P.J. Blumenthal

Author Interview - P.J. Blumenthal

Author of "Self Portraits"

It's probably very easy for a reader to misinterpret a book with the title "Self Portraits. Some might think: "Groan, not another one of these writers micro-analysing his or her cherished neuroses." But no, “Self Portraits” is a collection of portraits of selves - many selves, hidden and visible. Granted, a reader may sometimes stumble on some aspect of the author himself. That too is portrayed. Mostly, however, others are the focus of the verbal paintbrush at work here. Some of the stories in this book deal with worlds you might recognize - or know. Others take you places you might need a moment to adjust to. Many faces, many places. A synopsis of "Self Portraits"? I suspect it would be necessary to write 23 synopses here because that is the number of stories in this work.

Author Interview - P.J. Blumenthal

Author I draw inspiration from:

I have loved many books and forgotten most of them. My favorites have left their mark on my soul and memory nevertheless. Poems are more likely to remain active in my mind: poems by Rilke, Yeats, Pound, Eliot, Catullus, Martial, Simonides, Pindar, Bacchylides, for example. The opening sentences of Epictetus' Moral Handbook (or however it is called in English) are my daily companion. Likewise, I am a fan of the first chapters of Genesis, of Ecclesiastes, Jonah and snippets of Paul and the Gospels. Uh oh, now that I’ve begun, it may be difficult to stop. But I'm pretty disciplined, and so I will not continue this litany. Oops! Now the Satyricon has popped up - and Apuleius' Golden Ass. Yes, and Dante, Milton, Blake, Whitman. Enough! Enough!

Author Interview - P.J. Blumenthal | Author I Draw Inspiration From

Favorite place to read a book:

You have asked an intimate question, and it demands an intimate answer. My favorite place to read is propped up in bed.

Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:

Frankly, I would not like to get stuck in an elevator with anyone. When I was nine or ten, I was in an elevator with my brother. I was fooling with the buttons and suddenly it stopped between floors. I cried. Somehow, the elevator did get its knickers out of its twist – I forget how –and the trauma ended. Afterwards, I was a bit ashamed of my outburst.

The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:

I knew I was doomed to be a writer when I received a small wooden lectern with a blackboard attached at the front - like a miniature school bench. I think I was four and hadn't learned to write yet, but I did practice my letters on that chalkboard. A few years later, one of the big kids on the block, Joel Brenner, wrote a story. I knew immediately that I wanted to write stories too. I didn't though because I was afraid the other kids might think I was just copying Joel. I’ve always strived for originality.

Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:

I have been addicted to books for years. When four rows of bookshelves collapsed in my study on 1 April 2024, my first thought was a line by Rilke: Du musst dein Leben ändern. You have to change your life. I got rid of 1200 books. I still have too many. Sometimes, I read ebooks. That can be a convenient on occasion, but I'd miss a world without print. Audiobooks I listened to after an eye operation. I find that the content drifts out of my memory too quickly.

The last book I read:

I am still reading the last book I read - at least the last book of fiction I’ve read: Turgenyev’s “A Sportsman's Sketches". I think that’s what it is called in English. I am reading it in German, a somewhat antiquated German translation, quite fitting for a Russian book from the mid-19th century. These stories are not at all Aristotelian, i.e., without development, climax and denouement. They are totally descriptive. They describe places, things and people and then - poof! Turgenyev ends his observations. I like to think that my "Self Portraits" work similarly.

Author Interview - P.J. Blumenthal | The Last Book I Read

Pen & paper or computer:

When I write poetry, the first draft is always in pencil and in notebooks. Prose is a keyboard craft for me. In the old days, I'd sit on my bed with my old Olivetti 22 on my lap. It was my first laptop. The first draft of anything I write is always tentative. It consists of ideas and feelings that have reached me from a place or state I can’t describe. The hard work is the rewriting. I sometimes go through several drafts before I consider something completed. Even then, should I look at a finished text, I'm convinced that the text needs yet another rewrite. For that reason, I make a point of never reading anything I've written once it is in print. What's done is done.

Book character I think I’d be best friends with:

Why should I want to be best friends with a character in a book? True friendship requires much common experience. Book characters are amalgamations born from the fantasy of a writer. The author of any book might himself (or herself) be someone I couldn't stand being with for more than five minutes (or vice versa).

If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:

Ezra Pound wanted to open a tobacco shop instead of the "damn business of poesy". I may be misquoting. I’m sure he was teasing though. I don't like hypothesizing about what or who I could be. Being myself is hard enough.

Favorite decade in fashion history:

Fashion confuses me. It’s too ephemeral - and it has always interested me very little. I wear what is comfortable and what keeps me anonymous on the street. I would be no different no matter what era I lived in.

Place I’d most like to travel:

I've traveled a lot - and like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz - I say "there's no place like home." Do you hear the clicking of my ruby shoes?

My signature drink:

I am a very boring person. My favorite drink is tap water.

Favorite artist:

Please, don't get me started again on "favorites". I fell into spasms - an infarct of sublime beauty - looking at Botticelli's Primavera. There are many painters I might mention besides Botticelli whose works I love. Fra Angelico, for example or Caravaggio. The fact is: I am very passionate about art. Ditto music. Mozart, Billie Holiday, J.S. Bach, Charlie Parker, Beethoven, Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, Bartok. Enough.

Number one on my bucket list:

I don't have a bucket list.

Anything else you'd like to add:

Because I am a finnicky writer, I have revised this text at least three or four times. I’m sure I could make even more changes.

About P.J. Blumenthal:

P.J. Blumenthal

A Bronx boy who has lived in Germany longer than anywhere else in his life. I write in German and in English. My non-fiction book on feral man was well-received in Germany and has had three incarnations. Two years ago my novel, "Winston Hewlett's Impotence", appeared at Sagging Meniscus Press. A very entertaining book - more entertaining than the author himself. This bio could easily take on enormous bulk. A lot has happened in my life - and I have lived out every fantasy possible. For that reason, I lead a peaceable life these days - at least most of the time.