Emerging Writers Network

National Short Story Month - Hair O' The Chine by Robert Coover

To date I believe this story has only seen the light of day in a limited edition (500 copies, 450 of which were signed, numbered and made available for sale) hardcover single story edition. Hair O' The Chine was published by Bruccoli Clark in 1979. The subtitle for this story is "A Documentary Film Script" and as Robert Coover has been known to do, it's a close and interesting look at a fairy tale, in this case that of The Three Little Pigs.

As Coover has also been known to do, this story takes a look at this particular fairy tale through lenses such as religion as well as sexuality. Slightly similar to his often anthologized story "The Babysitter," this story is told in fragments--though it differs, in my opinion, from "The Babysitter" in that Hair O' The Chine's fragments appear to be in chronological order.

It's been some time since I've read anything about, or including The Three Little Pigs itself, much of what Coover brings about was still familiar to me. However, the sections involving the pig and the wolf (told in documentary style to be explained shortly) were interspersed with sections about a man and a maid--two individuals that very may well have been in the original fairy tale--but even if they weren't, they fit in very well in Coover's story.

The documentary film style fragments specific to the pig and the wolf include scene descriptions (fade, pan, zoom in, etc.) and voiceovers for what is being "seen" by the reader. Much of the voiceover work is describing what how scholars and theologians have described what they've seen and determined the work to mean.

Cut to the pig in the window, as before. Silence, except for a faint distant whimpering and the soft tinkle of the children's song, heard before. The camera occupies itself with a slow scan of the entire tableau. The song and the whimpering gradually fade away. After a pause, the Voice clears its throat and, in something of a monotone at first, resumes:

     Many have related this Temptation Sequence...

Quick pan back to the pig in the window, Voice continuing uninterrupted:

...to that of Christ in the Wilderness, while still other paraphrasts, grabbing at that infamous...ah...apple, argue again for the Adamic thing. Titus, whom we have mentioned, while not entirely throwing in with the theologians, has certainly furthered their cause with his exploitation of the well-known etymological relationship--indeed, identity--between "hog" and "lamb" in his book, Christ and the Brick, though his primary purpose is to demonstrate that Christ founded his church on a brick, not a rock. Now, may I have--?

Zoom back to reveal entire tableau once more with the text below. Voice:

Yes. Now, insofar as the red apple is a timeless image, of course, the one-track Adamists do not seem entirely astray, but their thesis that the abundant corn is a symbol of Eden, and the butterchurn one of labor in exile, shows how truly remote these boys are from this or any other world. All right, then, the actual temptations, so-called, are three: the pig is invited to a cornfield...

Zoom in to the cornfield at the extreme right of the tableau.

...an orchard...

Pan left to the apple tree

...and a fair, to receive ears of corn...

Back to the cornfield.

...russet apples...

Again to the apple tree.

...and a "bargain," which turns out to be...

Pan left to the butterchurn.

...yes, a butterchurn. On each occasion, the pig feels obliged somehow to accept the invitation, and on each occasion, the pig's danger is augmented. We seem to discover here, do we not, something approximating a series of trysts, of boy-girl dates, with the wolf making greater and greater advances. Though the pig escapes easily the first time, he--or she--must send the wolf chasing "an apple" the second time, and finally must wallop him with this the...uh...oh, oh...

Children's music distantly again, played on bells, as before. Close-up of the butterchurn in the clearing, as seen earlier. A slender hand reaches out from off-camera and touches it with the tip of one finger.  The finger trails softly down the length of the churnstaff.

I've tried, with this selection from just beyond the middle of this story, to dip at least a little into each of the things Coover's got going on throughout this story. There's not so much of the man and maid here (though that is the maid's finger trailing softly down the length of the churnstaff in what one can only assume at this point, especially with the Voiced "uh...oh, oh..." above, to be just as sexual as one would believe from a Robert Coover story.

As always, Coover gives his readers much to think about, much to simply enjoy, and many fantastic, winding, meandering, thrilling sentences.

