Pursuit: The Uncensored Memoirs of John Calder

by John Calder

“Publish and be damned”, Wellington's famous adage, runs like a leitmotiv through John Calder's memoirs. He has been damned by a censorious press, by politicians, by other publishers and by organs of the state for publishing books on sensitive issues. Damned also for publishing such authors as Henry Miller, William Burroughs, Alexander Trocchi and Hubert Selby Jr, as well as for bringing to public notice the abuses of the armies and security forces of colonial countries. He took on American authors who could not be published in the United States during the McCarthy witch-hunt. He exposed the atrocities of the Algerian and other African wars, and produced many books on British political, social and moral issues, which only a totally independent publisher could have done. Born into the most conservative of establishment families, John Calder has always gone his own way – seeking out literary genius and creating a greater awareness of the world we inhabit. His publishing programme contained a large proportion of the leading writers of the twentieth century, including Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Luigi Pirandello, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Marguerite Duras, Heinrich Böll and such British authors as Howard Barker, Edward Bond, Steven Berkoff and Ann Quin. Anecdotes abound in these memoirs about Bertrand Russell, Alger Hiss, Graham Greene, J.B. Priestley, Jo Grimond and dozens of others whom the author encountered in his activities, both within and outside of publishing. This book is too outspoken to make many friends, but it will open eyes and upset apple carts. Never a saint, Calder is as frank about his own failings as of those of others.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books

624 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2001

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Calder rose from humble origins as a lumber magnate’s son to become an intrepid, highly sexed and provocative publisher of some of the most important avant-garde writing of the last century, the big hitters being Beckett, Robbe-Grillet, Sarraute, Ionesco, and Brecht. This enormous memoir is an entertaining look at the post-war literary scene in Britain, at which Calder was forever at the centre, co-ordinating countless events to promote his authors, and superhumanly summoning up public interest in literature now read by four or five members of Goodreads and handful of academics who are not preoccupied with their theses on JK Rowling. Calder bloomed in the fifties and sixties, and his tale is full of enviable sexual intrigue (almost every woman introduced in these pages is a conquest), that borders on braggadocio, and despite the almost endless and tedious information about opera performances attended (his other passion), this is an excellent account of a Golden Age in publishing. For Beckett lovers, also an essential read, as Calder was a close friend and one of the first people to fathom his genius. Running up to 2001, the memoir omits the rebranding of Calder into Alma Classics, now keeping his backlist in print (in the UK).

[Tosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Calder is one of the great publishers in the U.K. When ever I see the name John Calder on the back of the book or on its binding I buy it without thinking. And here lies a fascinaing memoir that he actually published himself. Which I don't think is the best idea, due to the fact he would need someone to say to him " hey we can cut this out of the manuscript" It's not going to happen if the book is published by your press.

Nevertheless this is still a really interesting book that will for sure appeal to those who are intrested in European literature via the 60's. And as a publisher it makes my heart warm.

[Sean Okeeffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tome of a book - but never dull. The autobiography of now-near-legendary publisher John Calder. The ups and downs of a career in and around books and authors will be familiar to anyone who has worked in those sometimes stony fields. Calder’s political involvement is well detailed, together with his clear-sightedness and honesty. The book was said to have upset many people when it was published: he doesn’t hold back. Moments of real personal sadness: “My mother died. I decided to attend the funeral.” Plenty on Samuel Beckett and others. Highly recommended for anyone interested in twentieth-century art and letters.

[Tuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

here's a nice review signifying the importance of john calder and golden age, and beckett (who i know very little about either as playwright or author) https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
john calder started and kept running a publishing house that rivaled and surpassed (according to him, according to me? i am too illiterate to know) grove, new directions, knopf, giordias, . has very interesting and probably skewed stories about putting on Edinburgh festival? or tatoo or whatever that is. and plays and mass media and moving to new york and borrowing many and making deals, to just.keep.publishing. you think you got it bad? you shoulda divorced his wife. she made him pay and pay for his dirty works. so get this, calder shout-outs dalkey, so that should illustrate. he struggled and struggled against the disney/random house tide, eventually backed so far up against the wall he retreats to leafy france and even becomes a professor of sorts. his battle to keep on keeping on is inspiring, and depressing.
book has some nice pics, and an index to die for.
i wonder where his editor was in all this? hah.

you know how folks fight culture wars? or look for heroes of national book foundation or saltire prize or beg money like and other stories publishing? well, john calder is a knight of these wars.

[Ryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book truly defies the laws of physics: it blows and sucks at the same time.