’ve been enjoying Dan Fante’s work. He’s the son
of John Fante, also one hell of a writer. Though I’m proud
to say, however, that I’ve been totally cured of all forms
of hero-worship.
Standaert: What do you think about the proliferation of fiction and poetry
webzines? Are they getting more attention as legit publications
in the literary world, taken seriously, or not? What are their
benefits and downfalls, as you see it, having worked at The
Corpse?
Spitzer: Though I work for an online journal, I’m not that
familiar with the other webzines out there. Still, I know they’re
out there and I’ve seen a few and I know the population is
growing. At first, I was skeptical about this new trend, as anyone
who’s ever valued paper publications, but now there is really
nothing you can do about liking or not liking online publications.
You either except them or reject them, and since they’re
becoming more and more of a legitimate form of publication, which
people are listing on resumes and citing in bibliographies, and
using to attain tenure–I figure you’re limiting yourself
if you avoid them. Also, webzines are highly accessible, they’re
usually free, you can view a lot of vivid artwork, some have sound
and flash movies, and there is an ever growing audience and contributorship
on the web which is really starting to make the Internet more
avant-garde than anyone ever expected it to be. Small webzines
like Thundersandwich.com are now giving the writers of
the small press world more exposure than they have ever had, while
filling a necessary void. And larger sites like Jackmagazine.com
are showcasing some really interesting stuff. Basically, fiction
and poetry has to be online these days, or else it falls behind.
As
for the advantages of publishing online, you can reach a lot more
people. Also, when somebody does a search on you at Yahoo or Google,
they’re led directly to your work, and as long as the server
supplying that work remains up, your work will be immortal–or
at least easily locatable.
The
pitfalls of publishing online, though, are mostly due to this
media not being perfected yet. Sometimes sites go down, there
are viruses and worms, information gets lost and distorted when
it’s re-posted–but mostly, there is the constant complaint
that reading a story online just isn’t like reading used
to be, because you can’t hold it in your hand. Still, you
can print that story up and take it with you if you want. But
people with office jobs like to goof off by reading stuff on the
web when their bosses aren’t watching–so this makes
work more tolerable for everyone.
Standaert: As for Exqusite Corpse, having been a print
magazine for fourteen years, and then going exclusively web-based,
apart from the anthologies, do you think that gives it some status,
staying power and maybe a starting advantage that most other webzines
don’t have starting out? And the Codrescu name?
Spitzer: Its reputation as
a high-quality, avant-garde literary journal followed it
from papyrus into cyberspace. And for any laments that it’s
not in paper anymore, I’d argue that it has actually
come to occupy a much more important place in not only poetry
and fiction, but in its new personality as a forum for presenting
news with a twist, criticism that doesn’t make a reader
fall asleep, cutting-edge interviews, and commentaries from
foreign places. Meanwhile, we’re getting thousands
of hits everyday, and whenever Andrei says something on
NPR, the numbers increase exponentially.
Standaert: Why do you think more writers of Codrescu’s status
have not done similar projects? It seems like a good way to reach
an audience while also getting other voices out there as well.
Spitzer: As for why others have not done anything similar, besides
Francis Ford Coppola, I'd hazard it's because they didn't want
to take the risk. Andrei really pioneered this field. I figure
he probably figured that if he stayed in print he'd have to have
a website to support the in-print product anyway—which is
something most magazines are finding out they have to do these
days—so why not put all that energy into the new frontier
and see what happens? Also, yes, the web works well for reaching
people, but putting people out there isn’t as important to
us as putting brilliant stuff out there that does something different,
and does it with attitude. 
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