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Dave Eggers' The Wild Things is available for preorder, in regular hardcover and
limited-edition fur-covered.

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F R O M   T H E   A R C H I V E S History's Notable Persons Reconsidered. BY TIM CARVELL - - - - Sigmund Freud Perhaps, contrary to a century's worth of psychoanalytic tradition, Freud never meant to suggest that all men want to sleep with their mothers. Perhaps he meant to suggest that all men want to sleep with his mother. (Apparently, Mrs. Freud got around.) Bruce Springsteen If, through some freak electrical mishap, Bruce Springsteen's clothing were to be ignited while he was onstage at a concert, how many times would he have to shriek, "I'm on fire!" before his bandmates realized that he was not offering a reinterpretation of one of his greatest hits, but a plea for assistance? I'm guessing four. Colonel Harlan Sanders Maybe Colonel Sanders wasn't really all that interested in cooking. Maybe everything—the secret blend of herbs and spices, the down-home persona, the hundreds of franchisees—was a cover for the fact that he had a deep, abiding, and pathological hatred of hens. Tom Jones There must be nights, when Tom Jones is singing "What's New Pussycat?" for the 5,000th time, and the women are shrieking like they do every night, and a hail of panties is landing on the stage like thousands of times before, when he just thinks, "Man, I'm getting sick of this." That's what I tell myself, anyway. J.D. Salinger Precisely how much of the joy one takes in reading J.D. Salinger's work comes from the knowledge that he has chosen to withdraw from the public eye for the past five decades? The books would be no less beautiful—not a word would change—but if, for instance, Salinger had spent the past few years drawing a paycheck as a staff writer for Vanity Fair, mightn't that dim the appeal of Franny and Zooey just a bit? Or what if he'd written four sequels to The Catcher in the Rye? What if he'd been, however briefly, the host of a late-night talk show? A guest on The Muppet Show? The center square on Hollywood Squares? - - - - OTHER McSWEENEY'S FEATURES: - - - - History's Notable Persons Reconsidered By Tim Carvell Crossing Over By Kevin Guilfoile A Letter From Ezra Pound to Billy Wilder, 1963 By Greg Purcell Preview of Summer Camps: Camp Previews One and Two By Jeff Johnson Who's on First? By Chris Gavaler

- - - - MAIN PAGE | ARCHIVES Memories of Amanda Davis Red dot denotes content that is new today. Black dot denotes newish content. McSWEENEY'S STORE SUBSCRIBE TO: McSWEENEY'S THE BELIEVER WHOLPHIN FUTURE McSWEENEY'S BOOKS THE AMANDA DAVIS HIGHWIRE FICTION AWARD INVITE A McSWEENEY'S AUTHOR TO SPEAK IN YOUR TOWN OR COLLEGE THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING McSWEENEY'S MONTHLY MAILING LIST BOOKSTORES WITH A McSWEENEY'S DISPLAY McSWEENEY'S-RELATED EVENTS AND VARIOUS TOUR DATES ORDER INQUIRIES AND ADDRESS CHANGES SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: FOR BOOKS FOR THE QUARTERLY FOR THE WEBSITE FOR WHOLPHIN McSWEENEY'S INTERNSHIPS CONTACT US - - - - LETTERS TO McSWEENEY'S LISTS McSWEENEY'S PREDICTS McSWEENEY'S RECOMMENDS NEW WHOLPHIN FILM DAN LIEBERT, VERBAL CARTOONIST TEDDY WAYNE'S UNPOPULAR PROVERBS REVIEWS OF NEW FOOD DISPATCHES FROM MANILA DISPATCHES FROM MOSCOW AND HERE'S THE KICKER: MIKE SACKS'S CONVERSATIONS WITH HUMOR WRITERS SARAH WALKER SHOWS YOU HOW DISPATCHES FROM AN ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYER WHO IS TRYING TO GROW A MUSTACHE DISPATCHES FROM A HANGDOG BANKRUPT DISPATCHES FROM THE ANACOSTIA DISPATCHES FROM THE CAPITAL DISPATCHES FROM INDIA THE WINNER'S CIRCLE WITH ERIC FEEZELL BEN GREENMAN'S FAKE CELEBRITY MUSICALS SEAN MICHAELS LISTENS TO MUSIC IN MONTREAL SHORT IMAGINED MONOLOGUES KIDS' LETTERS TO PRESIDENT OBAMA STAINED TEETH: A COLUMN ABOUT WINE DISPATCHES FROM THE WINGS AT THE BALLET YOUR MONEY, YOUR JOB ... YOUR LIFE, WITH ALISON ROSEN KEVIN DOLGIN TELLS YOU ABOUT PLACES YOU SHOULD GO IN EUROPE LAWRENCE WESCHLER'S EVERYTHING THAT RISES: A BOOK OF CONVERGENCES THE CONVERGENCES CONTEST ABOUT THE CONVALESCENT ABOUT GOD SAYS NO ABOUT UNDERGROUND AMERICA ABOUT THANKS AND HAVE FUN RUNNING THE COUNTRY LETTERS FROM AN EARTH BALL TO, OR CONCERNING, SEAN HANNITY DISPATCHES FROM ADJUNCT FACULTY AT A LARGE STATE UNIVERSITY E-MAILS SENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FLAG-FOOTBALL TEAM ADVICE FROM A PERSON WITH A BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN PSYCHOLOGY JOHN MOE'S POP-SONG CORRESPONDENCES INTERVIEWS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE INTERESTING OR UNUSUAL JOBS FLIP: A COLUMN ABOUT SKATEBOARDING OPEN LETTERS TO PEOPLE OR ENTITIES WHO ARE UNLIKELY TO RESPOND DISPATCHES FROM A PUBLIC LIBRARIAN MICHAEL IAN BLACK IS A VERY FAMOUS CELEBRITY DAN KENNEDY SOLVES YOUR PROBLEMS WITH PAPER STEPHEN ELLIOTT'S POKER REPORT - - - - ADDITIONAL MATERIAL