{"id":83483,"date":"2015-03-10T12:15:08","date_gmt":"2015-03-10T16:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=83483"},"modified":"2015-03-10T12:56:28","modified_gmt":"2015-03-10T16:56:28","slug":"new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/","title":{"rendered":"New Lovers: An Interview with Paul Chan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NL3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Paul Chan is best known as a multimedia artist, writer, and activist, but in 2010 he added publisher to his long list of achievements when he founded Badlands Unlimited<\/a>, an imprint with a mission that embraced changes in the way books are created and circulated: \u201cWe make books in an expanded field.\u201d Chan\u2019s modest house boasts a list rich in writing and ideas. In its\u00a0brief history, it\u2019s\u00a0published, among others, Calvin Tomkins\u2019s collected interviews with Marcel Duchamp, Yvonne Rainer\u2019s poems, Saddam Hussein\u2019s speeches on democracy, and a monograph of curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist\u2019s notes and hand-drawn diagrams.<\/em><\/p>\n

This year, Chan and his Badlands coconspirators\u2014Ian Cheng, Micaela Durand, and Matthew So\u2014launched the first three titles of New Lovers, a series of erotic novels written by women for a new generation\u2019s sexual imagination. In Lilith Wes\u2019s <\/em>We Love Lucy<\/a>, a young woman throuples up with her best friend and his boyfriend; Wednesday Black\u2019s <\/em>How to Train Your Virgin<\/a> tells of a queen in a colorful, fantastic realm who tries to win back the lust of her king; and\u00a0in <\/em>God, I Don\u2019t Even Know Your Name<\/a>, Andrea McGinty tracks a young artist\u2019s worldwide sexual adventures after she begins using a new dating app called Bangly. In short, the books are intended to be colorfully hot reads for the thinking pervert.<\/em><\/p>\n

I met with Chan to talk about New Lovers a few weeks ago in his airy, light-filled studio in Industry City, Brooklyn. He and his team were in the final stages of completing work for \u201cNonprojections for New Lovers,\u201d Chan\u2019s solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, organized in honor of his winning the 2014 Hugo Boss Prize. To my surprise, Chan was utterly cool and calm considering the coming storm.<\/em><\/p>\n

Badlands Unlimited largely publishes art books. How does erotica fit into your mission? <\/strong><\/p>\n

From the very beginning, one of the models for Badlands has been Maurice Girodias\u2019s Olympia Press<\/a>, which was one of the craziest, most vanguard presses out there. They funded themselves selling erotica. A year and a half ago, we published a political romance inspired by Michele Bachmann by the poet Trey Sager. It was called Fires of Siberia<\/em>, and we had a lot of fun doing it. So we thought, Why not explicitly use the model of Olympia Press to do a series of erotic romance books? We\u2019ll focus on women writers, publish them as paperbacks and e-books, and see what we get.<\/p>\n

Why focus on women writers? <\/strong><\/p>\n

They write better erotica. We read some manuscripts written by men. We didn\u2019t like them. <\/p>\n

What would you say is the difference between how women and men write about sex?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Women write about sex in a way that\u2019s relational. I don\u2019t mean relational as in relationships\u2014more like what Lacan called a knotting point. Sex functions to \u201cknot\u201d together many other things, so that in a way, sex isn\u2019t ever just about sex. Women tended to understand sex and pleasure as knotting points. Men tended to treat sex as an isolated act. In the manuscripts we ended up publishing, the sex isn\u2019t isolated at all. It\u2019s just one aspect of pleasure.<\/p>\n

Funny, but that\u2019s the way erotica and pornography are typically distinguished from one another.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another motivation for this series is vocabulary. I believe each generation needs a new vocabulary for\u2014and new ways to think about\u2014sexuality. New generations can\u2019t use older generations\u2019 vocabularies and grammars because new situations come up. I wanted to work with newer voices, and I was curious to know how they would describe what pleases them. Issues about sexuality permeate culture today, in both its productive and destructive aspects. From the rampant sexualization of young men and women to Bill Cosby to sexual violence, to rape culture in universities\u2014not to even speak of what\u2019s happening on social media. And I feel like sometimes we don\u2019t have the right words or stories to grasp what\u2019s essential or what\u2019s inessential about sex today\u2014what\u2019s worth thinking about, what\u2019s not worth thinking about. It\u2019s not as if I have a grasp on it, but I have a press.<\/p>\n

