For goals, I'd have big ones. No 100 followers on Facebook. No running a membership group like a hobby. No small-time thinking. Otherwise there's no point.
We'd have to get the ULA back to where it was as an organization. A player. Not on the sidelines. Remember: We had regular write-ups in Page Six. Attention other writers groups can only dream about.
Our first targets would be n+1, and the McSweeney's gang whose flagship now is The Believer. The two leading lit outfits. The idea: Target them and compete with them. Be different from them and be eager to beat them.
A question is whether there's any desire among literary undergrounders for a bold and ambitious strategy.
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- Karl Wenclas
- New ideas. New writing. Karl Wenclas is currently an editor at New Pop Lit. www.newpoplit.com Contact Karl at ampoplitNOSPAM@gmail.com
2 comments:
Karl,
I'm gonna have to bow out of any discussions like this. As per the line at the OYB literaryrevolution.com where Jeff wrote, and I quote, "But we were anonymously attacked so often, and we even suffered from moles and counter-rev, that we imploded."
Moles and counter revolutionaries? Really? A 50-year old man accusing someone of counter-revolution when we're talking about, you know, art, books, literature, that kind of thing?
Shit, man, I'd be so fucking down with something in the context of the Pop Lit aesthetic, possibly even incorporating the idea of "Folk Writing" or somesuch, but, failing that, there's not much for me to talk about.
Well, I have enough to keep me busy. The "Four" aren't going anywhere.
Which is, guess, the point.
HOW did we get attention?
The ULA was balls-to-the-wall radical. Extreme. It might be the only way to stand out. God knows my pop lit ideas aren't going anywhere.
Is Jeff being hyperbolic? Absolutely!
Yes, we pushed the idea of artistic "revolution." You bet we did. Within that context-- part of our hype, sure-- there were many in the literary establishment who attacked us. It's easily documented. It was part of the noise. It's when they stop reacting that you have to worry.
Action/reaction/reaction-to-the-reaction is part of creating buzz.
For those with no resources, creating free publicity is a must.
Past artistic movements-- the Dadaists and Surrealists included-- attacked, ATTACKED, the moribund status quo of their era.
There's nothing wrong with that.
It's demanded more, now, at a time when the odds of making ANY noise against the dominant status quo is all but impossible.
I didn't create this world.
I'm trying to live in it.
But thanks for yr input.
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