Folk Art = $$$. Folk Lit = 000. ???
Jeff Potter
obscurity and into fame.
Folk writing is not even a blip on the map.
Why?
Actually, oddball marginal publishing is becoming popular in collecting,
but it apparently has to be kind of old. One writer who comes to mind in
this regard is George Herter, who ran a huge outdoor sports catalog and
wrote wild cookbooks (and more) on the side and sold them by the million
in his catalogs. People like to laugh at the charming quaintness of his
stories. It's great stuff actually. I suspect that the laughter is partly
nervous laughter because it would be ILLEGAL to write like that today.
I think that in general that folk writing is unaccepted because it would
be unacceptable. It would be too true, like the art. It would accurately
depict life---a horrible thought to the marketplace censors.
I have some Howard Finster stuff and a book or two of his. One is full of
his art and the text is the story of his life, transcribed. It's amazing,
wonderful reading. He was a charismatic, fiesty preacher for years before
he got The Call to paint. His preaching style seems to have been as great
as his painting. He got in all kinds of radical trouble with his sermons.
He revived an unpopular church and got it to standing room only. Then
somehow his deacons made a deal with a TV station to air his preaching.
But he pulled some stunts on them and challenged the TV crew to repent or
some such thing. His oral style is dead on and hilarious. It's great
reading. --Especially about his growing up on the farm, in poverty, with
lots of kids and many deadly accidents waiting to happen. Drownings,
falling into fire, getting hit in the head then being retarded from then
on. Gives a good, clear view of the tragedies of life. The only
'contempo' writer who comes close otherwise is Cormac McCarthy.
The role of Outsider as it relates to Academia is an interesting one. I
guess the fatcats prefer Outsider artists who are divinely called. Once
you go to college, I guess very few will say they were told by God to
paint...or write.
Jack is the closest I can think of who says this. He seems to be the only
cross-over artist out there: A millenarian ranter who was Magna Cum Laude
(or however it is). I can only surmise that this combo must scare the
Bejesus out of the academic wimps. And that Jack not only writes from a
Call, but writes about what it means to have a Call and about Duty and
Virility as it relates to Virtue and what happens when Integrity
expresses itself in the modern world...sheesh, it must send em all
running back to the shadows.
--Jeff Potter, publisher, Out Your Backdoor Press: huge, friendly website
about modern folkways and culture revival. Books, bookstore, forum,
zines, bikes, boats, art, literature. http://outyourbackdoor.com/oyb
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Mike Tolento
out, but...
"Outsider Art" may be popular because the art world has been seeking
art that said something "different" for pretty much the whole 20th
century leading them to "discover" such stuff. Whereas, writing has
served as merely informational or as corporate propaganda, there hasn't
been anybody with deep enough pockets to thrust it into the spotlight.