It turns out that yesterday’s blind item, in which a former assistant to a major African-American novelist recounts the indignities he suffered under her wing, isn’t as clearcut as I originally thought. Over at Tayari Jones‘s blog, and in email backchannels some guesses are being made, with three very viable candidates (and little clarity) emerging. In the meantime, Jones shares her own stories from the assistant life:
“I won’t say too much about my experiences, but I will say that it is a hard and personal job… I don’t look back at my time as a writers assistant as the happiest time of my life, but I am glad I did it. Although the publishing world has on a few occaisions shown me nastiness that caught me by surprise, my assistant years gave me, at the very least, a glimpse of what was to come and I’ve done my best to be ready for it.”
Would now be a good time to plug Kate Christensen‘s debut novel, In the Drink? I believe it would be. Also, if you’ve got stories of literary assistant hell, by all means, share them with us in the comments sections, with as much or as little identifying detail as you care to reveal.