Random Thoughts

This is from 1956, when the Paris Review was still being published in Paris. It was a much slimmer affair back then — just 140 very thin pages.

The longest piece here is “Letters From An American Prisoner” by James Blake. It’s a series of letters from Blake (who was incarcerated at the time) to two different friends (one called Bud and the other is wholly unnamed). It’s an extraordinary series of letters — there’s a prison escape, and also lots of (voluntary and not) prison sex, so I assumed that it was all fiction.

But it’s not!

James Blake (1922 – February 20, 1979) was a jazz musician and petty thief who became a literary sensation in the 1950s when he published his letters in the Paris Review.

And he went back into jail after the stint described in his letters here:

“It was his first experience at doing time, and although Blake was absolutely out of character as a criminal type and, by his own admission, the world’s most inept burglar, he discovered that confinement offered such sovereign satisfactions and fulfillments that he caused himself to be incarcerated at the Jacksonville jail or, even more happily, at “The Joint,” the Florida State Penitentiary at Raiford, for 13 of the next 20 years.

Geez.

Among other notable texts is a the story of a wrestler who tries to become a journalist…

… and a very witty interview with Dorothy Parker (who resents being called witty).

The poetry in this issue is mostly pretty obscure.

And there’s a guide to restaurants and sightseeing tips and stuff.

This is the first issue of The Paris Review from the 50s I’ve read, and I don’t think it’s quite found its footing yet. I mean, most of the stuff in this issue is pretty good, but there’s only a couple of outstanding pieces.

The Paris Review #13 (1956) (unrated on Goodreads)