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Rejecting
Bonafuerua
Ethan Graste Bonafuerua is a Haitian witch doctor. He sent long treatises explaining that Moses had visited Haiti and taught him voodoo. He sent surreal essays about the religious inexplicability of natural disasters, such as earthquakes that killed tens of thousands of people at a time. He wrote obtusely about about reincarnation and travel to Neptune. All of the work was handwritten in pencil and elaborately illustrated in the margins and on the backs of the pages. During the past year we rejected two or three submissions from Bonafuerua each month. So, it was with some surprise that we opened the book review section of the paper on Sunday and learned that Bonafuerua has found a reputable publisher for his work. The review of Bonafuerua's book, Witch Doctor Worldview, 500 pp., $28.00, hardback, was sandwiched between reviews of Noam Chomsky’s and Al Gore’s new books. Our defeat was entire when we turned on the television and were enticed to watch Bonafuerua being interviewed on Public Television during the upcoming weekend. Wordlessly, with hangdog looks, we hunted around the office, took the drawings and manuscripts Bonafuerua sent us, and put them in acid free plastic sleeves to save them for posterity. |
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