An Evening with V. M. Straka. We Mean – Doug Dorst

Last night we were fortunate to host one of the very, very few events author Doug Dorst is doing to promote his new novel, S. In addition to reading reviews of Ship of Theseus, the book-within-the book that comprises the body of S., and an excerpt of Theseus itself, he discussed the collaborative process that went into making S., working with J. J. Abrams, publisher Little Brown & Company and others to create a most unique work of printed art.

It was interesting to watch Dorst discuss Ship of Theseus, a novel he technically wrote, as the work of another person, the mysterious Straka who may have left the manuscript unfinished, who may have not written the book at all. It was a bit like watching an actor maintain the character of himself in a play he wrote. Such is the nature of S., which explores storytelling in all its complexity and possibility.

Fun fact we learned listening to Dorst last night: the notes in the margin are actual handwriting. The design company tasked with physically manifesting the book held office try-outs for handwriting. For Dorst, the fact that this is actual penmanship meant proof edits of the notes in the margin had to be really, really worth it. Altering so much as the punctuation required scheduling an actual human to rewrite the line; a bit more time and cost-consuming than hitting the delete key on a keyboard.

The result is a book that can’t quite be translated into any other medium. There is an eBook edition of S., but it’s only available for iPads and iOS devices. The audio book won’t drop postcards and napkins to give clues as to who Straka is and what Ship of Theseus is all about. This is a book that has to be held to be truly understood. For a head start on comprehending this multi-layered novel, check out the two part series the Austin Chronicle ran where they let us all eavesdrop on a conversation about S. between Dorst and other local authors and Austin literati.

After he signed ALL the books last night, Dorst jotted down a few of his favorite books for us:

Far Tortuga by Peter Mathiessen

Pastoralia by George Saunders

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Underworld by Don DeLillo

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Signed copies of S. are currently available on our shelves and via bookpeople.com. (A note for collectors: the signature is on the front of the black slipcase. The seal has not been broken.) We ship worldwide.