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casxmorgan · 4 years ago

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Books Books Books

100 Years of Solitude

11.22.63

120 Days of Sodom

1491

1984

A Brief History of Time

A Canticle for Leibowitz

A Child Called It

A Clockwork Orange

A Confederacy of Dunces

A History of the World in Ten and a Half Chapters

A Land Fit for Heroes Trilogy

A Little Life

A Naked Singularity

A People's History of the United States

A Scanner Darkly

A Series of Unfortunate Events

A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Song of Ice and Fire

A Storm of Swords

A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments

A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Walk in the Woods

A World Lit Only by Fire

Accursed Kings

Alice in Wonderland

All Quiet on the Western Front

All the Light We Cannot See

All the Pretty Horses

America, the Book

American Gods

American Psycho

And then There Were None

Angela’s Ashes

Animal Farm

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Anna Karenina

Anything Terry Pratchett, But, Mort is My Favorite

Anything Written by Robin Hobb

Apt Pupil

Artemis Fowl

Asimov's Guide to the Bible

Asoiaf

Atlas Shrugged

Bartimeaus

Batman: the Long Halloween

Battle Royale

Beat the Turtle Drum

Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Belgariad Series

Beloved

Berserk

Bestiario

Black Company

Blankets/habibi

Blind Faith

Blindness

Blood Meridian

Blood and Guts: a History of Surgery

Bluest Eye

Brandon Sanderson

Brave New World

Breakfast of Champions

Bridge to Terabithia

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: an Indian History of the American West

Calvin and Hobbs

Candide

Carrie

Cat's Cradle

Catch 22

Cats Cradle

Chaos

Child of God

Choke

Chuck Palahniuk

City of Ember

City of Thieves

Cloud

Collapse

Come Closer

Complaint

Confessions of a Mask

Contact

Conversation in the Cathedral

Cosmos

Crime and Punishment

Dan Brown

David

Dead Birds Singing

Dead Mountain: the Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

Delta Venus

Die Räuber (the Robbers)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Don Quixote

Dragonlance

Dune

Dying of the Light

East of Eden

Educated

Empire of Sin: a Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans

Enders Game

Enders Shadow

Escape from Camp 14

Ever Since Darwin

Every Man Dies Alone

Everybody Poops

Everything is Illuminated

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Fahrenheit 451

Far from the Madding Crowd

Faust

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson

Feet of Clay

Fight Club

First Law

Flowers for Algernon

Flowers in the Attic

Foundation

Foundation Series

Foundation Trilogy

Frankenstein

Freakonomics

Fun Home

Galapagos

Geek Love

Gerald’s Game

Ghost Story

Go Ask Alice

Go Dog Go

Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid

Goldfinch

Gone Girl

Gone with the Wind

Good Omens

Grapes of Wrath

Great Expectations

Greg Egan

Guards! Guards!

Guns Germs and Steel

Guts (short Story)

Half a World

Ham on Rye

Hannibal Rising

Hard Boiled Wonderland

Hatchet

Haunted

Hawaii

Heart Shaped Box

Heart of Darkness

Hellbound Heart

Hellraiser

Hell’s Angels

Helter Skelter

His Dark Materials

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Hogg

Holocaust by Bullets

House of Leaves

How to Cook for Fourty Humans

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Huckleberry Finn

Hyperion

I Am America, and So Can You

I Am the Messenger

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

I Was Dr. Mengele’s Assistant

In Cold Blood

In Search of Our Mother's Gardens

Independent People

Infinite Jest

Into Thin Air

Into the Wild

Introduction to Linear Algebra

Invisible Monsters

Ishmael

Jacques Le Fataliste

Jane Eyre

Jaunt

Job: a Comedy of Justice

John Dies at the End

John Grisham

Johnathan Livingston Seagull

Johnny Got His Gun

Jon Ronson

Journal of a Novel

Jurassic Park

Justine

L'histoire D'o

Lamb

Last Exit to Brooklyn

Les Miserables

Lies My Teacher Told Me

Life of Pi

Limits and Renewals

Little House in the Big Woods

Lockwood & Co.

Lolita

Looking for Trouble

Lord Foul’s Bane

Lord of the Flies

Lyddie

Malazan Book of the Fallen

Maldoror

Manufacturing Consent: the Political Economy of the Mass Media

Man’s Search for Meaning

Mark Twain’s Autobiography

Maus

Meditations

Megamorphs (series)

Mein Kampf

Memnooch the Devil

Metro 2033

Michael Crichton

Middlesex

Mindhunter

Misery

Mistborn

Moby Dick

Mrs. Dalloway

My Side of the Mountain

My Sweet Audrina

Nacht über Der Prärie (night over the Prairie)

Naked Lunch

Name of the Wind

Neuromancer

Never Let Me Go

Neverwhere

New York

Night

Night Shift

Norwegian Wood

Notes from Underground

Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea

Of Mice and Men

Of Nightingales That Weep

Ohio

Old Mans War

Old Mother West Wind

On Heroes and Tombs

On Laughter and Forgetting

On the Road

One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest

One Hundred Years of Solitude

One of Us

Painted Bird

Patrick Rothfuss

Perfume: the Story of a Murderer

Persepolis

Pet Sematary

Peter Pan

Pillars of the Earth

Poisonwood Bible

Pride and Predjudice

Ready Player One

Rebecca

Red Mars

Red Night (series)

Red Shirts

Red Storm Rising

Redwall

Replay

Requiem for a Dream

Revenge

Riftwar Saga

Ringworld

Roald Dahl

Rolls of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Round Ireland with a Fridge

Running with Scissors

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

Sapiens, a Brief History of Humankind

Scary Stories to Read in the Dark

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Schindler’s List

Sein Und Zeit

Shades of Grey

Sharp Objects

Shattered Dreams

Sherlock Holmes

Sho-gun

Siddhartha

Sisypho

Skin and Other Stories

Slaughterhouse Five

Smoke & Mirrors

Snow Crash

Soldier Son

Sometimes a Great Notion

Sphere

Starship Troopers

Stiff, the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Storied Life of A.j. Fikry

Stormlight Archives

Story of the Eye

Stranger in a Strange Land

Surely, You're Joking

Survivor Type (short Story)

Suttree

Swan Song

Tale of Two Cities

Tales of the South Pacific

The Alchemist

The Altered Carbon Trilogy

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

The Art of Deception

The Art of Fielding

The Art of War

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation

The Autobiography of Henry Viii

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

The Beach

The Bell Jar

The Bible

The Bloody Chamber

The Book Thief

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The Brothers Karamazov

The Call of Cthulu and Other Weird Stories

The Cask of Amontillado (short Story)

The Catcher in the Rye

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Clown

The Color out of Space

The Communist Manifesto

The Complete Fiction of H.p. Lovecraft

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

The Dagger and the Coin

The Damage Done

The Dark Tower

The Declaration of Independence, the Us Constitution, and the Bill of Rights

The Devil in the White City

The Dharma Bums

The Diamond Age

The Dice Man

The Discworld Series

The Dresden Files

The Elegant Universe

The First Law Trilogy

The Forever War

The Foundation Trilogy

The Gentleman Bastard Sequence

The Geography of Nowhere

The Girl Next Door

The Girl on the Milk Carton

The Giver

The Giving Tree

The God of Small Things

The Grapes of Wrath

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gilly Hopkins

The Hagakure

The Half a World Trilogy

The Handmaid’s Tale

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

The Hiding Place

The History of Love

The Hobbit

The Hot Zone

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hyperion Cantos

The Jaunt

The Jungle

The Key to Midnight

The Killing Star

The Kingkiller Chronicles

The Kite Runner

The Last Question (short Story)

