Contributions by James Warner
James Warner says: I was lucky enough to be introduced to Borges’ work when I was a teenager, and have no greater literary hero. Among South American writers who’ve impacted me later in life, Bolaño has been a special inspiration. Originally from England, I now live in the writer-filled city of San Francisco, California, where I help organize many reading events. A version of “The Prouf is in the Vermouf” was first read at Litquake, San Francisco’s annual literary festival, in 2010. I am the author of many stories and of the novel All Her Father's Guns—more information at www.jameswarner.net. My daughter is learning to play the ukulele.
The Prouf is in the Vermouf
James Warner
The first account our agency landed was a fortified wine called Clouf. Roland slammed a bottle on my desk and told me to think something up before he got back from lunch. Knowing nothing about vermouth, I started to bang out a jingle on our office piano, under the impression the product was a cleaning detergent.
When Roland returned, he poured some into a six-ounce glass. “A beautiful nose,” he said, “subtly andrognynous with intimations of hyssop.”
I tried some. Clouf pretty much tasted like cleaning detergent to me. It was wine steeped with gentian root, myrrh, bitter orange peel, hops, and various secret ingredients, then fortified with brandy. It contained more glacier wormwood—Artemisia glacialis—than other vermouths, perhaps not much of a selling point.
Like field operatives, Roland and I visited the seediest Soho pubs we could find, … Read More »
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