A Million Versions of Bizarro
I read a copy of Australian writer Matthew Revert's collection of absurdist shorts, A Million Versions of Right, and enjoyed his tendency to extrapolate beyond conventional logic without losing continuity in the narrative thread. Revert's work has been promoted in the US as "bizarro" writing, a fairly recently coined genre the exact nature of which is difficult to pinpoint. There seems to be a schism between the bizarro scene and other DIY stuff, despite having much in common (like the invaluability of networking to both scenes), possibly because of its
largely undeserved association with horror. Being blindly iconoclastic, I've always been loath to assume categories. I have to admit this sort of genre-fication has been going on all along in the publishing scene as a natural function of the merchandising mind, from "science fiction" to "slam poetry."
But what does it mean in this case?
Says My Heart Said No, But The Camera Crew Said Yes! author Bradley Sands, "I always just go with the ever popular ‘literary versions of the movies in the cult section of a video store.' That's what it means to me. I don't try to write bizarro. It just fits what I write. I think reality-based black humor is less ‘bizarro' and non-reality based is more. Not that it has to be entirely unreal. Just have exaggerated things happen that are unlikely to occur. Maybe like a hyper reality? Like punching through a windshield is probably totally impossible, but may be more likely in a bizarro book."
Well, I just wrote one that defies the laws of physics insofar as it's a fictionalized diary of my own experience as reality changes beyond the expected (yes, folks) but I'm reluctant to call it "bizarro" because even though I've changed all the names and added a whole other aspect to fictionalize it, I really fucking mean it, you know, so I don't want to be all "ha ha just kidding" about it, as I feel might happen. Is bizarro a sort of catch all for the unconventional? No, says Rotten Little Animals author Kevin Shamel. "Bizarro isn't experimental. It's weird, but just because weirdos write it. I'm with Bradley, it just fits what I write."
What?
A few years ago, Bizarro press Raw Dog Screaming expressed interest in a novel I wrote called Undamned!, which I conceived of as black comedy, never believing or intending bizarro, which gives me the impression this meme is (somewhat) open to interpretation - like the word punk, it means whatever it deserves to mean - but how far can the aspirant go in terms of non-adherence to audience expectations of bizarro-ness? (i.e. does it have to be a satire of a trope or can it just be something weirdly cool like Joe Meno's The Boy Detective Fails or anything by Martin Millar)?
Swarm Of Flying Eyeballs author Gina Ranalli adds her voice here. "For me, bizarro is basically an expression of the irrational. Writing it is freeing because you're unencumbered by the usually controlling consciousness. Reading it is freeing because you allow yourself to experience something that defies labels and bends not only genres, but also expectations."
But despite its seeming acceptance of all things extreme or unusual, regardless of their inspiration or method of construction, a few bizarro presses, Afterbirth Books, Eraserhead Press, and Raw Dog Screaming Press have complicated (or simplified?!?) matters by coming out with color coded Bizarro how-to kits featuring recognized bizarro writers including Ranalli, founder Carlton Mellick III, Steve Aylett and others, which gesture is automatically off-putting to a lover of unlimited possibility who sincerely believes himself a vessel for the creative overmind like your reporter.
"Right toward the start of the book, there's a page proudly defining Bizarro," says Revert. "The first point suggests that Bizarro is the 'genre of the weird' and goes on from there to define weird. This immediately put me on the back foot. When you've spent so much of your life venerating the weird and embracing how deeply personal the weird is, seeing the weird defined was disappointing. Thankfully I kept reading these books and I thank the personal connection I developed with other authors for that. So I guess my point is that Bizarro can't be approached based on the manifesto it extols. On a book by book basis the individual notions of weird thankfully shine. D Harlan Wilson wrote a piece of flash fiction called 'Cops & Bodybuilders', which I think is about as close to the perfect piece I've ever read. There are certain 'rules' in the various Bizarro manifestos I've read that I don't necessarily agree with, but there are some immensely talented writers producing some great books. As authors, many of us like to think our work exists in some magical, unclassifiable plane, but this won't get you readers. It's a case of finding where readers that may be interested in your work cast their attention and allowing your book to be classified as they dictate. I'm more than happy to be labeled Bizarro. It lets me focus on the writing without having to classify the work myself."
As a freelance writer and zinester of many years standing, I have the distinct impression that reading and writing is well on its way off the cliff as a popular craze in the USA. Hardly anyone reads anymore, everything's going digital lately, but I'm determined to WRITE my way out of this laughable self-induced hell all the same. What's it like down under?
"Australia (specifically Melbourne) has a strong literary scene. The scope of the scene is maybe a little limited but it's healthy. If we look at reading as a popular social craze, it's hard to say. Certain books tend to break through and amass untold popularity. The quality of these books maybe doesn't gel with what I consider 'good' but you can't deny the cultural impact something like 'The Da Vinci Code' or 'Twilight' has had on the world. It proves that a lot people are willing to read. Will this extend into niche books? Probably not. I definitely believe an eBook revolution will hit soon and this will have an interesting effect. In short though, I don't believe I'll be selling a million copies of 'A Million Versions of Right' any time soon. I think Bizarro extols a particularly American version of weird. My influences are based more on classical absurdist literature and UK comedy and radio. I definitely think there's some key differences in the way someone from the UK and someone from the US interpret the absurd. My last attempt resulted in the unfortunate description, 'Pubic Fiction'."
I can see the positive aspects of coining a genre to encompass what you like instead of conforming to the bullshit normal model, since that kind of ingenuity is likely to sell in the newly re-surrealized wasteland of corporate personhood . I even tried billing myself as an "anti writer" briefly, since I didn't feel like living up to anyone else's conception of what "writer" meant. But I'm loath to adopt the tag bizarro for my own stuff, since I'm trying to do a lot more than just freak people out with my writing, if you know what I mean. At least most of it. I'm not saying it has to be some kind of big heavy serious trip instead or anything, just don't want to underrate its value with a pet name, which Revert feels may be a necessary sin in the sort of merchandise-driven plasticulture we seem to be in lately.
"The definition of genres is inherent in what it means to be a genre," he observes sensibly. "I guess my initial issue was that 'weird' was a genre at all. There are certain expected ingredients that go into a piece of horror of sci-fi fiction. What about frightening fiction though? Many books in no way associated with horror at all are frightening. To me 'weird' is the same sort of thing. Anything can be made weird."
Subscribe to this comment's feed
written by Chris Bowsman , May 06, 2010
"I'm loath to adopt the tag bizarro for my own stuff, since I'm trying to do a lot more than just freak people out with my writing"
Which of the bizarro authors ARE just trying to freak people out?
written by Sunshine "Steve" Shit , May 06, 2010
He is trying to freak people out.
written by Daughter of Herself , May 07, 2010
I think this is some of the finest writing around these days, especially Matthew Revert, B Sands and Duncan Barlow. I think this guy is just trying to say that he worries about maybe whether readers wouldn't realize he was being serious in some kind of way if he called it "bizarre."
written by Matthew Revert , May 08, 2010
Thanks Daughter of herself, whoever you may be and thanks to everyone else who has read and/or commented.
For the record, I don't think a function of Bizarro is to freak people out. There are Bizarro books out there that freak people out but I'm not aware of any authors who make this their primary intention.
written by the author , May 08, 2010
I just don't like categories, that's all.
Show/hide comment form