The Lies of Lock Lamora

The Little Prince

The Long Walk

The Lord of the Rings

The Lottery (short Story)

The Lovely Bones

The Magicians

The Magus

The Martian

The Master and Margarita

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

The Monster at the End of This Book

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

The Music of Eric Zahn (short Story)

The Name of the Wind & the Wise Man's Fear

The Necronomicon

The New Age of Adventure: Ten Years of Great Writing

The Night Circus

The Nightmare Box

The Odyssey

The Omnivore's Dilemma

The Orphan Master’s Son

The Outsiders

The Painted Bird

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Phantom Tollbooth

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Pit and the Pendulum

The Plague

The Prince

The Prince of Tides

The Princess Bride

The Prophet

The Queen’s Gambit

The Rape of Nanking

The Red Dwarf

The Republic

The Rifter Saga

The Road

The Satanic Verses

The Screwtape Letters

The Secret History

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

The Selfish Gene

The Shining

The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer

The Silmarillion

The Sirens of Titan

The Six Wives of Henry the 8th

The Solitude of Prime Numbers

The Speaker of the Dead

The Stars My Destination

The Stormlight Archive

The Story of My Tits

The Stranger

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck

The Suspicions of Mr. Witcher

The Tao of Pooh

The Things They Carried

The Time Machine

The Time Traveller’s Wife

The Tin Drum

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green

The Wasp Factory

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

The World According to Garp

The Yellow Wallpaper

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Things Fall Apart

Thirsty

This Blinding Absence of Light

Tiger!

Time Enough for Love

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Say Nothing of the Dog

Toni Morrison

Too Many Magicians

Traumnovelle

Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuf Voyaging

Undeniable

Under Plum Lake

Universe in a Nutshell

Unwind

Uzumaki

Various

Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia

Walden

War & Peace

War and Peace

Warriors: Bluestar’s Prophecy

Watchers

Water for Elephants

Watership Down

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Wheel of Time

When Rabbit Howls

Where the Red Fern Grows

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Why I Am Not a Christian

Why People Believe Weird Things

Wizards First Rule

Wool

World War Z

Worm

Wuthering Heights

You Can Choose to Be Happy

Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

#some of these are fucked up #but #all the better

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oadara · 5 years ago

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I sometimes hear people complain that classic literature is the realm of dead white men. And it’s certainly true that men have tended to dominate the canon of literature taught in schools. But women have been writing great books for centuries. In fact, you could probably spend a lifetime just reading great classics by women and never run out of reading material.

This list is just a sampling of great books written by women of the past. For the purposes of this list, I’ve defined classics as books that are more than 50 years old. The list of classics by women focuses on novels, but there are some plays, poems, and works of nonfiction as well. And I’ve tried to include some well-known favorites, as well as more obscure books. Whatever your reading preferences, you’re bound to find something to enjoy here. So step back in time and listen to the voices of women who came before us.

The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon (990s-1000s). “Moving elegantly across a wide range of themes including nature, society, and her own flirtations, Sei Shōnagon provides a witty and intimate window on a woman’s life at court in classical Japan.”

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (Before 1021). “Genji, the Shining Prince, is the son of an emperor. He is a passionate character whose tempestuous nature, family circumstances, love affairs, alliances, and shifting political fortunes form the core of this magnificent epic.”

Oroonoko by Aphra Behn (1688). “When Prince Oroonoko’s passion for the virtuous Imoinda arouses the jealousy of his grandfather, the lovers are cast into slavery and transported from Africa to the colony of Surinam.”

Phillis Wheatley, Complete Writings by Phillis Wheatley (1760s-1770s). “This volume collects both Wheatley’s letters and her poetry: hymns, elegies, translations, philosophical poems, tales, and epyllions.”

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft (1790). “Arguably the earliest written work of feminist philosophy, Wollstonecraft produced a female manifesto in the time of the American and French Revolutions.”

The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe (1791). “A beautiful, orphaned heiress, a dashing hero, a dissolute, aristocratic villain, and a ruined abbey deep in a great forest are combined by the author in a tale of suspense where danger lurks behind every secret trap-door.”

Camilla by Fanny Burney (1796). “Camilla deals with the matrimonial concerns of a group of young people … The path of true love, however, is strewn with intrigue, contretemps and misunderstanding.”

Belinda by Maria Edgeworth (1801). “Contending with the perils and the varied cast of characters of the marriage market, Belinda strides resolutely toward independence. … Edgeworth tackles issues of gender and race in a manner at once comic and thought-provoking. ”

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818). “Driven by ambition and an insatiable thirst for scientific knowledge, Victor Frankenstein … fashions what he believes to be the ideal man from a grotesque collection of spare parts, breathing life into it through a series of ghastly experiments.”

Persuasion by Jane Austen (1818). “Eight years ago, Anne Elliot fell in love with poor but ambitious naval officer Captain Frederick Wentworth … now, on the verge of spinsterhood, Anne re-encounters Frederick Wentworth as he courts her spirited young neighbour, Louisa Musgrove.”

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847). “Having grown up an orphan in the home of her cruel aunt and at a harsh charity school, Jane Eyre becomes an independent and spirited survivor …. But when she finds love with her sardonic employer, Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice. “

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847). “One of the great novels of the nineteenth century, Emily Brontë’s haunting tale of passion and greed remains unsurpassed in its depiction of destructive love.”

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë (1848). “A powerful and sometimes violent novel of expectation, love, oppression, sin, religion and betrayal. It portrays the disintegration of the marriage of Helen Huntingdon … and her dissolute, alcoholic husband.”

The Bondwoman’s Narrative by Hannah Crafts (mid-19th century). “Tells the story of Hannah Crafts, a young slave working on a wealthy North Carolina plantation, who runs away in a bid for freedom up North.”

Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1850). “Recognized for their Victorian tradition and discipline, these are some of the most passionate and memorable love poems in the English language.”

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852). “Selling more than 300,000 copies the first year it was published, Stowe’s powerful abolitionist novel fueled the fire of the human rights debate.”

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (1854). “As relevant now as when it was first published, Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South skillfully weaves a compelling love story into a clash between the pursuit of profit and humanitarian ideals.”

Our Nig by Harriet E. Wilson (1859). “In the story of Frado, a spirited black girl who is abused and overworked as the indentured servant to a New England family, Harriet E. Wilson tells a heartbreaking story about the resilience of the human spirit.”

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (1860). “Strong-willed, compassionate, and intensely loyal, Maggie seeks personal happiness and inner peace but risks rejection and ostracism in her close-knit community.”

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs (1861). “The remarkable odyssey of Harriet Jacobs (1813–1897) whose dauntless spirit and faith carried her from a life of servitude and degradation in North Carolina to liberty and reunion with her children in the North.”

The Curse of Caste, or The Slave Bride by Julia C. Collins (1865). “Focuses on the lives of a beautiful mixed-race mother and daughter whose opportunities for fulfillment through love and marriage are threatened by slavery and caste prejudice.”

Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House by Elizabeth Keckley (1868). “Traces Elizabeth Keckley’s life from her enslavement in Virginia and North Carolina to her time as seamstress to Mary Todd Lincoln in the White House during Abraham Lincoln’s administration.”

