WSJ: What effect did the success of "Brokeback Mountain" have on your writing life, if any?

Proulx: "Brokeback Mountain" has had little effect on my writing life, but is the source of constant irritation in my private life. There are countless people out there who think the story is open range to explore their fantasies and to correct what they see as an unbearably disappointing story. They constantly send ghastly manuscripts and pornish rewrites of the story to me, expecting me to reply with praise and applause for "fixing" the story. They certainly don't get the message that if you can't fix it you've got to stand it.

"Most of these "fix-it" tales have the character Ennis finding a husky boyfriend and living happily ever after, or discovering the character Jack is not really dead after all, or having the two men's children meet and marry, etc., etc. Nearly all of these remedial writers are men, and most of them begin, "I'm not gay but…."

"They do not understand the original story, they know nothing of copyright infringement—i.e., that the characters Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar are my intellectual property—and, beneath every mangled rewrite is the unspoken assumption that because they are men they can write this story better than a woman can. They have not a clue that the original "Brokeback Mountain" was part of a collection of stories about Wyoming exploring mores and myths. The general impression I get is that they are bouncing off the film, not the story. There's more, but that is enough, ok?"

Last update: 01-29-2009 17:15

Posted by kit, on 09-20-2008 23:17, 1. annie...get your gun!! Or anything else for that matter...she sounds like an absolute bitch.   » Report this comment to administrator Posted by James, on 09-20-2008 23:49, 2. Esquire I don't think Ms. Proulx is a bitch, just cantankerous. Most gay activists have thought very little, and know very little about literature. So they see two gay men depicted in a movie (but not in the story--they don't read much, and it was just one fairly short story in a long book of stories) and think it's some sort of stamp of approval. Very telling that she received an onslaught of suggested changes. Sorry, the world is not so pretty.   » Report this comment to administrator Posted by JR Birdsong, on 09-21-2008 09:11, 3. Aspiring writer? [A] I cannot imagine she was 'flooded' with bad re-writes.  [B] It is really quite simple, open the envelope, glance to see what is in the envelope, and trash it. Do not bother to read, do not bother to acknowledge, just trash it and move along.  [C] She should not have ever publicly acknowledged ever getting one, that's where she made her mistake.   [D] Personally, I will not read any of her future writings, and will see any film she ever gets to the screen. She has been a whining cry baby and needs to get over herself!   [E] These unfortunate souls that sent her unsolicited manuscripts PLEASE!   » Report this comment to administrator Posted by John, on 09-23-2008 20:03, 4. Gay Artist As an artist, I can say that there is nothing more insulting and infuriating than having an amateur think he can take a great masterpiece and 'improve' it.   I'd rather have the newspaper critics trash my works   » Report this comment to administrator