Diagram - 10th Anniversary Deck of Cards

The wonderful literary journal, Diagram, published a tenth anniversary deck of cards worth of work. 54 cards including two jokers containing short stories, schematics, and more.

I love the journal itself and  so was not at all surprised to see many authors I'm familiar with and generally looking forward to new work from, within the box holding this deck. It also provided some new names for me to start looking for as well.

And the fact that they had Sean Lovelace write up one of the Joker cards seems just about perfect.

Some card  examples:

Peter Markus - The Moon is a Fish Eye - Broadside

Two very cool things:

1) The University of Alabama's Bankhead Visiting Writers Series has a broadside designed and printed for every writer that they bring to the series. This particular one was designed and printed by Amy C.  LexPard in April 2012. It's numbered (74 of 75)

2) Living close enough to one of your authors so that running to meet him for breakfast to discuss his book, his next book, what we've been reading, what our kids are doing, readings we've recently attended, his Kresge award, teaching writer-in-residence programs, and (AND!) have him hand you one of these broadsides, can easily be arranged and take up less than an hour of your day.

A closer view of the art work on this:

and for those of you trying to read the short story in the too small print above:

Brian Evenson - Chapbooks

1997 saw Rodent Press bring out a chapbook entitled prophets and brothers, a collection of four short stories by Brian Evenson. The cover is pretty basic though the word "prophets" does wraparound from the back to the front. There were 250 copies of this chapbook published.  As a collection, it may be the most focused on Mormonism that he's put togehter--though I do wonder if that might not be  aided greatly by the fact that there are only four stories and not 150 plus pages worth of work.

I looked online for this for a couple of years before I was able to track one down at a price I thought was reasonable.

Six years later, Earthling Publications put out a second chapbook--what at the time appeared to be a novella entitled The Brotherhood of Mutilation. This was put out in two versions, 300 signed and numbered softcovers copies (of which this is number 10) and 15 hardcover, lettered, traycased, editions (I've never seen a hint of a sign of one of these online over the last five or six years of looking).

Turns out that four years later, Evenson published another novella length work, "Last Days", in Unsaid Magazine. Close readers would notice that the protagonist in this new novella, Kline, is the same from The Brotherhood of Mutilation, and in fact, "Last Days" picks up where the other left off. Underland Press would publish the two works together as Last Days in 2009. It's a work that sticks with you long after you finish reading it. Typing this post has various scenes popping back into my head this evening.

Patrick deWitt - The Sisters Brothers poster

I have to admit that the first thing that drew me to Patrick deWitt's second novel, The Sisters Brothers (Ecco, 2011), was the cover (apparently I'm not alone per this interview).

It was designed by as the first book desgined by Dan Stiles who if I read it right was more of a poster designer doing his first book cover and if that's correct--damn he started off BIG.

The best thing is that deWitt's novel is as badass as the cover--just a truly great book that should be read by damn near everybody. It's funny, brutal, entertaining, raw, and simply wonderful.

No idea how, but I apparently got added to a list of people Ecco was sending out signed and numbers copies of a 12" x 18" poster of the cover to. There were 150 of them per the numbering system on the bottom of the copy sent my way (number 17). This is another I look forward to framing, simply to hang andhave people ask What is that all about? so I can push a copy of the book on them.

 

Brian Evenson - South of the Beast Broadside

The South of the Beast broadside is one that I pre-ordered (thus saving half the cost or so) from NewLights Press.

NewLights currently has a great broadside available and it's a fundraiser--the money raised ($720 so far) goes toward helping out agains the costs of the recent fires in Colorado.

NewLights also has the one Evenson collectible I'm going to have a hard time justifying the cash for unless I hit that lottery I never play one day--The Drownable Species, a story by Brian Evenson/Object by Aaron Cohick--which runs $400. The thing is, looking at this broadside, and the fire broadside, I can imagine the quality of this higher priced object and hope to one day find myself in a position to say to myself that $400 makes sense (and hopefully while it's still available at that price).