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868). “The four March sisters couldn’t be more different. But with their father away at war, and their mother working to support the family, they have to rely on one another.”

A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Lucy Bird (1879). “In 1873, wearing Hawaiian riding dress, [Bird] rode her horse through the American Wild West, a terrain only newly opened to pioneer settlement.”

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson (1890). “Though generally overlooked during her lifetime, Emily Dickinson’s poetry has achieved acclaim due to her experiments in prosody, her tragic vision and the range of her emotional and intellectual explorations.”

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892). “The story depicts the effect of under-stimulation on the narrator’s mental health and her descent into psychosis. With nothing to stimulate her, she becomes obsessed by the pattern and color of the wallpaper.”

Iola Leroy by Frances E.W. Harper (1892). “The daughter of a wealthy Mississippi planter, Iola Leroy led a life of comfort and privilege, never guessing at her mixed-race ancestry — until her father died and a treacherous relative sold her into slavery.”

The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals by Dorothy Wordsworth (1897). “Dorothy Wordsworth’s journals are a unique record of her life with her brother William, at the time when he was at the height of his poetic powers.”

The Awakening by Kate Chopin (1899). “Chopin’s daring portrayal of a woman trapped in a stifling marriage, who seeks and finds passionate physical love outside the straitened confines of her domestic situation.”

The Light of Truth: Writings of an Anti-Lynching Crusader by Ida B. Wells (late 19th century). “This volume covers the entire scope of Wells’s remarkable career, collecting her early writings, articles exposing the horrors of lynching, essays from her travels abroad, and her later journalism.”

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1902). “Transformed from princess to pauper, [Sarah Crewe] must swap dancing lessons and luxury for hard work and a room in the attic.”

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy (1905). “The French Revolution, driven to excess by its own triumph, has turned into a reign of terror. … Thus the stage is set for one of the most enthralling novels of historical adventure ever written.”

A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter (1909). “The story is one of Elnora’s struggles to overcome her poverty; to win the love of her mother, who blames Elnora for her husband’s death; and to find a romantic love of her own.”

Mrs Spring Fragrance: A Collection of Chinese-American Short Stories by Sui Sin Far (1910s). “In these deceptively simple fables of family life, Sui Sin Far offers revealing views of life in Seattle and San Francisco at the turn of the twentieth century.”

American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings by Zitkala-Sa (1910). “Tapping her troubled personal history, Zitkala-Sa created stories that illuminate the tragedy and complexity of the American Indian experience.”

The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton (1913). Undine Spragg’s “rise to the top of New York’s high society from the nouveau riche provides a provocative commentary on the upwardly mobile and the aspirations that eventually cause their ruin.”

Oh Pioneers by Willa Cather (1913). “Evoking the harsh grandeur of the prairie, this landmark of American fiction unfurls a saga of love, greed, murder, failed dreams, and hard-won triumph.”

Suffragette: My Own Story by Emmeline Pankhurst (1914). “With insight and great wit, Emmeline’s autobiography chronicles the beginnings of her interest in feminism through to her militant and controversial fight for women’s right to vote.”

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim (1922). Four women who “are alike only in their dissatisfaction with their everyday lives … find each other—and the castle of their dreams—through a classified ad in a London newspaper one rainy February afternoon.”

The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1924). “Evangeline Knapp is the perfect, compulsive housekeeper, while her husband, Lester, is a poet and a dreamer. Suddenly, through a nearly fata accident, their roles are reversed.”

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (1925). “Direct and vivid in her account of Clarissa Dalloway’s preparations for a party, Virginia Woolf explores the hidden springs of thought and action in one day of a woman’s life.”

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (1928). “First published in 1928, this timeless portrayal of lesbian love is now a classic. The thinly disguised story of Hall’s own life, it was banned outright upon publication and almost ruined her literary career.”

Plum Bun by Jessie Redmon Fauset (1928). “Written in 1929 at the height of the Harlem Renaissance by one of the movement’s most important and prolific authors, Plum Bun is the story of Angela Murray, a young black girl who discovers she can pass for white.”

Passing by Nella Larsen (1929). “Clare Kendry leads a dangerous life. Fair, elegant, and ambitious, she is married to a white man unaware of her African American heritage, and has severed all ties to her past.”

Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum (1929). “A grand hotel in the center of 1920s Berlin serves as a microcosm of the modern world in Vicki Baum’s celebrated novel, a Weimar-era best seller that retains all its verve and luster today.”

Thus Were Their Faces: Selected Stories by Silvina Ocampo (1930s-1970s). “Tales of doubles and impostors, angels and demons, a marble statue of a winged horse that speaks, a beautiful seer who writes the autobiography of her own death, a lapdog who records the dreams of an old woman, a suicidal romance, and much else that is incredible, mad, sublime, and delicious.”

Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers (1930). “Sayers introduces Harriet Vane, a mystery writer who is accused of poisoning her fiancé and must now join forces with Lord Peter Wimsey to escape a murder conviction and the hangman’s noose.”

All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West (1931). “When Lady Slane was young, she nurtured a secret, burning ambition: to become an artist. She became, instead, the dutiful wife of a great statesman, and mother to six children. In her widowhood she finally defies her family.”

Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann (1932). Olivia Curtis “anticipates her first dance, the greatest yet most terrifying event of her restricted social life, with tremulous uncertainty and excitement.”

Frost in May by Antonia White (1933). “Nanda Gray, the daughter of a Catholic convert, is nine when she is sent to the Convent of Five Wounds. Quick-witted, resilient, and eager to please, she adapts to this cloistered world, learning rigid conformity and subjection to authority.”

Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson (1934). “Times are harsh, and Barbara’s bank account has seen better days. Maybe she could sell a novel … if she knew any stories. Stumped for ideas, Barbara draws inspiration from her fellow residents of Silverstream.”

The Wine of Solitude by Irene Nemirovsky (1935). “Beginning in a fictionalized Kiev, The Wine of Solitude follows the Karol family through the Great War and the Russian Revolution, as the young Hélène grows from a dreamy, unhappy child into a strongwilled young woman.”

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1936). “Gone With the Wind explores the depth of human passions with an intensity as bold as its setting in the red hills of Georgia. A superb piece of storytelling, it vividly depicts the drama of the Civil War and Reconstruction.”

After Midnight by Irmgard Keun (1937). “German author Irmgard Keun had only recently fled Nazi Germany with her lover Joseph Roth when she wrote this slim, exquisite, and devastating book. It captures the unbearable tension, contradictions, and hysteria of pre-war Germany like no other novel.”

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937). “One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love story with the wit and pathos found only in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston.”

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson (1938). “Miss Pettigrew is a governess sent by an employment agency to the wrong address, where she encounters a glamorous night-club singer, Miss LaFosse.”

The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen (1938). “The orphaned Portia is stranded in the sophisticated and politely treacherous world of her wealthy half-brother’s home in London. There she encounters the attractive, carefree cad Eddie.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (1939). “Ten strangers are lured to an isolated island mansion off the Devon coast by a mysterious U. N. Owen … By the end of the night one of the guests is dead.”

Mariana by Monica Dickens (1940). “We see Mary at school in Kensington and on holiday in Somerset; her attempt at drama school; her year in Paris learning dressmaking and getting engaged to the wrong man; her time as a secretary and companion; and her romance with Sam.”

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (1940). “Wonderfully attuned to the spiritual isolation that underlies the human condition, and with a deft sense for racial tensions in the South, McCullers spins a haunting, unforgettable story that gives voice to the rejected, the forgotten, and the mistreated.”

