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Hi—

Well, after a mini-hiatus while I was attending BookExpo America and  
the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translation Symposium, we're back to our  
regularly scheduled weekly e-newsletters.

This week I want to tell you about our free book giveaway for Rupert:  
A Confession, but before I get into that, I just wanted to thank  
everyone who contributed to our recent fundraising campaign. This  
campaign was very successful, significantly increasing the number of  
donors (and amount donated) to the Press. Again, thanks for your  
support—in addition to all the financial benefits of a campaign like  
that, it's great to know that people really are interested in what  
we're doing.

And as a sort of thank you, this week we're giving away ten copies of  
Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer's Rupert: A Confession, which was translated  
from the Dutch by Michele Hutchison. I warn you in advance—Rupert is  
one of the creepiest characters to appear in any Open Letter title.  
The basic setup is that Rupert has been accused of a horrific crime,  
and in three separate "hearings" (which may or may not take place  
solely in Rupert's imagination), he tries to defend himself, mainly by  
presenting himself as a witty, charming, erudite person. But there are  
slippages, stories that quickly make it clear to the reader that  
Rupert is totally out of his mind . . . Along the way though, there  
are some seriously funny bits, like the section about "the art of the  
insult" that's available on our website. ("The first guideline is the  
principle of contamination. One can say: 'Jazz is music for  
imbeciles.' One can also say: 'Jazz is torture.' But it is better to  
say: 'Jazz was invented as torture for imbeciles.'")

We're also giving away copies of Rupert this week to celebrate our  
first review in Harper's magazine. (Actually, the July issue also  
contains a review of Lily Tuck's biography of Elsa Morante that  
references our forthcoming reissue of Aracoeli, but more on that  
later.) Benjamin Moser wrote a stunning review of the book, using  
Camus's The Stranger as a reference point on a couple of occasions:  
"In the final scene, Rupert wanders hopelessly into the city's upper  
quarter, an old, winding area of shady denizens and blind alleyways—a  
quarter that, as it happens, rather resembles the Kasbah of Camus's  
native Algiers—his testimony reaching a denouement that would be  
upsetting if it wasn't so cleverly absurd."

To enter the drawing for a free copy, simply e-mail me at chad.p...@rochester.edu
  with your mailing address by the end of the day on Sunday. And  
thanks again for all of your continued support.

Best,
Chad