[READ: June 1, 2022] The New Manifesto
So I received this book at work and it was my job to catalog it (it has yet to be cataloged by anyone else). But there was a problem.
The cover of the book says The New Manifesto a novel by Sam Ernst. But you never trust the cover for the actual title of a book, you trust the title page. And the title page says The New Manifesto or The Slow Eroding of Time Arthur B. Johnson edited by Sam Ernst.
Now the cover also has an about the author of Sam Ernst (with an author photo of the back of his head). And the list of books by Arthur B. Johnson don’t seem to exist. So, clearly, the author is Sam Ernest and Arthur B. Johnson is fictional, But from a cataloging standpoint, Johnson needs to be acknowledged in some way. Which is a pain.
Anyway, I decided to see if this book was worth all of the trouble.
I’m not quite sure.
It opens with a Foreword by Dr James L. Vanderworthy of Bradford College (also fictional). He says that The New Manifesto is the novel that resonates with him more than any other. The editors preface is from Ernst, he says he had a copy editing position at Smith Ralston Excelsior which led him to meet and befriend Arthur B. (“Artie”) Johnson. It was this that inspired him to edit Artie’s words in the way we see here. The Publisher says they didn’t really know what to do with the book, but they thank Ernst for his tireless work on it.
The book is presented in nine parts. Many are short, but some (like part 2 An Assemblage) are nearly 100 pages.
Part 1 the Prelude is a series of 25 numbered paragraphs
1. He sat down to write
4. He was writing a book. A book he never finished. This is a story of failure.
18. Given the book’s title, he was finding it surprising how little manifesting was being done.
Part 2 is written in several much longer sections. Each one is a hilarious account of the narrator’s life as he does remarkable things and then moves on.
He averts a war between two countries. He speaks neither language but found a letter from one kingdom to the other. Had the message not gotten through, war was inevitable. But he rowed for days across the sea to bring the message to the beacon he saw. He walks to a war torn country and is taken for a doctor (he is not). Because of a book he had just read, he is able to diagnose a seemingly dying patient, and as he leaves the area he inadvertently participates and wins the 1984 Sarajevo Ski Jump Competition.
After a few more adventures, including one aboard a ship, he gets a job at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where he uncovers a brilliant scientific schema because of the box elder bugs that swarm his office window. (more…)
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I saw Joseph Keckler open for Sleater-Kinney five years ago. It was a great and memorable performance:
I Just Read About That... 