The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead (1940). “Sam and Henny Pollit have too many children, too little money, and too much loathing for each other. As Sam uses the children’s adoration to feed his own voracious ego, Henny watches in bleak despair.”

The Bird in the Tree by Elizabeth Goudge (1940). “The Bird in the Tree takes place in England in 1938, and follows a close-knit family whose tranquil existence is suddenly threatened by a forbidden love.”

Anne Frank: A Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1942-1944). “Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank’s remarkable diary has since become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.”

The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty (1942). “Legendary figures of Mississippi’s past—flatboatman Mike Fink and the dreaded Harp brothers—mingle with characters from Eudora Welty’s own imagination in an exuberant fantasy set along the Natchez Trace.”

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1943). “The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years.”

Nada by Carmen LeFloret (1944). “One of the most important literary works of post-Civil War Spain, Nada is the semi-autobiographical story of an orphaned young woman who leaves her small town to attend university in war-ravaged Barcelona.

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (1945). “The Pursuit of Love follows the travails of Linda, the most beautiful and wayward Radlett daughter, who falls first for a stuffy Tory politician, then an ardent Communist, and finally a French duke named Fabrice.”

One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes (1947). “This subtle, finely wrought novel presents a memorable portrait of the aftermath of war, its effect upon a marriage, and the gradual but significant change in the nature of English middle-class life.”

Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton (1948). “We see that families can both entrap and sustain; that parents and children must respect each other; and that happiness necessitates jumping or being pushed off the family roundabout.”

The Living Is Easy by Dorothy West (1948). “Cleo Judson—daughter of southern sharecroppers and wife of ‘Black Banana King’ Bart Judson … seeks to recreate her original family by urging her sisters and their children to live with her, while rearing her daughter to be a member of Boston’s black elite.”

Half a Lifelong Romance by Eileen Chang (1948). “Shen Shijun, a young engineer, has fallen in love with his colleague, the beautiful Gu Manzhen. … But dark circumstances—a lustful brother-in-law, a treacherous sister, a family secret—force the two young lovers apart. “

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (1948). “Tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cassandra and her family, who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Here she strives, over six turbulent months, to hone her writing skills.”

Pinjar: The Skeleton and Other Stories by Amrita Pritam (1950). “Two of the most moving novels by one of India’s greatest women writers. The Skeleton …is memorable for its lyrical style and depth in her writing. … The Man is a compelling account of a young man born under strange circumstances and abandoned at the altar of God.”

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier (1951). “While in Italy, Ambrose fell in love with Rachel, a beautiful English and Italian woman. But the final, brief letters Ambrose wrote hint that his love had turned to paranoia and fear. Now Rachel has arrived at Philip’s newly inherited estate.”

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (1951). “Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history.”

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym (1952). “As Mildred gets embroiled in the lives of her new neighbors … the novel presents a series of snapshots of human life as actually, and pluckily, lived in a vanishing world of manners and repressed desires.”

Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks (1953). “In a novel that captures the essence of Black life, Brooks recognizes the beauty and strength that lies within each of us.”

Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple (1953). “Ellen was that unfashionable creature, a happy housewife struck by disaster when the husband, in a moment of weak, mid-life vanity, runs off with a French girl.”

Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone (1953). “With charm, humor, and deep understanding, Monica Sone tells what it was like to grow up Japanese American on Seattle’s waterfront in the 1930s and to be subjected to ‘relocation’ during World War II.”

Cotillion by Georgette Heyer (1953). “Country-bred, spirited Kitty Charings is on the brink of inheriting a fortune from her eccentric guardian – provided that she marries one of his grand nephews.”

Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya (1954). “This beautiful and eloquent story tells of a simple peasant woman in a primitive village in India whose whole life is a gallant and persistent battle to care for those she loves.”

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (1955). “Since his debut in 1955, Tom Ripley has evolved into the ultimate bad boy sociopath. Here, in this first Ripley novel, we are introduced to suave Tom Ripley, a young striver, newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan.”

A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O’Connor (1955). “These stories show O’Connor’s unique, grotesque view of life— infused with religious symbolism, haunted by apocalyptic possibility, sustained by the tragic comedy of human behavior, confronted by the necessity of salvation.”

Collected Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1956). “Millay remains among the most celebrated poets of the early twentieth century for her uniquely lyrical explorations of love, individuality, and artistic expression.”

The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West (1957). “An unvarnished but affectionate picture of an extraordinary family, in which a remarkable stylist and powerful intelligence surveys the elusive boundaries of childhood and adulthood, freedom and dependency, the ordinary and the occult.”

Angel by Elizabeth Taylor (1957). “In Angel’s imagination, she is the mistress of the house, a realm of lavish opulence, of evening gowns and peacocks. Then she begins to write popular novels, and this fantasy becomes her life.”

The King Must Die by Mary Renault (1958). “In this ambitious, ingenious narrative, celebrated historical novelist Mary Renault takes legendary hero Theseus and spins his myth into a fast-paced and exciting story.”

A Raisin the the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1959). “Set on Chicago’s South Side, the plot [of this play] revolves around the divergent dreams and conflicts within three generations of the Younger family.”

The Vet’s Daughter by Barbara Comyns (1959). “Harrowing and haunting, like an unexpected cross between Flannery O’Connor and Stephen King, The Vet’s Daughter is a story of outraged innocence that culminates in a scene of appalling triumph.”

The Colossus and Other Poems by Sylvia Plath (1960). “Graceful in their craftsmanship, wonderfully original in their imagery, and presenting layer after layer of meaning, the forty poems in The Colossus are early artifacts of genius that still possess the power to move, delight, and shock.”

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960). “The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published.”

The Householder by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1960). “This witty and perceptive novel is about Prem, a young teacher in New Delhi who has just become a householder and is finding his responsibilities perplexing.”

The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart (1961). “This remarkably atmospheric novel is one of bestselling-author Mary Stewart’s richest, most tantalizing, and most surprising efforts, proving her a rare master of the genre.”

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (1961). Miss Jean Brodie “is passionate in the application of her unorthodox teaching methods, in her attraction to the married art master, Teddy Lloyd, in her affair with the bachelor music master, Gordon Lowther, and—most important—in her dedication to ‘her girls,’ the students she selects to be her crème de la crème.”

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (1962). “Merricat Blackwood lives on the family estate with her sister Constance and her uncle Julian. Not long ago there were seven Blackwoods—until a fatal dose of arsenic found its way into the sugar bowl one terrible night.”

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962). “Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O’Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school)… are in search of Meg’s father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.”

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing (1962). “Doris Lessing’s best-known and most influential novel, The Golden Notebook retains its extraordinary power and relevance decades after its initial publication.”

The Group by Mary McCarthy (1963). “Written with a trenchant, sardonic edge, The Group is a dazzlingly outspoken novel and a captivating look at the social history of America between two world wars.”

Efuru by Flora Nwapa (1966). “The work, a rich exploration of Nigerian village life and values, offers a realistic picture of gender issues in a patriarchal society as well as the struggles of a nation exploited by colonialism.”

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (1966). “Antoinette Cosway, a sensual and protected young woman … is sold into marriage to the prideful Mr. Rochester. Rhys portrays Cosway amidst a society so driven by hatred, so skewed in its sexual relations, that it can literally drive a woman out of her mind.”

