Not too long ago I was struck by something Paul Auster said in an interview (can't remember if it was in The Paris Review of The Believer) -- he asked, rhetorically, does anyone read Andre Gide anymore? I don't remember it that well, but it seems like there was more than just a hint of sadness for Auster about the thought that Gide and other worthy giants had fallen away/weren't being read/weren't being thought of. This wasn't, I don't think, about bringing back the DEAD WHITE MALES (or the DEAD FATHER), it was just a call for some awareness about the implications of scarfing down nothing but the contemporary. I reviewed Benjamin Ivry's excellent translation of Gide's Judge Not, a fascinating collection of his writings on criminal cases and weird judicial proceedings, for Rain Taxi and got a letter from Ivry afterward thanking me for having done it, and noting that it was the only review the book had gotten*. A terrific book by Gide comes out and it gets one review! Anyway, I don't know where I'm going with this, except to remind myself, for the umpteenth time, to stay vigilant -- it's not just the underserved marvels orbiting way out in our synchronic solar systems that need attending to, there are also the ones getting buried by time (and for every Gide, of course, there are dozens of less famous, perhaps even more exciting/useful/relevant writers waiting to be dug out. Shovel anyone?)

*Full credit should be given to Eric Lorberer, Rain Taxi's editor, for steering the book my way.