Karl Wenclas - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Karl "King" Wenclas is a founder and the former Publicity Director and front man of the Underground Literary Alliance

Underground Literary Alliance

The Underground Literary Alliance is a Philadelphia-based and internationally membered group of writers, zinesters and DIY writers. They seek to expose what they see as the corruption and insularity in the American book-publishing establishment while providing alternative avenues for writers who...

. (The moniker "King" was taken from a critic of the ULA.) After ceasing publication of his zine

Zine

A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....

New Philistine, Wenclas returned to writing at the urging of fellow underground zinesters Michael Jackman and Steve Kostecke, both of whom founded the ULA with Wenclas in 2000. His essay "How to Create a Literary Movement", published in Zine World: A Reader's Guide to the Underground Press, launched the idea of the ULA. Wenclas likens his brand of "ballyhoo" to the tactics of famous promoters including P.T. Barnum, Brian Epstein

Brian Epstein

Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...

and Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...

. A quote: "The entire history of rock music is a history of ballyhoo."

After leaving the ULA, Wenclas left Philadelphia to return to his birthplace and devote himself to his many blogs. His philosophy, particularly as conveyed via his flagship blog, Attacking The Demi-Puppets, centers on several related core beliefs: that the literary world is unhealthily centered in New York City, that the literary world is overly insular and therefore corrupt, and that the literary world is bent on silencing him. In opposition to what he sees as the corrupt status quo, Wenclas offers up works of "literary rebellion" that exist outside of the mainstream. Generally, these works appear to be limited mostly to DIY authors, as exemplified by members of the ULA.

Frequent targets for Wenclas' scorn include the Ivy League

Ivy League

The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

, The Paris Review, N+1
N+1
n+1 is a New York–based American literary magazine that publishes social criticism, political commentary, essays, art, poetry, book reviews, and short fiction. It is published three times each year, and content is published on several times each week...

, The Believer
The Believer (magazine)
The Believer is a United States literary magazine that also covers other arts and general culture. Founded and designed in 2003 by the writer and publisher Dave Eggers, it is edited by Vendela Vida, Heidi Julavits and Ed Park...

, McSweeney's

McSweeney's

McSweeney's is an American publishing house founded by editor Dave Eggers.Apart from its book list, McSweeney's is responsible for four regular publications: the quarterly literary journal,...

, Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is known for the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for his more recent work as a screenwriter. He is also the co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia.-Life:Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts,...

, Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Franzen is an American novelist and essayist. His third novel, The Corrections , a sprawling, satirical family drama, drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, and was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction...

, The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...

, PEN American Center

PEN American Center

PEN American Center , founded in 1922 and based in New York City, works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship. The Center has a membership of 3,300 writers, editors, and translators...

, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...

, and especially Rick Moody

Rick Moody

Rick Moody is an American novelist and short story writer best known for the 1994 novel The Ice Storm, a chronicle of the dissolution of two suburban Connecticut families over Thanksgiving weekend in 1973, which brought widespread acclaim, became a bestseller, and was made into a feature film of...

. Critics have observed that Wenclas' arguments are weakened by his unwillingness to acknowledge the differences among these individuals and institutions, and his similar unwillingness to acknowledge the world of literature that exists between the poles represented by the "establishment", as exemplified by the above, and the "underground", as exemplified by the ULA and other DIYers. After repeatedly being challenged on Attacking the Demi-Puppets to identify authors, small presses, or journals he supported that did not belong to the ULA or the DIY community, and after repeatedly being called out for the extra-literary appeals to class resentment embodied by his blog postings, Wenclas temporarily shut down comments on the blog. After a period, comments were restored, though they now appear only with Wenclas' approval.

Attacking the Demi-Puppets has undergone something of a thematic change in recent months. Rather than centering specifically on literature, Wenclas recently has devoted many posts to debunking what he views as the "myth" of climate change

Climate change

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...

, and attacking the media for what he sees as its unfair portrayal of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin

Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...

, which he links to her having attended a non-elite, public university and her self-styled outsider status.

External links

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