#must-read #female authors #classic literature #literature written by women #literary classic #literary classics written by women

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artdjgblog · 4 years ago

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Innerview: M.C. / California Univ. of Pennsylvania

April 2007

Photo: Family Farm via Google

Note: Interview for a design student’s art history paper.

01) Where did you grow up? My birth was almost recorded at home in an early 1979 blizzard. The gravel road was so full of snow that my mother was transported by a tractor to the paved road leading to the nearest hospital in the town of Chillicothe, MO. I spent the first half of the ’80s on this farm. My brother and I had the best “Star Wars” collection, the old cow got stuck in the mud, I trapped granddaddy long legs in mayonnaise jars, I cried to the raccoon wallpaper, we had chickens in the basement, I loved to romp around the farm and enjoyed everything from dead animals, to The Beatles to tractor pulls. There was a strange beast known as Leopard Man who roamed the local woods, lept fences in a single bound and liked to sneak into houses in search of peanut butter. One of the most memorable moments in my life, a significant spark that led me to my current path of thinking, came in the middle of a somewhat existential crisis in kindergarten where I blacked-out on top of a large metal slide and cracked my head on the ground. My Father’s dream farm was dry for many seasons until the bank kicked us out for lack of bill paying. Thus, forcing us to move into the house/farm that my Father grew up on. This new tilled earth was on a black-top tar road in the rural farming lands of North Central Missouri (really, not too far from the first farm and closer to my grandparents). The town I went to school in has 360 occupants. The graduating class of 1997 had 24. Many additions and renovations later, my parents are still in that same house today. We have a bridge over a creek and many memories of tree houses, dams, forts, sandbox creations, walking on ice and animals are still imprinted there. There are four of us farm children. We loved the opportunity of being able to pee outside, swim in the creek and cattle tank and getting hosed off at the back door…though, none of us will carry on the legacy of the farm that has had many generations of Gibson children laughing and crying in it’s dirt. Even though a majority of time was spent out-of-doors, going to county fairs, playing with animals, hunting and getting dirty, a large portion of time was spent locked in our bedrooms making things and drawing. As children of the 1980s we consumed every possible pop-culture outlet to the real world. My favorite things of the period are still sitting in my studio. Still to this day I can not understand how people shed the things from their youth. I still have everything my grandmother made me. Though, I do not have my dead animal backpack. It got thrown-out. My biggest influences from the time are my Grandparents, Garbage Pail Kids, Pee-Wee Herman, Dr. Demento, war, animals, comic books, tractor pulls, ball cards, films and anything by Jim Henson. My best friend lived in a funeral home. I spent many nights there. We saw many townsfolk lay there. One time we went to the Kansas City, MO airport to pick-up a dead body in the hearse and then went to eat at Showbiz Pizza for my friend’s birthday. When there was a dry spell we played ping-pong and watched movies in the funeral parlor. This was my new after school sanctuary. Even though I could watch most anything at home, I saw many new titles with my buddy. These include Shaft, The Godfather, Alien, Terminator, Evil Dead and loads of other awesome things of that nature. In high school I still stayed in my room as everyone else was out dating. I didn’t understand it all. I was still trying to understand myself. I also enjoyed shooting baskets by myself on my homemade basketball court in the middle of the sheep lot. I spent all of my spare time drawing and making things and playing with my big sheep dog named Bear. I loved skyscrapers, baseball stadiums and graffiti. I wanted to be a sports stadium architect until I realized I was never going to get the hang of math. I went to a Fine Arts Academy in Missouri in the summer of 1996 and realized that maybe I could be a person who makes things of some sort. It was the only thing I was ok at. 02) Where do you live now and how do these settings influence your work? I am well into my 6th year of living in Kansas City, MO. If I get moody for a break from city life or a desperate want to see the stars at night, a two hour retreat can easily be made back to the farm. I enjoy going back and someday I’d like to live in a more rural setting, but closer to the city. I really don’t know how much longer I’ll live here. I’m itching to experience life in other regions. I don’t wish to live an die in the same state. The first four years of my design odyssey I worked as a janitor and grounds keeper. I love these kinds of jobs because I am my own boss, I am left alone and I feel like I am actually doing something with my time…cleaning and drawing and thinking and reading and writing and eating. Now I am employed within a seven minute walk out my back door. My parents think this new job is more prestigious because i sit in a sterile office cubicle and type things into a computer all day. They think it’s a real job. It is not a real place to me. I kinda envy the bum that drinks a cold one every morning at eleven in the back alley and then goes about his business of freedom. The good thing is that I still draw and think while I’m there and I am fortunate to do a lot of networking on the internet. The only honest reasons for me to be there are walking to work, free bbq and soda and health insurance. It is an ok place, but I know it is not my place. Anymore I tire easily of the idea of working another man’s dream. But, it keeps the basement lights on. I do miss bringing home strange and wonderful items from my janitorial positions and all the extra time I had to read books and comics and being alone. However, with my new job I start later so I can squeeze a few rounds of my real work before. Mornings are my best work time. I love to be alone in my basement, maybe a cat or two…I am developing the bad back/posture of my grandfather’s lineage from crouching in my design clubhouse at a table made out of an old door and windows from the farm chicken house. If I am not making things I love to watch movies. I love to hang-out with my wife and four cats too. 03) Where did you receive your education? All that required me to get into Southwest Missouri State University (now, Missouri State University) was top 50% of my graduating class and a minimum score on the ACT. I was the number 12 student out of 24 in my class and I can’t remember my ACT score, but it was right on the nose. I was familiar with the school and town from the setting of the Missouri Fine Arts Academy, so I was good to go. It doesn’t take much in high school to take top honors as one of the best art talents. However, in college I kind of had to start over as I found there was an abundance to build and grow from and I had a lot to learn and do. On top of that I was extremely naive to what I was getting in to with the graphic arts. I made an outlandish claim to some classmates my first year that I was going to take the route of graphic design that didn’t involve computers. I had no idea the impact of computers on design. Rather, I just wanted to make things with my hands. Turns out things were definitely in my favor as I realized how much of a privilege it was/is to study design there. 04) Describe the curriculum and how effectively do you feel it prepared you for your career? The design professors I studied under are from Eastern Europe and Russia. This was a very unique experience not only in the subject of design but also culture. For a bushy-tailed farm boy this was an immense impact especially. The ways of teaching was more in a tradition sense. Certainly, we learned computers, but more importantly the idea of thinking and drawing. It’s a crucial element to be able to draw. Not only with a pen or pencil but an exacto knife. I don’t believe someone when they say they can’t draw. And it really bothers me when it is a designer. And I don’t understand it when designers fit design/art into a time frame. That’s never been an issue for me. If the switch is off then I must be dead. I know of people who work full-time design jobs that they hate. They come home and don’t do anything but complain about their day. Why not put that frustration towards making something? I know that jobs can drain you physically and emotionally, but why even put yourself through the design motions if you don’t love it…or even be at a place that doesn’t honestly love you back? If I ever had a “real” design job, it better cater to me. It better give me parental rights. Anyway…I am rambling. The importance of design history and culture was also taught in school. Even on my own now I am still cultivating knowledge. Not only from professional design past and present, but from the language of everyday people and things in the world. I don’t consider what I’m doing just for designers or art types. It’s for everyone. This is something that I grabbed from school too. You’ve got to learn how to speak in different languages visually and somehow make it universal. Design is a powerful tool. One of the most powerful things on the planet. 