\"NL_blksm\"<\/a>

Badlands Unlimited<\/p><\/div>\n

Since you\u2019re a visual artist, I wonder why you chose to get at sex and the erotic via language as opposed to art\u2014the word as opposed to the image? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Maybe I\u2019m tired of looking at pornography. It just doesn\u2019t cut it anymore.<\/p>\n

I think that we as a culture are visually tapped out on porn, or at the very least we\u2019re at some kind of tipping point.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m<\/em> tapped out. I\u2019m done. The drugs don\u2019t work, but the words still do. That\u2019s the strange thing.<\/p>\n

What do you think that\u2019s about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Me getting old.<\/p>\n

That may be, but of course you\u2019re getting at a long-standing conversation about the usefulness of words versus images. Language evokes, images illustrate. An image remains outside of you\u2014a thing apart\u2014whereas a word takes root in the mind and produces \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cinner image.\u201d<\/p>\n

Precisely.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I agree. At the Guggenheim, I\u2019m showing these pieces called \u201cnonprojections,\u201d and in a way they touch upon this idea of the inner image. Imagine a video projector on the floor and the power cord is plugged into a shoe filled with concrete so it looks as though the shoe is powering the video projector. You can tell the projector is on because the fan is going and the lights on top of it are on, but if you look on the wall opposite, you see nothing. But if you were to look into the projector, you\u2019d see the flickering of light and shadows on the lens, almost as if you\u2019re looking at a person\u2019s eyes. That\u2019s where I\u2019m at with images.<\/p>\n

When I was making animations and moving image work in the early 2000s, the time was different. Today, we\u2019re surrounded by screens of all shapes and sizes, and they\u2019re everywhere. So maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m a dinosaur and I just can\u2019t take it anymore, but that sentiment you have about how words can evoke images more compellingly than the images themselves\u2014that feels right to me. I\u2019m not saying we shouldn\u2019t make images. We should. On the other hand, I want to acknowledge this malaise, this tiredness, this \u2026 what would you call it?<\/p>\n

Exhaustion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This exhaustion<\/em> from the polyphony of images. I can\u2019t bear the thought of making erotica visually. On the other hand, I find that I have the energy and time to read and edit erotica. Art is what I do now to pass the time while editing erotic fiction.<\/p>\n

\"NL4\"<\/a>Is there any kind of erotica you won\u2019t publish?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At this point, male authors. Is there anything we won\u2019t publish, Micaela?<\/p>\n

[Micaela Durand interjects: <\/em>Sad sex stories. No one wants to read about sad sex. They have it already. Other than that, we won\u2019t publish anything that makes us feel creeped out.]<\/p>\n

Funny, but we got manuscripts from people who had experience writing erotica, and we turned them down.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because the manuscripts weren\u2019t sexy. They were well-oiled machines with no friction. We ended up liking and publishing manuscripts that were initially kind of awkward. With real sex, there\u2019s sweat, there\u2019s awkwardness. There\u2019s a sort of push-and-pull, so to speak. So if the storytelling machine is too well-oiled, the book doesn\u2019t work. It has to be a little clunky for it to be sexy.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the editing process like? How do you polish a manuscript yet keep it hot and clunky?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The editorial process has just been reading sessions at my house. We get burgers and noodles and we sit there and read. We all go through a manuscript\u2014me, Mica, Matthew, Ian\u2014and we have some outside readers who give us feedback. We\u2019re making up the process as we go along. Once that process is set, maybe our sensibility will change? I don\u2019t know. But we\u2019ll keep going until we run out of money or they throw us in debtors\u2019 prison \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026 or the world moves on from wanting to read about sex.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What a future! Full of self-driving cars and all the time in the world to not read about sex! \u201cSelf-driving cars are coming, so please stop talking about sex. We don\u2019t want to know what pleases us.\u201d That would be a great erotic novel\u2014Stop Pleasing Us<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Maybe you should write that one.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can I ask you something? In the field of literature and writing, is it true when men write sex scenes it\u2019s called literature, and when women them it\u2019s called erotica?<\/p>\n

