Dave Eggers and McSweeney's.
Do you know who Dave Eggers is? He's the uber-hipster author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (2000). This postmodern, self-referential memoir dealt with Egger's struggle to be the parent to his younger brother. Eggers has an impressive pedigree. Before writing his well-received debut (it was a nominee for the Pulitzer Prize in non-fiction), he was an editor for Salon.com, and he founded a literary magazine called Might. Since then he has written fiction and non-fiction of varying quality.
But it's not as a writer that Eggers has demonstrated his true genius. He is the founder of McSweeney's- an independent publishing house based in San Francisco. They publish a quarterly eponymous journal collecting the writings of some of the hottest young authors in America- George Saunders, Chris Offutt, Rick Moody, Michael Chabon, Sherman Alexie, Dan Chaon, Sarah Vowell, Neal Pollack, Denis Johnson, Jonathan Lethem, and David Foster Wallace. Each volume utilzes creative packaging to accentuate its particular theme. McSweeney's #17 came to the reader in the form of a stack of junk mail. Many issues contain original artwork as well. As the series has continued through the years, it has been able to attract established best-selling authors, such as T.C Boyle, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Harlan Ellison, Michael Moorcock, Michael Crichton, Roddy Doyle, Anne Beattie, and Robert Coover. It's an impressive achievement, and promises to be a centerpiece for American contemporary literature for a long time.
I've has the opportunity to read a couple of editions of this quarterly series. McSweeney's #13 was devoted entirely to alternative comics. Guest edited by the newly-iconic Chris Ware, it is a perfect primer for those unfamiliar with the possibilities of "comics-as-literature". Personal favorites from the volume include Daniel Clowes, R. Crumb, Julie Doucet, Adrian Tomine, Kim Deitch, and Chester Brown. It even has a wraparound cover in the style of the Sunday Funnies by Ware. I've also recently finished issue #10- McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, which was guest edited by University of Pittsburgh alumni Michael Chabon. It's a collection of pulp and genre stories by a mix of well-known and underheralded writers. Each contributor was asked to write a short story in a style that they were unaccustomed to. So we find Stephen King writing a strange mix of fantasy and western. Rick Moody tosses in a sci-fi entry of significant length. And Dan Chaon contributes an excellent psychological horror yarn. It's intended to be light reading, and so it lives up to its billing as a page-turner.
McSweeney's also offers a monthly magazine called The Believer that is filled with interviews, reviews and essays. It is rather scholarly, with long meandering pieces on arcane subjects, and it sometimes borders on pretension. Its occasionally unreadable content is balanced by lovely cover portraits by alternative comics artist Charles Burns. Out of this publication came another McSweeney's offering- a quarterly DVD magazine called Wholphin. This is a particularly tasty treat, and from the perspective of a film-lover, it does a great service by providing a forum for short films that would be hard to see otherwise. Past editions have contained early work by Dennis Hopper and Alexander Payne (Sideways, Election), shorts from little-known international directors, odd curios and jaw-dropping animation. This series reflects McSweeney's commitment to young and unknown artists of great talent. The consumer gets a lot of bang for the buck with Wholphin. They have even included a bonus disc serializing a political documentary about the "age of terror".
It might be difficult to stomach Eggers posture of self-aware "cool" if he had not contributed so much in terms of literary culture. His accounts of almost making it as a regular on MTV's Real World are a bit cloying. In addition, he actually boasts of the establishment of a pirate outfitting store in San Francisco. But he makes up for this by donating the store's proceeds to a non-profit tutoring center for public school students called 826 Valencia. A team of volunteers works one-on-one with Bay Area students on their writing skills. And since its foundation, the concept has been extended to five other locations across the country. Sales of McSweeney's publications provide additional funding for the project. They also offer scholarships and free workshops at their main location.
But it's not as a writer that Eggers has demonstrated his true genius. He is the founder of McSweeney's- an independent publishing house based in San Francisco. They publish a quarterly eponymous journal collecting the writings of some of the hottest young authors in America- George Saunders, Chris Offutt, Rick Moody, Michael Chabon, Sherman Alexie, Dan Chaon, Sarah Vowell, Neal Pollack, Denis Johnson, Jonathan Lethem, and David Foster Wallace. Each volume utilzes creative packaging to accentuate its particular theme. McSweeney's #17 came to the reader in the form of a stack of junk mail. Many issues contain original artwork as well. As the series has continued through the years, it has been able to attract established best-selling authors, such as T.C Boyle, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Harlan Ellison, Michael Moorcock, Michael Crichton, Roddy Doyle, Anne Beattie, and Robert Coover. It's an impressive achievement, and promises to be a centerpiece for American contemporary literature for a long time.
I've has the opportunity to read a couple of editions of this quarterly series. McSweeney's #13 was devoted entirely to alternative comics. Guest edited by the newly-iconic Chris Ware, it is a perfect primer for those unfamiliar with the possibilities of "comics-as-literature". Personal favorites from the volume include Daniel Clowes, R. Crumb, Julie Doucet, Adrian Tomine, Kim Deitch, and Chester Brown. It even has a wraparound cover in the style of the Sunday Funnies by Ware. I've also recently finished issue #10- McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, which was guest edited by University of Pittsburgh alumni Michael Chabon. It's a collection of pulp and genre stories by a mix of well-known and underheralded writers. Each contributor was asked to write a short story in a style that they were unaccustomed to. So we find Stephen King writing a strange mix of fantasy and western. Rick Moody tosses in a sci-fi entry of significant length. And Dan Chaon contributes an excellent psychological horror yarn. It's intended to be light reading, and so it lives up to its billing as a page-turner.
McSweeney's also offers a monthly magazine called The Believer that is filled with interviews, reviews and essays. It is rather scholarly, with long meandering pieces on arcane subjects, and it sometimes borders on pretension. Its occasionally unreadable content is balanced by lovely cover portraits by alternative comics artist Charles Burns. Out of this publication came another McSweeney's offering- a quarterly DVD magazine called Wholphin. This is a particularly tasty treat, and from the perspective of a film-lover, it does a great service by providing a forum for short films that would be hard to see otherwise. Past editions have contained early work by Dennis Hopper and Alexander Payne (Sideways, Election), shorts from little-known international directors, odd curios and jaw-dropping animation. This series reflects McSweeney's commitment to young and unknown artists of great talent. The consumer gets a lot of bang for the buck with Wholphin. They have even included a bonus disc serializing a political documentary about the "age of terror".
It might be difficult to stomach Eggers posture of self-aware "cool" if he had not contributed so much in terms of literary culture. His accounts of almost making it as a regular on MTV's Real World are a bit cloying. In addition, he actually boasts of the establishment of a pirate outfitting store in San Francisco. But he makes up for this by donating the store's proceeds to a non-profit tutoring center for public school students called 826 Valencia. A team of volunteers works one-on-one with Bay Area students on their writing skills. And since its foundation, the concept has been extended to five other locations across the country. Sales of McSweeney's publications provide additional funding for the project. They also offer scholarships and free workshops at their main location.
posted by Merge Divide at 5:24 PM
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