05) How did you get your start? Every semester the last couple years of school we would get the itch for the “real” world of design and take tours of professional firms. I always came out of these experiences rather disappointed and depressed. Nothing was heartfelt to me. It was all soulless and everything seemed glossed over and departmentalized. Cookie cutter conveyor belt meat markets. Not every place is like that, but everything that I saw was just dead to me. As a person who is very private and protective of their creative freedom and parental rights and on the path to doing things a bit different, nothing seemed right for me. This isn’t the case for every one. I think we all fit somewhere and you have to find your voice. The big shot studios just weren’t for me. And at that time there weren’t as many smaller firms like there are today. And even then the smaller ones weren’t impressing me much. Anyway….I was doing a lot of work for bands/musicians on the side in school at this time. This was something I loved. It clicked and felt right. I had creative freedom and owned my own work…and I loved music. So, I just befriended many music people and it’s been word of mouth ever since 2000. And if you do something enough it just becomes a part of you. I feel I hit the whole rock poster revival scene just right and started getting recognition and response right away. And here I am…still here, I guess. Though, I’m definitely looking to branch out a bit more. I’m currently interested in making some books and working with clients that can help me quit my day job. I’ll always flirt with the band stuff. Even though there is no money in independent music design and people can sometimes be pretty flakey and unreliable. But, I knew what I was getting into when Art Chantry told me, “Expect to starve. Several times over.” 06) Did you have an internship? Never. Never really wanted one. Never really needed one because I was doing so much freelance my last two years of college. And when I dropped out of school and moved to Kansas City I didn’t want an internship because I was already starting my own little company. I had friends that worked internships. Some with hardships…some eventually helped sail the ships. It just wasn’t my direction. Everybody has a different voice in their design tool belt. What’s funny now is that I have many students contact me every Spring in hopes to intern with this big design firm called DJG Design. It’s funny and sad when I tell them it’s just me and I don’t even make enough money for me to be a full-time employee. Someday I just might take them up on it though. I can pay in hot dogs or something. They can sleep on my floor. I feel bad for most kids that get into an intern relationship. It’s generally a great experience and can lead to possible employment, but I feel that if you are working your rear off and a lot of the time doing the dirt work for people, there should be a reward. Some don’t pay at all, which means you either have to be independently wealthy or work a second job. I wouldn’t want my intern working a second job because that is less time and thought spent on what they really need to be doing. That is ridiculous to me. Oh well, I guess I’m not in a position to authentically voice that from either side. 07) What was your first design job? Was it a positive experience? The only “real” design job I’ve come close to having was making fliers for the department of Campus Recreation at Southwest Missouri State University. It was ridiculous from the top as the ones running the show didn’t trust designers to design for them. The design was off balance from the get go. And of course I was hired for my skills, though they thought they could play art director. Even the guy who was hired to be my art director had no design skills or background, but he was cool. He and I became really close friends and most of the time just cranked out all of our work rather rapidly because we knew what the head honchos would like. The rest of the time we laid on the floor and listened to music. I think we made a lot of people nervous because they didn’t know how to handle us. I gave-up at any real glimpses of trying to use the skills I learned that helped pay the salaries there…and my earning was dirt. It was really ridiculous. Though, on the side of that job I gained some access to valuable resources by way of computers and copy machines and was able to receive a few other design tasks on the side. At the time they were great learning experiences and helped me start to build a name for myself. A name that couldn’t be made working under anybody else. Still, I had people of higher position/status that knew nothing about design try to give me their rusty cents. They tried to tell me how to do things and I took the liberty to put my own personal stamp on things. I made a few things for different student activity groups and brochures and giant poster calendars that every student received. I was the last person to make the giant posters because of how nervous I made the people higher up. It was so great to hold that kind of power at my fingertips. 08) How do you feel about advertising/marketing? I am able to get away with a lot and I pretty much do what I want with my brand of show poster promotion. But, there is a responsibility that comes with that. I’m not only representing myself, but the band, promoter, venue, city…place it’s hanging up. I guess it’s not really advertising, but it is in it’s own abstract way. In terms of conventional advertising/marketing, I can’t really take anything seriously. Maybe because I know how easy it can be for a designer to slap something together to get attention or emotions all wound-up. And it’s normally all about money. Design has really poisoned me but it’s also helped me to see. I dislike most all advertising and marketing. I could never work for them unless it’s on my terms. I realize it’s all a blanket of fabrication to push a product or service, but there are very few things that feel pure and honest to me anymore. And it’s getting worse in the world. Yeah, something can be clever or interesting or well-rendered or smart or completely over-the-top-awesome and get me to laugh, think or kick the air. But, that doesn’t mean it’s gonna change my life. I don’t know any more than the next guy. I can barely read a restaurant menu. And I’m so tired of bandwagon designs and other people telling me what’s hot. I don’t care what’s hot. It’s all so uninspiring and unimportant to me. I see this going on in the majority of the music industry too with every flavor-of-the-month recycled band lacking true heart and spirit. 09) How did you become interested in graphic design? Early on it was anything from the “Star Wars” logo, to logos on seed corn sacks, to sports team logos, to the Apple Records logo, to the “Batman” emblem to the power of historical symbols like the swastika, indian arrowheads and cave paintings. Growing up I didn’t really know what graphic design was in a professional sense. But I knew about it in the manner of how things should be put together in my head and own little world. I just enjoyed drawing logos and comics and all sorts of things, cutting things from magazines and designing type. I was horrible at math but I could draw geometric configurations like mad. The kids that sparkled at math couldn’t draw a straight line. It was so weird to me that they could compute, but not see things like me. In the fifth grade I won a county-wide logo competition. I knew I would win. I was chosen out of several hundred students from many age divisions to represent a skating rink. I received 10 free passes for winning and was supposed to be honored in the grand opening but my school principal forgot to tell me about the celebration. What a joke. Which, I didn’t really care about (Heck, I still don’t like to go to my own art openings). But, I was more upset when my family drove by the logo on the building and it was completely butchered. It wasn’t even mine anymore. I was so sad about that. Maybe that’s why I do things my way now. 10) Are there any designers that you are influenced by? A life-changing design day was when a Lester Beall book fell at my feet in the library while I was shuffling for a book down the shelf. I immediately diverted my search for whatever it was I was looking up and fell in love with Lester Beall. He is one of the great pioneers of modern design. And he seemed like a human being first and a designer second. I could really relate to him. I felt a connection to him when I saw him hugging a lamb. He had a design studio in his sheep barn. It was the coolest and I wanted to get to know him. I checked that book out for the next four months straight. I have many influences. Not only do designers/artists inspire me, but just everyday people and things in the world. I collect worn gloves, handwriting, lists, notes, children’s drawings and many things from the city streets. Ordinary trash becomes my treasure. I am always walking with my head down in hopes of spotting an animal or item in something. And i love thrift stores and pawn shops. My favorite artists are one of the folk art nature. Un-skilled people who one day just start making things. I really love Bill Traylor, Henry Darger, Gregory Blackstock, and Robert E. Smith. There is just so much heart and soul in folk art. I’m not into a lot of painters. I do like some Picasso and most all Robert Rauschenberg, Jean Michel-Basquiat and Peter Blake. Some of my favorite illustrators and designers include Saul Steinberg, Ray Johnson, Stanley Donwood, Henryk Tomaszewski, Alan Fletcher, Edward Gorey, Daniel Johnston, Art Chantry, Chris Ware, Stefan Sagmeister, Seymour Chwast (Push Pin!), Peter Saville, Vaughn Oliver and V23, Aubrey Beardsley, Graphus, James Victore, Saul Bass, Raymond Pettibon, Paul Klee, Ivan Chermayeff, Ralph Steadman, Paul Rand, Tibor Kalman, Cy Twombly…anyway, most anybody that has something to say and in their own way authentically. 