Anyway, the South of the Beast broadside takes a section from Evenson's short story of that title and was printed, and then de-laminated (thus the holed, I assume) in what sounds like a pretty drawn out process. There were 25 of them created (this is number 3) and the words (I suppose not so oddly) are very Evensonian. It's something I feel the need to get under glass and frame quicker than some of the other objects as it feels very fragile.

Andrew Ervin - Extraordinary Renditions Broadside

So, this broadside really isn't titles Extraordinary Renditions, it is instead titled "Elivi's Gulyas" (sorry, I've only used typepad for 7 years now, I don't know how to add accents).

It is Andrew Ervin's wife's recipe for gulyas--or goulash (I'm taking Andrew's word, I always thought it was ghoulash for some reason).

This broadside was created by Coffee Hosue Press, who published Andrew's book in September 2010 (it's wonderful--look for it asap) and sent it to various booksellers and book lovers alike to celebrate the forthcoming title. I am happy to have been both on CHP's review list at the time, and a friend of Andrew's who also thought I'd enjoy this and suggested they send me a copy.

I will also say that I'd probably not had goulash in a good twenty years as I think the old family recipe passed along with my maternal grandmother. Tried this one out one weekend in January and it was damn good food.

Brian Evenson - Altmann's Tongue Broadside

A special broadside created for a reading Brian Evenson did at the Bankhead Visiting Writers Series back on September 21, 2006. It was printed by Patrick Masterson and includes a portion of the title story from Brian's debut full-length short story collection, Altmann's Tongue.

It is signed and numbered by Brian--a total of 125 were made (this is number 16) and seems like a pretty cool thing for a reading series to do for the writers visiting and reading at their series.

I personally came into possession of this thanks to a Rain Taxi auction where I placed the winning bid. As a huge Evenson fan (as future "collectible" posts will help note), and one that loves that collection in particular, it was something I couldn't pass up at the time. I'm glad too as I've not seen it available elsewhere all that frequently since then.

George Orwell - Animal Farm w/some help from Ralph Steadman

"Mr. Jones,of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes."

And so begins what might be my favorite book, George Orwell's Animal Farm. If not my favorite, definitely the one I've read more times as an adult than any other book (there are books from my childhood that I know I read in the dozens, if not hundreds, of times). Long enough ago that I don't remember when or where, I found a copy of the 50th Anniversary Edition from Harcourt Brace (Good Lord, that was published 17 years  ago itself). Not only does it contain the text of the novel,  but also includes Orwell's proposed preface as well as a preface that was included in the Ukranian Edition, both of which make for interesting reading. However, the true attraction to this particular edition is the artwork from Ralph Steadman.

The bio for Steadman on the back flap states:

"Ralph Steadman was born in Cheshire on May 15, 1936 (the day the Spanish Civil War began). He has won many international awards. Widely known in the United States for his illustrations of Hunter S. Thompson's classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and other works, his own previous books include Sigmund Freud, I Leonardo, Between the Eyes, Paranoids, and The Big I Am."

Prior to picking up this copy I don't believe I'd ever heard of him, which seems to be a defecit on my part. The art absolutely enhances this book very well--an image shown here is the two-page spread where Napoleon emerges, upright on two feet for the first time. It's a good example of how  in the design of the book Harcourt Brace did not limit Steadman to single pages, but allowed his art and the text to run together in places, to very good use. There are approximately 100 pieces of art by Steadman within the covers of this version.

It's one of those books in my collection that doesn't simply feet like a book, or even a great book, but something that slides into that "collectible" category along with the limited edition books, or chapbooks, or broadsides. It's also larger than the standard book, maybe 9 1/2 x 12 inches, causing it to stick out a bit on one's shelf.

For some reason, the ever-changing mantra from the barn wall, serving as the back cover of this edition, seems to fit all too well these days: