Publisher Danielle Dutton is aiming to do more than produce two new fiction titles
each fall. The mission of her small press, Dorothy, a Publishing Project (dorothyproject.com), is to publish books “of slightly different aesthetic sensibilities but equal wonderfulness” that together support a vaster “project” centered primarily on women writers who are pushing narrative boundaries. “Instead of focusing only on books with traditional narrative arcs and conclusions, or only on books that overtly experiment with form,” says Dutton, “I want Dorothy to approach fiction as a larger conversation.” Last autumn the press released poet and prose writer Renee Gladman’s novel The Ravickians, “a meditation upon translation and the ephemeral,” according to the jacket copy, along with Brian Evenson’s translation of French author Manuela Draeger’s story collection In the Time of the Blue Ball. Both authors use elements of surrealism and fantasy to construct their fictional realms. The first Dorothy offerings—Gladman’s novel The Event Factory (the precursor to The Ravickians) and Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead, a tragicomic novel by the late British author Barbara Comyns, released in 2010—share similar fanciful elements. In addition to their “equal wonderfulness,” the Dorothy books possess a sort of harmony as physical objects. All the titles have a uniform size and format, as well as illustrated covers designed by Dutton, who also works as a book designer for Dalkey Archive Press. Dorothy is not currently accepting unsolicited manuscripts, but letters of inquiry regarding books that might fit the project may be sent to editors@dorothyproject.com.