11) It seems that your work references a DADA/Futurism/Constructivism style, would you agree with this? What draws you to this style? Rarely do I think about “style” until people bring it up in interviews or in person. Honestly, I don’t strive to attain one. Each day is different for me and my mind and design. I’ve always appreciated what Stefan Sagmeister says, “Style = Fart”. I guess when you approach it as a body of work the design I spill fits in a certain place. But, it’s more about idea and emotion to me. That is what and how it should be. I agree partly with your take on what the look of my body of work references. Maybe a lot of that is due to my particular like of the older school of design thought. Maybe the more collage nature. Though, I don’t really like to say it is that. I feel all design is collage to some extent. Perhaps the more controlled chaos style (I guess that would be a good tag) comes from my association and love with the school of Eastern European design that was channeled through my design instructors in college. I’ve never really been a fan of labels. It is certainly something to ponder though. However, the minute people start saying I am this or that…well, that is when I start to worry and try too hard to wrestle myself to do something else or go in another direction. It can be dangerous. I am my only competition. It’s really all quite silly in the grand salute to life. But, maybe I can learn a thing or two along the way? 12) How would you describe you style? I don’t know. Other than fumbled-mild-mannered-intuition and a bit of whatever is on my mind/heart. It’s Dee Jay Gee all the way and every second of the day. 13) Describe your design process. Boy, these questions are getting harder to answer for me. I love a good happy accident or angelic stumble. But, they can’t be relied upon. I love not thinking, rather just doing. I love intuition. Though, sometimes you do have to think a bit. But, I don’t like to over-kill. Sometimes the idea will become instantly and i will render exactly how it’s in my head. Sometimes I sketch a bit. I love to draw and do oodles and oodles of doodles. Process is a very important thing to me. It’s more important then the final product at times because it’s such a part of me. I have to stick with something once I start it or it’s lost touch with me. It’s hard to come back to something because I’ve already moved on and over it. Well, unless it’s something like a logo or CD design. These happen in several obsessive stages. Sometimes a break is needed to achieve perfection on things with a longer life-span in the world. But, with poster design and illustration it’s typically all on the spot and taken only serious to the point of it being non-serious. I have to have fun. I have to tell a story. And I love humor. Lots of it. I love to tickle myself. I love when others are tickled too. 14) Typically when working on a project, what percentage of time is spent on conceptualization? I brushed this a bit with the last question. It depends on the project I guess. Sometimes I get ideas rather rapidly and quite frequently. For some things it might take a bit to sift through the cliche or whatever mix of feelings or ideas I have that day. Each day is different. Sometimes I sit and wonder what a project I did this morning would look like had I done it in the evening or yesterday or tomorrow. I know it would be different. But, I can’t just sit on my hands. 15) How much time do you typically spend on a project? Some things really come quite rapidly. I’ve made posters in the span of minutes before. It’s more about time management for me. I sometimes have any where from a constant flow of five to ten to fifteen projects going on all at once. And on top of that interviews and book publishers and emails and inquiries and such…and of course the day job. So, I’m constantly thinking all day about the coming and going of things. I love the human mind how it’s always in and out. I love how I can think of something from my childhood and then the next file i pull/cull from my brain juice is about a poster and then i merge the two and B I N G O. Some of my best projects come at the last minute and have been in front of me the entire time. Some of it comes right when I’m told about the project. Sometimes I’m in strange places and put things together in my head or write on scraps of paper. I wish I was a good enough designer to draw you a map. But, I’m still trying to decipher where my hand meets my see. 16) Where do your ideas come from? I hinted at this in previous questions. A person can do something enough that it just becomes a part of them. Like another limb. I don’t know what I’m doing half the time. I just do it. I have to do it. It’s a part of me. It haunts me and busts the phantoms all at once. Design is a funny thing. It’s a scary thing. Ideas come and go. All the time. Influences are all around and in everything. I don’t put things in a time frame. I think all the time. A lot of the time I don’t think. I just do. I just be. I don’t aim to sound new-agey. Design is about life. In the past couple of years I’ve come to the realization that everything I’ve experienced has brought me to this point in this interview. It’s all composed some way and some how. I do a bit of the writing. Some of it is by a bigger hand. Some by just the push and pull of the earth. I’ve also learned to pull and cull from the past. My best and most vivid memories are from my youth. I feel a closer connection to my former self than i do my current. True, formal rules and training come to play with all of this. But, I didn’t really start to click with design until I started to click it with myself. And hopefully there will be more clicking to come…gotta stay busy and hungry. 17) Describe your favorite project that you’ve worked on and what made it special. I always answer a question like this the same. One of the best things I’ll ever make in my life is a handmade CD package for The Elevator Division back in the summer of 2002. The idea came at the the night I started printing. Well, actually it was spray paint. I had an image made for a month or more and then changed it at the last minute. It married the themes for the album “Whatever Makes You Happy” perfectly. With reflections of war and relationships in the songs, I made an image of a hand shooting off it’s index finger like a missile. An idea of shooting off one’s options and making decisions. It was not only fitting for the band/music but also to the the national/world agenda and climate. I went to war that night with many cans of spray paint and the idiot mind to do two-hundred and fifty all in one massive sweep. Each one was hand-cut from cardboard and handmade stencil sprayed and rubber stamped. Inserts were cut and folded and glued. I made the great choice of spray painting in my basement…something I will never do again as it could have killed me. At the last mist of red spray a crack thunder shook the massive turn-of-the-century home and I bolted from the basement and out the front door to a down poor fit for Noah himself. I lept off the front porch and slid head first down the embankment and into the street-turned-river current. I was born again. The drug dealing squatters across the street were on their front steps, looking at the fire in my eyes and the red paint streaming from them and nose and mouth. I was on something higher than chemical substance. 18) How much influence does music have on your design? What kind of music do you listen to? What are your favorite bands? Music has always aided in carrying the background. It’s silly sometimes when we say things like, “This is my soundtrack”. But, it’s true. I’ve always gotten so much out of music. I gave up trying to play music years ago. That’s not my calling. However, it’s constantly played a role in my life significantly. I loved to spin my Mom’s records when I was four or five. It still boggles me how all of that sound is compressed in a circle of vinyl. I grew up on family Beatles sing-a-longs in the car and rockin’ out on my smurf guitar to “Live and Let Die” by Paul McCartney and Wings. That was my favorite song at age five. It has so much energy and I loved the James Bond movie of the same name. At one point when I was going through my awkward phase (when am I not?), I decided not to like The Beatles as much because my parents liked them. It was sad when I think about it now. I was also into all of the more novelty and fun stuff from the ’70s and ’80s when I was young. Things like hit television themes and film/broadway soundtracks and scores. And all of the fun cheese-pop stuff. I loved the storybooks with the narrator on record who told me when to turn the page. My brother and I loved to tape the Dr. Demento show every week. It was a late night DJ show that played a load of the weirdest songs about “Pencil Neck Geeks” and “Fish Heads”. It was the brand of humor we could find relation to. We also taped-off Saturday morning cartoon theme songs. Yes, we were the biggest dorks. Oh, Weird Al is amazing too! No wonder we were called fairies every day at that hick school until graduation. In the late eighties to early-to-mid nineties I went through all of the pop stuff. Whatever