My short answer is, Yes, I think that\u2019s true. Speaking very generally, male authors have traditionally owned the domains of literature and pornography, where women are relegated to \u201cwomen\u2019s literature\u201d and erotica. I think of writers like Pauline R\u00e9age or Kathy Acker, women who wrote with what was perceived to be aggressive candor about desire, kink, and not just sex but fucking<\/em>. They\u2019re still considered \u201ctransgressive lit,\u201d whereas, say, Georges Bataille or the Marquis De Sade live on as literature. I think also of Dennis Cooper, who until recently was always shelved as queer lit. There\u2019s the unavoidable problem of heterocentricity with regard to who gets labeled what. <\/strong><\/p>\n

I was talking to a young former editor of erotic romance about distinctions between literature and erotica and the gender breakdowns, and it was interesting. It\u2019s not something I would have thought about before because I\u2019m not sure I know what literature is, but I\u2019m pretty sure we\u2019re not publishing it.<\/p>\n

Did that young editor feel that the gender breakdowns were imposed or stemmed from differences in the ways that men and women think about sex?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forms of inequality.<\/p>\n

Yet you immediately noticed differences in the way men and women write about it\u2014hence working only with female writers. <\/strong><\/p>\n

We definitely saw it in the submissions. We definitely saw the pleasure quotient go up and down. At the end of the day, if we take eroticism seriously, it permeates all aspects of our lives. It doesn\u2019t mean we want to have sex all the time, it just means that there are forms of attraction that may not have anything to do with the sexual act. And reading those stories where sex permeates everything\u2014where it\u2019s woven into the fabric of the narrative, character, and plot\u2014it\u2019s just more fun to read.<\/p>\n

When I read the first two books in the series, I couldn\u2019t help but giggle at the fact that both writers had a sharp elbow for a certain type of hipster male who are repulsive to the sexually ravenous female. In We Love Lucy<\/em>, the hipster is a normal, boring guy who fancies himself outr\u00e9, but whom the narrator considers unfuckable. In How to Train Your Virgin<\/em>, the author writes, \u201cAsk one and he\u2019d say (the hipster in general, mind you) that he is too clever by far to succumb to romance, passion, abandon.\u201d What do you make of all that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The moral of the story?<\/p>\n

Yes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stop sleeping with hipster guys.<\/p>\n

The New Lovers series has a launch party tonight<\/a> at the Guggenheim Museum.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jennifer Krasinski is a writer and critic whose work has appeared in Artforum.com, <\/em>The Village Voice, <\/em>Art in America, <\/em>BOMB, and <\/em>n+1 Film Review,<\/em> among other publications. She is the recipient of a 2013 Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul Chan is best known as a multimedia artist, writer, and activist, but in 2010 he added publisher to his long list of achievements when he founded Badlands Unlimited, an imprint with a mission that embraced changes in the way books are created and circulated: \u201cWe make books in an expanded field.\u201d Chan\u2019s modest house […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":806,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[907],"tags":[17333,17328,17339,7924,1102,17334,17332,17335,17329,17337,3740,662,17336,17338,8055,179,1070,17330,17331,36],"class_list":["post-83483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-at-work","tag-andrea-mcginty","tag-badlands-unlimited","tag-erotic-fiction","tag-erotica","tag-feminism","tag-god-i-dont-even-know-your-name","tag-how-to-train-your-virgin","tag-ian-cheng","tag-lilith-wes","tag-matthew-so","tag-maurice-girodias","tag-men","tag-micaela-durand","tag-olympia-press","tag-paul-chan","tag-sex","tag-sexuality","tag-we-love-lucy","tag-wednesday-black","tag-women"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew Lovers: A Publisher\u2019s Quest to Redefine Erotica<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Three new novels by Badlands Unlimited are attempting to overhaul erotica for a new generation. Jennifer Krasinski talks to their publisher, Paul Chan.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Lovers: An Interview with Paul Chan by Jennifer Krasinski\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"March 10, 2015 \u2013 Paul Chan is best known as a multimedia artist, writer, and activist, but in 2010 he added publisher to his long list of achievements when he founded\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-10T16:15:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-10T16:56:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/nl3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"542\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Krasinski\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Krasinski\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jennifer Krasinski\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/466e9ac080a65a9d657b6f74fcacdd53\"},\"headline\":\"New Lovers: An Interview with Paul Chan\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-10T16:15:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-10T16:56:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/\"},\"wordCount\":1978,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/nl3.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Andrea McGinty\",\"Badlands Unlimited\",\"erotic fiction\",\"erotica\",\"feminism\",\"God I Don't Even Know Your Name\",\"How to Train Your Virgin\",\"Ian Cheng\",\"Lilith Wes\",\"Matthew So\",\"Maurice Girodias\",\"men\",\"Micaela Durand\",\"Olympia Press\",\"Paul Chan\",\"sex\",\"sexuality\",\"We Love Lucy\",\"Wednesday Black\",\"women\"],\"articleSection\":[\"At Work\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/\",\"name\":\"New Lovers: A Publisher\u2019s Quest to Redefine Erotica\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/nl3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-10T16:15:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-10T16:56:28+00:00\",\"description\":\"Three new novels by Badlands Unlimited are attempting to overhaul erotica for a new generation. Jennifer Krasinski talks to their publisher, Paul Chan.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/nl3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/nl3.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Lovers: An Interview with Paul Chan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/466e9ac080a65a9d657b6f74fcacdd53\",\"name\":\"Jennifer Krasinski\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/48f25a0cd2a916db72d9824ce9953106ee68d9a34bc564a3c1749d6aea0bd5c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/48f25a0cd2a916db72d9824ce9953106ee68d9a34bc564a3c1749d6aea0bd5c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jennifer Krasinski\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/jkrasinski\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Lovers: A Publisher\u2019s Quest to Redefine Erotica","description":"Three new novels by Badlands Unlimited are attempting to overhaul erotica for a new generation. Jennifer Krasinski talks to their publisher, Paul Chan.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Lovers: An Interview with Paul Chan by Jennifer Krasinski","og_description":"March 10, 2015 \u2013 Paul Chan is best known as a multimedia artist, writer, and activist, but in 2010 he added publisher to his long list of achievements when he founded","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2015-03-10T16:15:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-10T16:56:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":542,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/nl3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jennifer Krasinski","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jennifer Krasinski","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/"},"author":{"name":"Jennifer Krasinski","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/466e9ac080a65a9d657b6f74fcacdd53"},"headline":"New Lovers: An Interview with Paul Chan","datePublished":"2015-03-10T16:15:08+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-10T16:56:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/"},"wordCount":1978,"commentCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/nl3.jpg","keywords":["Andrea McGinty","Badlands Unlimited","erotic fiction","erotica","feminism","God I Don't Even Know Your Name","How to Train Your Virgin","Ian Cheng","Lilith Wes","Matthew So","Maurice Girodias","men","Micaela Durand","Olympia Press","Paul Chan","sex","sexuality","We Love Lucy","Wednesday Black","women"],"articleSection":["At Work"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/","name":"New Lovers: A Publisher\u2019s Quest to Redefine Erotica","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/nl3.jpg","datePublished":"2015-03-10T16:15:08+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-10T16:56:28+00:00","description":"Three new novels by Badlands Unlimited are attempting to overhaul erotica for a new generation. Jennifer Krasinski talks to their publisher, Paul Chan.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/nl3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/nl3.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/new-lovers-an-interview-with-paul-chan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Lovers: An Interview with Paul Chan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/466e9ac080a65a9d657b6f74fcacdd53","name":"Jennifer Krasinski","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/48f25a0cd2a916db72d9824ce9953106ee68d9a34bc564a3c1749d6aea0bd5c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/48f25a0cd2a916db72d9824ce9953106ee68d9a34bc564a3c1749d6aea0bd5c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jennifer Krasinski"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/jkrasinski\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/806"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83483"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83504,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83483\/revisions\/83504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}