On Comedy and Violence

From Robert Gluck’s interview with Dennis Cooper in BITING THE ERROR: WRITERS EXPLORE NARRATIVE (2005)…

Dennis Cooper says, in response to Robert Gluck’s question about the relation between comedy and violence/horror in your writing:

I divide the various things going on in the prose into individual systems and attend to each one so that it functions correctly on its own and also services and is serviced by its fellow systems. Comedy is one of the systems, and an important one, because comedy is such a talented tone, yet it has no gravity in and of itself, so it can be used to popularize other systems that are signaling more subjective, meaningful things. It can subvert the visceral effect of represented violence without decentering the actual punch. It can distract readers long enough to ease information into them that would be too confrontational for them to absorb otherwise. It can both deflect the reader’s attention away from the emotional meaning of a violent act and indicate that emotion by causing the reader to wonder why that deflection is occurring. It can signal the reader to relax, then betray his or her trust, thereby creating a particular kind of tension that can be really useful. If it’s used in a novel or section of a novel where authorial intent is as important as the fiction, comedy can function as superficial entertainment while at the same time indicating a shift or tweak in the fiction’s subconscious. Comedy can do a lot, and I try to use it very carefully. (249-50)

This is interesting.

MP3 now in CANADA!!!

Thanks to our friend Bonnie, we’ve got some copies of Mildred Pierce 3 in VANCOUVER. Go get em!

Tanglewood Books (South Granville neighborhood)
1553 West Broadway (Broadway @ Granville)
Vancouver, BC

Brigid’s Books (Kitsilano neighborhood)
2932 West Broadway (Broadway @ Bayswater)
Vancouver, BC

Also now at No Coast in Chicago:
1500 W 17th St
Chicago, IL 60608

Mildred Pierce 4: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!!!

HELLO potential contributors! We are hereby putting out the call for submissions of original essays, criticism, comics, interviews, reviews, and other black-n-white ready art-n-writing for print in our forthcoming, umm…fourth issue.

THIS ISSUE HAS A THEME. THAT THEME: Comedy and the Grotesque

We are looking for work which explores the Comic and the Grotesque. This can run the gamut from explorations of standup comedy to explorations of La commedia dell’arte; from treatises on The Big Toe to scatological manifestos to illustrated field guides to Rabelais, Jackass, and/or the Mutter Museum.

Try this on: “Laughter…overcomes fear, for it knows no inhibitions, no limitations. Its idiom is never used by violence and authority.”
–Mikhail Bakhtin, from Rabelais and His World, 90

Agree/ disagree/ agree with reservations/ disagree with concessions…?

We are looking for pieces that explore contemporary and historical instances of grotesque comedy and/or the comedic grotesque as forms of escapism, as cultural exhaust valve and as haven for revolutionary speech and frank social dialogue. We are also looking for explorations of instances when comedy has maintained (perhaps shaped) the status quo and promoted repressive social practice. Of particular interest as well are those instances when reactionary forces from left, center and right have seen these things staring back from some grotesque or comic gesture, and felt the call to sensor or repress the gesture itself. Work which susses out the historical and philosophical complexities inherent in a piece of outrageous ribaldry–that’s what we’re after.

NOT: “Boy, that Andy Kaufman was a real rascal. Those were the wyld gonzo days. Sasha ‘Baron’ the torch, innit?”

BUT: critical analyses that approach humor as a window into the absurd, the grotesque, the surrealist, and the potentially revolutionary
AS WELL AS: analyses which explore (expose?!?!) the limits of humor as revolution
ALSO: when and why comedic sensibilities get tired and burned out
PLUS: art/illustration/fiction/crossgenre/etc which employs humor in a subversive way, or that draws fangs at insipid or ideologically offensive humor;

&&&&& pranksterism, camp, comix, funny fashion, burlesque, gurlesque, shock value, carnival…

& don’t forget FUNNY STUFF!

…and if you have stuff that doesn’t totally fit into this theme it is okay. send it on.

proposal deadline: October 1, 2009
send pitches and questions to mildredpiercezine@gmail.com
WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU

MP3 is finally and officially out!

So, eight months after our release party, we have managed to navigate a number of printing goof-ups and other snafus to get Mildred Pierce 3 out in its final and official form, which includes a FINE-looking full-color art insert. Check out the Issue Three tab above for more info and to check out samples.

We are still working on getting these out to our various distro sites and venues, but copies are available directly from the source — email us at mildredpiercezine@gmail.com or travel over to http://mildredpiercezine.blogspot.com to purchase through PayPal.

Also, we are now Facebook-activated — please join our group!

find us at Milwaukee Zine Fest

HELLOOO! HERE IS THE NEWS!

we’ll be hocking our wares this saturday 7/19/08 at the Milwaukee Zine Fest – stop by and say hello!

in addition to the long-awaited Issue Three v. 2.0, we’ll be selling THE ABSOLUTE LAST five copies of Issues One and Two. who will snatch them up??? maybe you will!

take care & see you there–

mm/jb/MP

Issue Three Release Party!

Mildred Pierce is proud to present:
ISSUE THREE

“they’ve made us wait far too long, two years too long”
“bloated…stuffed…overstuffed with words and image”
“a delight on par with Marat/Sade”
“terrible splendor!!!!!”
“lots of fun. funnywunnywun.”
see below for more on the contents of The Notorious Issue Three.

WE ARE HAVING A PARTY.
IN CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.
ON SATURDAY, MAY 31st.
at 8 pm.
at THE BRIDGE Progressive Arts Initiative, 209 Monticello Rd.

The party will feature performers, food/drink, and people who want to meet you.

Here is the line-up:

Tyler Magill: prose writer/prophet
Jennifer Connor: poet + more
Leeyanne Moore: fiction writer/awesomeness
Sean Samoheyl: PUPPETZ!!!!
Sandra Newman: our “headlining” writer who is coming from NYC!!!!!

there cannot be too many !!!!s for this amazing event.
come one, come all. we promise to make you new friends.
oh, also. it’s free. (donations welcome; bring some bucks to buy a zine.)
see you there!

xo,
mm/jb

The Notorious Issue Three
contains:

interviews with: writer Sandra Newman, Man Man frontman Honus Honus, fimmaker Meghan Eckman, the editors of Calque, the elusive Davis Schneiderman, and the hilarious Ted May
Nadaist manifestos in translation
the Gospel of Lungfish
Alice in Queerland : on Lost Girls
more I Love the Radio
Sofia Coppola Feminism
fiction
many wild/crazy illustrations
HUMONGOUS ART INSERT
+more