the radio got to the rural setting, that’s what we loved…though, by the time the radio waves got that far into the country, there was something new and better developing. I guess this is embarrassing stuff, but my first CD’s were Ace of Base and a best of by Bryan Adams. I redeemed myself with the third purchase of the soundtrack to “Ren & Stimpy”, which I still spin. In my last years of high school I got into Nirvana, Helmet and Tool. A lot more aggressive work, but stuff that had some interesting lyrics and great imagery/art. And Nirvana was basically more angsty Beatles anyway. College brought on more underground stuff and lots of the typical college radio stuff mixed with a bit of the mainstream. Then, the day after Christmas 1997 I bought Radiohead’s “OK Computer” on a whim. It had such a great impact on me and some close friends and led us to discover other music by artists like The Velvet Underground, Elliott Smith, Pavement and Jeff Buckley and then back to The Beatles again. Once my ears had opened completely, I began cultivating a lot of stuff that I missed out on from the shoe gaze movement to noise rock to indie and music spanning the past forty years or so. Of course I’m still at a constant catch-up. In the past five or six years I’ve really absorbed a lot of the singer-songwriters like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, Brian Wilson, Neko Case, Leonard Cohen, David Bowie, Nick Drake, Tom Waits, Johnny Cash, M. Ward, Andrew Bird and Sufjan Stevens. Of late I’m into looking for more and more of the underground folkies like Bert Jansch and some others. I’m also in love with the sound of recordings from the ’50s and especially the ’60s. I love the psychedelic rock stuff from the time too. Records I’m fond of so far this year include: “Death Proof” Soundtrack, Bright Eyes, The National, The Shins, Of Montreal, Deerhunter and Arcade Fire. I’ve never been more anxious to watch the new crop of artists make music. It’s a really exciting time right now as it seems that there is a new-old spirit and heart again with music. The four that I’m really interested to follow are M. Ward, Neko Case, Arcade Fire and Conor Oberst. Of course with all the great stuff comes a TON of sonic dysentery on the opposite spectrum. 19) How much direction do you get from a client as to what they want or are you pretty much given free range? For the most part it’s free range. However, I love it when a client has an idea to pitch or something to build from. It’s always fun…but, it depends on the person too. However, I dislike being an assembler. One time a band had another illustrator and they just wanted me to lay it out and pay me crap for it. They were pretty particular about it. I didn’t take the job. I’d rather get paid crap for my complete involvement. I am easy to get along with, but I don’t want to put somebody else’s work together. If somebody comes to me they normally know ahead of time what I can do. Even still they can tend to get too specific or wish to mimic another design already made. At this point they should go else-where or simply hire the designer they are trying to rip-off. Musicians can be hard to work with sometimes because they think they know a lot about design…because they want their album to look like an old Peter Saville cover for Joy Division. It might fit, and look cool, but why not try to push things a bit more and make it your own…help re-invent or start something new? True, everything has been done and aped before and again. But, it’s so discouraging to see album art that lacks proper thought, soul and heart. Or, even more stuff that looks cool but is a total copy cat. Some people don’t know how to think of me though. Maybe because they don’t really know what they are going to get? Maybe I make them nervous? Some people can crank out the same template of stuff over and over. I’m not wired that way. But, I try to give them what i feel is an honest depiction of the solution and something that best represents them. Something that can grab attention across the room or internet browser. I don’t mind borrowing elements from the past, but I think it’s important to put your own blood into it. Otherwise you’re just picking noses. And after those boogers dry they’re awful hard to scrape from the bottom of the wagon. 20) Who would be your ideal client? This is a good question as I’m looking into doing some other things among the mix of the usual band poster or CD. I’m looking at contacting some book publishers. I’d love to finally get out some of the children book ideas I have in my head and on paper. I’d love to just write in general. I have a love of film, so I plan to look into that avenue. For sure DVD packaging with The Criterion Collection. I’d also like to make more illustrations for magazines and papers. These pay pretty good and I can crank the stuff out rather quickly. For the moment there is not enough hours in the day… Some types of music I’d like to put to package design before I pass away include: Gangster Rap, New Country and Polka. I don’t really like any of that music, but I think it would be fun to come up with something different for them. 21) How do you think you have influenced graphic design? I never really think about this much until people start talking and asking. I don’t think I’m anything too special and I feel that if I am, I’m still too young to be causing a rift in the waters. First thing is that I am a human being. I just happen to be a human that makes things. I won’t be oblivious to the fact that I know that I’ve got something I’m sitting on here. I’m not denying that.. I’m confident in that. But, I don’t feel it’s all quite said yet. I plan to always be doing my best work. If I get to the point where I don’t like my work, then why do it? My only concern is someday ending up in a nursing home, worthless and without use of my hands. Please shoot me before that comes. But, I guess I could just play art director at arts and crafts time. Back to the subject…I have people all the time tell me things and simply do things with my work and it is all really startling. Things like art history professors showing my work in lecture halls and publishers from Turkey, Germany, Spain and other parts of the world placing me next to some of my influences in books and publications. Design show curators are finding me and becoming involved with my work. I get messages on the phone and emails from art directors of every major design magazine. Students and industry peers contact me all the time. It’s all really strange to me. Since my first days here in Kansas City people have told me they look forward to seeing my work out in public and add it to their collection at home. This blows my mind more than anything. Just the fact that it moved them in a way to keep it. I know how it goes as I used to do this with concert posters. One of the most touching things I’ve seen was on the bottom of somebody’s band flier here. It said “DJG Design Just Kidding.com”. I have no idea who did it. But, it is really funny and I feel truly honored by it. And this Friday, as in a couple of days from right now, I am giving a big lecture in front of my former design instructors at Missouri State University. I am excited and scared to death all at once. It is all pretty wild. And I still work a crummy day job. 22) How do you feel about seeing other designers copying your style? Have you seen or experienced this for yourself (just curious)? People tell me all the time that they’ve noticed a change in Kansas City poster design since I came here over five years ago. I don’t see it much because I don’t get out much. I have seen a few people becoming more inventive by printing on paper stocks other than bright pink, yellow and green. I see a lot of graph paper printing and just over-all more inventiveness and creativeness for something so short-lived as a show poster…not only from here but all over. I don’t know if they got this from me or what. I highly doubt I’ve inspired that many people. Right now with technology and with screen printing and letterpress becoming more practical and trendy you can throw a wadded-up poster and hit a poster designer. What’s great is that anybody with initiative, a work ethic and love can do it and get their stuff up and out quickly. Especially in a small town like this. But, at the same time I feel it’s easy for people to just depend upon the content of what others are doing as opposed to really finding their own voice and the right reasons. Some just do it because it earns cool points. I’d love to say I’ve inspired someone…but, only in the sense of a similar inspiration like the one I had when I was twelve and younger to just simply make things with a naive mind and with a heart to shut myself in and find myself through whatever it was I was doing. Not to be an artist but to just enjoy the act of making things and putting your fingerprints on the world…if there is reaction then that’s great. It’s a blessing and most touching to impact somebody’s day with the silly things that I make in solitary in a dark and damp basement. Especially in today’s information age and with people so busy and non-stop. It means a lot when I can affect somebody’s daily life with something that was on my mind. Postscript That is all. I am a bit drained and need to shower. I feel most of this is written quite hastily, but it’s a very honest and immediate sort of haste. I trust it is what you are looking for. Please enjoy. Ask questions if you need to. I am always here. Thank You. -djg

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