It’s hard to tell how seriously to take the “letter of intent from publishing professionals of the United States.” It seems like just a bunch of fanatical nuts. A quick glance through the signers doesn’t turn up anyone I’ve heard of. But there are a fair number of them, and it’s worthwhile for people in the writing and publishing business to give them a quick “Hell, no!” before letting them languish in obscurity.
The letter declares: “No participant in an administration that caged children, performed involuntary surgeries on captive women, and scoffed at science as millions were infected with a deadly virus should be enriched by the almost rote largesse of a big book deal.”
This doesn’t specify which administration. The Obama administration caged children, and there have been multiple epidemics infecting millions in the past few decades. Let’s be conservative and assume it’s intended only for employees of the Trump administration. It still says “no participant,” and there are a lot of federal employees under the executive branch. Anthony Fauci comes to mind quickly. So do the Capitol cops who tried to stop the storming of the building with inadequate preparation and resources. So do a ton of whistleblowers whose names aren’t known yet. So do any number of federal employees trying to break in as novelists.
Publishers can refuse any manuscript they dislike for any reason. That’s their right. The absurd claims that publication is “almost rote” and “enriches” authors makes me wonder if these people have ever submitted a book proposal. But the letter goes beyond urging publishers not to accept books from government employees. It says, “‘Son of Sam’ laws exist to prevent criminals from benefiting financially from writing about their crimes.” That hints that books by employees of the previous administration should be outlawed. That would be a massive violation of the First Amendment, constituting an attempt by supporters of the current administration to silence people who worked for the previous one. Some SoS laws have been declared unconstitutional.
The letter reportedly had the title “No book deals for traitors” at first, showing its authoritarian intent.
My influence in the publishing world is close to zero. Still, I’ll declare that I will not sign that letter and will despise anyone who does.
Update: Perhaps I should make a distinction clear. I’ve come across a site complaining that Simon and Schuster dropped a book by Senator Josh Hawley the day after he voted against accepting the results of the presidential election and calling their decision “blacklisting.” Hawley called the publisher a “woke mob.” When an author violates his oath to support the Constitution, that’s a very sufficient reason to refuse to do business with him. It isn’t comparable to working for the Trump administration. When you look up articles on “blacklisting,” pay careful attention to exactly what they’re complaining about.
But the attempt to extract a “monomyth” from all the world’s heroic quest stories doesn’t impress me very much. It has an intensely Freudian focus and plays down aspects of myth which don’t fall into that scheme. I’m no folklorist, so don’t expect expert analysis here, but to me the basic formulation seems forced.