Parts of Fountain City Getting Published

Four chapters of Michael Chabon’s failed and unpublished novel Fountain City are set to be released in the next issue of McSweeney’s, Media Bistro’s GalleyCat reports.

The book, which was supposed to be Chabon’s follow up to 1988’s Mysteries of Pittsburgh, is described in a preface by Chabon as having been written by “a poetically sad young man who apprenticed himself to a visionary, postmodern architect.” After spending years on the book, which hit four-digit page lengths, Chabon finally abandoned it and turned the experience writing it into what actually became his second novel, 1995’s Wonder Boys.

McSweeney’s is publishing the first four chapters, just 93 pages of what GalleyCat says became a 1,500 page book. Chabon had previously published the first chapter on his Web site, but he took it down a few years ago following a revamp. McSweeney’s No. 36 is available Dec. 7.