Burnd down Wharton's house. PSYCHE!

March 6, 2007 10:54 AM

The missive, on paper decorated with roses and butterflies addresses a Mr. Pulsifer, and implores him to "burn down Edith Wharton's house."Algonquin press goes just a touch overboard in their publicity for a new novel.
posted by Lentrohamsanin (9 comments total)

(Publicity Stunt + Police) x (Paranoia + Panicky Populace) = PUBLICITY!!!

"From our perspective we thought it was probably a prank... but there are a lot of people out there who are Wharton fanatics and love her—or hate her."

Here, let me just quick tease the starving publicity beast with a huge chunk of raw meat.
posted by SinisterPurpose at 11:12 AM on March 6, 2007

At least this all happened in Lenox, which probably doesn't have a bomb squad. If it had happened in Boston proper, they'dve blown up the letter, and maybe Edith Wharton's house just for good measure.
posted by briank at 11:27 AM on March 6, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

The Age of Innocence is truly gone forever.
posted by dhartung at 11:52 AM on March 6, 2007

A chunk of the novel is online. Thanks for the story.
posted by paduasoy at 12:06 PM on March 6, 2007

Uhm, the envelope was addressed to the critics but the letter was addressed to Mr. Pulsifer. Am I the only one who thinks that, If you aren't Mr. Pulsifer, you have no damn business reading the letter in the first place.
posted by Megafly at 2:34 PM on March 6, 2007

Trying to create buzz for Brock Clarke's September novel, An Arsonist's Guide to Writers Homes in New England...

How much better would it be, how much more respect would we have for PW would we have, if that sentence began, "Trying to create buzz for a novel which out of principle we are not going to name, by an author we are not going to name either..."?
posted by Hogshead at 3:20 PM on March 6, 2007

Heh. At the end of the day, PW is not exactly a disinterested journalistic observer when it comes to publicity for books.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 4:23 PM on March 6, 2007

The Aqua Teen Hunger Force terrorist stunt was better.
posted by Colloquial Collision at 5:40 PM on March 6, 2007

As a former Algonquin author (two books with them), I'm shocked that they're putting this level of energy into any kind of promotion.
posted by words1 at 10:39 PM on March 6, 2007