【Big Thing Chief: The Stolen Wife】
That Ole Boy Shoots Purty Good
From the Archive
You may well have seen that our new Fall issue features a loping and very funny editorial exchange between George Plimpton and Terry Southern, one that captures both men at the height of their wit—and especially Southern’s, shall we say, distinctive style on the page. (“Yes, it’s true I’ve a rather crackerjack interview with good Hank Yonge tucked away in the old jock-strap, and naturally I’m eager to see it get the sort of dignified dissemination its merit does warrant,” a not-atypical sentence goes.)
The Reviewhas published a lot of Southern over the years. Issue 138, from Spring 1996, has a particularly rich cache of what the man himself might call “Quality Lit,” not just by Southern but about him. It is, essentially, a Terry Southern memorial: when Southern died in October 1995, Plimpton and the staff collected some of his unpublished work and a series of remembrances in his honor. Among the tribute are four pages from an unfinished screenplay, which we’ve reproduced below. It’s just enough to make you wish he’d seen the thing through, and just enough to make you wonder what the hell the movie would’ve actually been about. Skeet shooting? Drug-addled romantics? The French?
As a salute to Southern, who died nineteen years ago this month, for the rest of October we’re offering copies of Issue 138 for only fifteen dollars—fifty percent off the regular price. The issue features an essay by Southern, an interview with him, and remembrances by William Styron, George Plimpton, and Henry Allen. There’s also of course a glut of material having nothing to do with Southern whatsoever, if that’s more your thing: fiction by Junot Diaz and Milan Kundera, interviews with Richard Price and Billy Wilder, poetry galore, et cetera, et cetera. Get a move on!
Search
Categories
Latest Posts
Samsung Unpacked stream is set for May 12, 2025
2025-06-26 09:43Staff Picks: Spike Lee, Gerald Murnane, Robin Wasserman
2025-06-26 08:20The Perils of Sadie Hawkins Day (When Your Name Is Sadie)
2025-06-26 08:19Join Our Editor, Lorin Stein, for Two Events in Paris
2025-06-26 08:14Apple is actively looking at AI search for Safari
2025-06-26 07:57Popular Posts
What If Technology Actually Helped Writers?
2025-06-26 09:02In Proust’s Bedroom: If These (Cork
2025-06-26 08:31Malick Sidibé’s Iconic Photos of Nightlife in Bamako, Mali
2025-06-26 08:13Featured Posts
Umberto Eco: “How to Travel with a Salmon”
2025-06-26 09:01Did William Blake's ‘Songs of Innocence’ Inspire Radoihead?
2025-06-26 08:41Who Are You Calling “Delinquent”? On the Language of Debt
2025-06-26 08:00Meta continues its submission to Trump with new advisor on its board
2025-06-26 07:41Popular Articles
Skype is finally shutting down
2025-06-26 09:58The Art of America’s Elusive Secret Societies
2025-06-26 09:27Solve These Word Puzzles and Win a Free Subscription
2025-06-26 09:11Character AI reveals AvatarFX, a new AI video generator
2025-06-26 08:00Newsletter
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.
Comments (3365)
Transmission Information Network
Music is the secret weapon of Mario Speedrunners
2025-06-26 10:18Boundary Information Network
No Life Lost: The World of Berlinde De Bruyckere
2025-06-26 09:32Focus Information Network
Writ in Water: The Enduring Mystery of Keats’s Last Words
2025-06-26 08:53Charm Information Network
Soviet Film Director Sergei Eisenstein's British Holiday
2025-06-26 08:49Fun Information Network
Musetti vs. Diallo 2025 livestream: Watch Madrid Open for free
2025-06-26 08:48