|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
-
statement of purpose
-
One would think literary would mean “party to the ongoing discourse of
world literature,” but it has a more sinister connotation. In
publishing circles, literary fiction is the opposite of genre
fiction. At heart, this is a good idea—after all, doesn't great art
work against the confines of genre? As the literary fiction model would
have it, some are content to tread genres while others break new ground,
expanding our notions of what constitutes literature. Coming
even to this half-baked philosophy is some kind of progress; rock music has
been retreaded and fragmented to the point that sno-core (rock in ski
clothes) counts as a genre and you can build a career in homage to
three Velvet Underground songs.
Literary fiction is at best a contemptuous badge of a phrase,
masquerading as neutral taxonomy while in fact subclassing the works
that it excludes. It's an undercover gesture for turning up your nose at low
genre fiction. But the more fundamental flaw in the literary
fiction model (as argued in
this article) is that literary fiction has metamorphosed
from a snide buzzword to a genre of its own—one that features bleary alcoholics
and multi-ethnic narrators as reliably as fantasy features busty,
suede-vested dragons and swords +2 vs. orcs. The original ambition is
but a memory. (It had something to do with flouting convention, if memory serves.)
Ghostweed Press is dedicated to fuck every bit of that. Most books worth
reading can’t be described in one word, but the first question you
get when selling a work of art is always “What kind of
book/record/black-velvet-painting is it?”
Genres (and anti-genres) provide compelling tropes. When literary
fiction snobs cast that aside for the sake of some imagined purity
(and thereby rehash Toni Morrison or Raymond Carver yet again),
they're as boorish as anyone straitjacketed
by a preexisting genre, style, movement, scene, or revival. Each
work should be judged by its own endeavor to transcend boundaries, so
that Hiyao Miyazaki's fantasies are rightly considered literary
(if by that we now denote good) and Bret Easton Ellis' misanthropic
drivel is rightly consigned to the tired aisles of genre fiction
(in the deconstructing-the-lives-of-nihilistic-party-peoples genre).
Can your favorite movie be neatly encapsulated by a word? Mine neither.
Buy our stuff.
-
where to buy
-
-
here
-
thanks to PayPal you can safely and securely buy
everything we sell through this website. for books, see books.
for music, see music. by purchasing through our website,
you'll be helping to maximize our share of the profits.
-
elsewheres online
-
these online merchants also carry some or all of our products. unlike us, they can
ship internationally:
-
in the real world
-
(because store managers generally make it difficult
for us to ensure that their shelves stay stocked with ghostweedy goodness
[or are stocked in the first place], we recommend that you call first.)
-
colorado
-
- The Boulder Bookstore
(books)
-
1107 Pearl Street
Boulder, CO
(303) 447-2074
-
illinois
-
- Chicago Comics
(books)
-
3244 N. Clark
Chicago, IL
(773) 528-1983
- The Comix Revolution
(books)
-
606 Davis St.
Evanston, IL
(847) 866-8659
- Dr. Wax
(music)
-
1121 W. Berwyn
Chicago, IL
(773) 784-3333
5225 S. Harper, #D
Chicago, IL
(773) 493-8696
1615 Sherman
Evanston, IL
(847) 475-8848
- Evil Clown Compact Disc
(music)
-
3418 N. Halsted
Chicago, IL
(773) 472-4761
- Quimby's
(books, music)
-
1854 W. North
Chicago, IL
(773) 342-0810
- Reckless Records
(music, books)
-
1532 N. Milwaukee
Chicago, IL
(773) 235-3727
3157 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL
(773) 404-5080
- Seminary Co-op Bookstore
(books)
-
5757 S. University Ave.
Chicago, IL
(773) 752-4381
- Women and Children First
(books)
-
5233 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL
(773) 769-9299
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
