The Raconteur
Détails
- Statut
- N'existe plus
- Type
- BookstoreNon renseigné
- Site web
- http://www.raconteurbooks.com
- Description :
- Cheered by poet/diarist Jim Carroll (The Basketball Diaries), Jersey filmmaker Todd Solondz (Palindromes), and author/essayist Susan Orlean (The Orchid Thief), The Raconteur has been called a “literary center of gravity" by The New York Times, a “literary landmark" by Time Out New York, and “a literary sanctuary” by the London Guardian. Known for its accomplished and eclectic programming, The Raconteur hosts free weekly events (author signings, film screenings, staged readings, live music) and organizes oddball literary happenings that range from Manhattan pub crawls and arm wrestling tournaments to motorcycle rides and beard growing contests.
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Compared to the famed Shakespeare and Company by Gonzague Pichelin, a French filmmaker whose award winning documentary Portrait of a Bookstore as an Old Man celebrates the legendary Parisian shop and its late proprietor George Whitman, The Raconteur is a bookstore in Central New Jersey owned by Alex Dawson and John W. McKelvey. The Raconteur sits on no river and while Shakespeare and Co. faces Notre dame, this Metuchen shop stands across from, well, a dry cleaner, but with its looming bookcase "corridors," an in-house publishing company, and strong connections to many acclaimed poets and novelists, similarities to what Dawson calls his "romantic model" abound. In fact, Dawson recently befriended Jeremy Mercer, a writer whose account of living and working at Shakespeare & Co, Time was Soft There, was touted by illustrious Beat poet Lawrence Ferlenghetti and won raves from The New Yorker and The Wall Street Journal early last year. Dawson had just finished Mercer's memoir and his affection for the book compelled him to invite Mercer to participate in Word Fest, an annual literary event sponsored by The Raconteur, despite his overseas address. Mercer, who recently wrote an article for Britain's national newspaper The Guardian titled "The Top Ten Bookstores of the World," agreed to participate in the spring festival as well as write the introduction to Dawson's Raconteur Reader, the inaugural book of Raconteur Publications. Mercer also put Dawson in touch with many of the lauded shops on his top ten list, including Atlantis Books, a store cut into the volcanic rock cliffs of the Greek island Santorini. "That's always been my mission," says Dawson, "to be a village shop, with strong ties to the community, but to also have connections and aspirations that extend beyond New Jersey." And not just to Manhattan where Dawson, a former NYC bartender recently shepherded a group of ten on a literary pub crawl called The Raconteur Get Lit Tour, but to the world as a whole. "Our goal," Dawson says, "is to be on some sort of global radar."
Slowly but surely, they seem to be getting their wish. For two years The Raconteur has been a well kept local secret, but in recent months the word has spread. New York Times columnist Peter Applebome, who labeled the shop a "literary center of gravity" in his summer article for the internationally circulated newspaper, has been one of The Raconteur's most resounding advocates. "Never underestimate the circulation of The New York Times," says Dawson, who received e-mails from across the country (and one from Istanbul) shortly after the piece ran. The article's title, "Get Your Motor Running, Head Out to the… Bookstore?" refers to the literary motorcycle club Dawson, who owns a Vulcan Classic, began last May. The club, which now allows bibliophilic "cagers" (people who drive cars not bikes) to tag along with supplies, meets at the shop and proceeds en masse to a location of literary significance. The Raconteur Motorcycle Club will be featured in an upcoming travel book called Novel Destinations, published by National Geographic and due out next year.
Dawson, who was the Artistic Director for the Manhattan theater company Bon Bock Productions before opening the shop in 2004 with co-owner John W. McKelvey, admits to having a strong impresario bent. Accordingly, The Raconteur prides itself on its accomplished and eclectic programming and their calendar includes everything from rock shows and movie screenings to staged radio plays and arm wrestling tournaments. "I've never thought of the events as ancillary," says Dawson, "in fact, they were always pretty much the point." The general idea being, the books pay the bills and enable The Raconteur to operate as a sort of free cultural center or as Dawson puts it "a Floyd's Barbershop for people with esoteric interests." They also make their "venue" available to the literary rank and file (a class of authors Dawson calls "the great unpublished"), for a minimal fee. Self-published authors and local filmmakers regularly rent their space for book signings and premieres.
A one-time Manhattan set designer, Dawson built the store's towering bookshelves himself and says he designed the space (which he describes as a mix of museum, bookshop and East Village saloon) as if he were "building a functional bookstore set." From the many author busts, antique globes, and medieval weaponry, to the crusty, dusty Underwood typewriters and bottle of authentic Absinth that stands in the window, to the scarred, but in tune, pub piano (complete with drink rings and cigarette burns) and the basketball autographed by punk poet Jim Carroll (author of The Basketball Diaries and a previous Word Fest participant), the shop is decidedly theatrical.
But in the age of Amazon and hotel sized superstores does selling books at a small town indie really cover expenses? "We hold our own," says Dawson. Along with a rigorously edited selection of new bestsellers, The Raconteur has over 25,000 "previously owned" books which include eclectic out of print titles like Jack Douglas’ Observations of Deviance or An Informal History of Moonshining in America, a large assortment of signed first editions like John Rechy’s City of Night, and a cabinet of antiquarian collectibles which boasts a rare 1st edition of Stevenson's Kidnapped. They also teach writing workshops, publish their own books, rent hard-to-find foreign, classic, and independent DVDs, and sell Raconteur brand merchandise (T-shirts, coffee mugs, book totes). Dec, 2006. - Ajouté par
- eromsted
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- ID du lieu
- 6251
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