Literary Freaks
Zines
This is a quick summary of the 'serious' literature that I currently enjoy. To start off, I'm a big fan of most beat writers and poets, and some others associated with that movement of the late 50's and early 60's. Easily the best site for all this is
Literary Kicks
which has great background and excerpts from such writers as Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg, Snyder, Corso, McClure and Whalen. I've also found another site dedicated solely to the drug-induced brilliance of
William S. Burroughs.
At the same time, in Montreal,
Leonard Cohen
was beginning a remarkable career as poet that should have made him a major beat icon. For what ever reason, it didn't. He became a musical god, though, so hey...
Let's start moving back a bit. Early 20th century and the incredibly humourous and biting satire of Evelyn Waugh. (If you know of a good site, let me know) Back to the 1890's and bask in the romantic insight of Oscar Wilde. As an aside, to read an incredibly moving, if slightly fictionalized, account of Wilde's last days, find 'Melmoth' by Dave Sim and Gerhard (See Cerebus, below). Cue to the 1850's and the twisted musings and paradoxical adventures of Lewis Carroll. Jump back another twenty years and revel in the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe, the first master of the genres of horror and mystery. In fact he's so good, here's another site dedicated to his life and works, called The House of Usher. Jump back a few more centuries (plus change) and witness the greatest writer, poet, playwrite of all time. Master of romance, tragedy, comedy, history, the Immortal Bard himself, William Shakespeare.
Okay, enough of the past, let's look at current writers that are actually worth looking at. First, a modern classic and masterpiece of comedic science fiction (not to mention a damn good reason to believe in the immutability of fate),
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
On a different tack altogether, the voicepiece for a generation, there's the eerily accurate and foreboding work of
Douglas Coupland
which only prompted the media and corporate saturation of Generation you-know-what. Another Canadian whose works will also be long remembered, but perhaps for reasons of extreme literary merit, as opposed to coining catchphrases, is the venerable Robertson Davies.
(RIP 12/2/95 - Please help me find a decent site)
Finally, if you're looking for an incredibly intellectual novel, and need some convincing that Illuminati conspiracies are not a neurotic's pipe dream, read 'Foucault's Pendulum' by the erudite
Umberto Eco.
I'm a big fan of
gothic and vampire
culture, and a big fan of Anne Rice. Which came first, I'm not really sure, it's sort of a chicken and egg thing (personally, I believe a rooster must be involved somewhere along the line) but for now, here's a site called
Dracula's Daughter
dedicated to her and her work.
One of the coolest things that Jack Kerouac ever did, aside from writing On the Road, The Dharma Bums, The Subterraneans and the Duluoz Chronicles that is, is write down his rules for writing. They feel very true and real, and I know that I strive to write in the same way as he once did. It'll never happen of course, but I can dream for that jewel center of thought.
That's about it for now. I need to find a decent site before I'll add an author to the above diatribe, but if you know of anything worth checking out, please let me know. Also, if you have any suggestions of authors to check out, based on the above, feel free to make them. I'm always on the lookout for new stuff to read.
|
Scott McCloud wrote, in his seminal work |
|
Yep, these are those subversive underground things you've heard of that corrupt absolutely. Stay away, they're evil. The very nature of the traditional (so to speak) fanzine precludes its presence on the web. I'm a big fan of these works; they're created by people who wanted a forum to air their ideas, and due to the lack of such, had the balls, energy and motivation to create one of their own. My kudos and awe to everyone involved in such a venture. Having said that, there are some people using the web in a similar manner. Not necessarily to produce a fanzine type product, but to get things off their collective chests, to expose their creative talents, and to discuss those things closest to them.
One of my favourite zines (it's actually sorta a monthly underground newspaper, but still very cool) is called
Exclaim!
and is definitely worth checking out. It's distributed across Canada, and has a circulation of approximately 30,000 but consistently supports no-name independent bands and labels, underground comix, and has great coverage of a flourishing Canadian fanzine scene. There's a few rant style e-zines out there that I check out occassionally, namely
Alone
("Media revolution through the questioning of personal belief systems") and
Fat City News
(social commentary in a Klein Bottle).
For those of you who aren't sure if you're guy or girl or both or neither, straight or gay or bi- or asexual, you simply must be sure to visit
anon...
but let's be mature about it, okay?
Finally, there's a lot of literary type e-zines out there that I visit from time to time, mostly because they're great forums for unpublished writers, especially younger ones. You might not like everything you read, but usually there's enough good stuff to make the trip worthwhile. Plus you're supporting (not financially, but emotionally and socially) struggling writers, and just casual scribes, as they try to formulate coherent words from tumultuous thought and experience. So here's a list and the prevalent theme at each site:
