Short Story Month - Work of the Day - May 19, 2007 - Self-Portrait by Andrew Ervin

Issue XXI of the Oxford Magazine (UPDATE - Thanks to Jack Pendarvis for catching my attempt to give Oxford American credit for this story) is online, and it contains a fine piece of meta-fiction from Andrew Ervin titled "Self-Portrait."  To date I've had the pleasure of reading four or five of Ervin's stories, and each one is wildly different from the rest of the pack.

This time around the narrator claims to be somebody who has taken on the person of one Andrew Ervin, and even goes so far as to link, within this story, to online efforts attributed to Andrew Ervin (stories, book reviews, etc.).

"Before the shitstorm begins I want you to hear the real story. For the past few years I’ve been writing newspaper articles and the occasional work of fiction under the pseudonym “Andrew Ervin.” I even earned a master’s degree and have a diploma that says “Andrew Ervin” on it, which is pretty fucked up when you think about it. For various legal reasons, I can’t get into all the details here except to say that I’ve become irrevocably trapped behind this name. At my lawyer’s insistence, I can’t even publicly divulge my real name for fear of being charged with theft and fraud and some other crimes I’ve never heard of.

Like it or not, I have in many ways become Andrew Ervin."

It's an opening that grabbed my attention and, perhaps especially as a fan of past work of Andrew Ervin, real or otherwise, wasn't going to let me push the story aside.

Ervin (real?  otherwise?) goes on to describe the theft of a painting, one that leads to the title of this story, not to mention the discovery by those who might care (financially) of the persona switcheroo.

Beyond the meta-aspects of this story, Ervin does a really nice job of allowing the reader to travel a little bit behind the eyes of a critic: 

"Freelancing turned out to be pretty easy and I soon found work at other, more impressive newspapers across the country. I continued to contribute to the City Paper too, but for that paper I soon developed a different voice: Andrew Ervin’s. I submitted the meanest, cruelest reviews I could come up with. Those formulaic little articles began to express my utter disdain for contemporary art, for my former colleagues, for people in general. Even if I adored a CD or a book, I would bash it in the City Paper just for kicks. Why not? None of it was under my real name. I found it all very amusing."

The story is entertaining, witty, and as one expects from Ervin, well-written.  Wander on over and take a peek.

Comments

[Andrew Ervin]

Thanks for this, Dan. I appreciate it a lot. And I also love that you pulled the quote you did. I wrote the first draft of this story in Budapest in 1997 & submitted it to the Hungarian Quarterly. The rejection letter from the editor said, "It seems your main concern was finding expression for the contempt you feel for contemporary art, your colleagues, people in general." Obviously, that had to go in subsequent drafts.

Thanks again,
Andrew

[Dan Wickett]

My big hope now, Andrew, is that emerging writers read that and realize that you spent 9 years plugging this story. Working it, reworking it, submitting it, etc. until it was ready and taken for publication.

[Jack Pendarvis]

Gosh, I hate to be a wet blanket, but I don't think the magazine is the Oxford American, as you say. I think it is Oxford Magazine. Of course, that doesn't invalidate anything you say about the story! I'm just picking nits.

[Dan Wickett]

Jack, I'm guessing nobody has EVER accused you of being a wet blanket. Being a monster fan of the OA, I'm sure that's what was popping the synapses between the time I read Oxford Magazine and actually typed the "words."

At least I got the link right, and better yet, I've got you reading this blog!