Underground Literary Alliance
Encyclopedia
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 don't easily fit into mainstream institutions and agendas.
Among many other activities, they have gained considerable attention for their exposure of an insular literary practice whereby establishment
authors serve on juries to award monetary prizes to their writing friends. In particular they have been able to point out cases where the prizewinning authors are in fact already wealthy, and thus can be seen as taking money from other authors who actually need it.
In general the ULA favors direct, vernacular
writing over the more cryptic and mannered styles of the present-day academy. They present their literary aesthetic in their communal lit-zine, Slush Pile.
A quote from Karl Wenclas
, the organization's Publicity Director: "The Underground Literary Alliance is the most controversial writers' group in America. We stand up for writers, expose corruption in the publishing world, and work to create a fun & exciting alternative to the literary mainstream."
scene that flourished in the 1990s. The founders of the group were zinesters who connected with each other through A Reader's Guide to the Underground Press
or through other underground writers. These founders, and their zines, were: Karl Wenclas, New Philistine; Michael Jackman, inspector 18; Steve Kostecke, Seoul in Slices; Joe Smith, The Die; Ann Sterzinger, Bottle-Fed; and Doug Bassett, a literary theorist. The six of them met in Hoboken, New Jersey
, in October, 2000, in order to launch the group and commence their activism by signing a statement of protest against a Guggenheim grant
given to Rick Moody
, an already-wealthy writer. The text of the statement read as follows:
We the undersigned protest the year 2000 Guggenheim grant to well-known author Rick Moody, because it exemplifies the practice of giving financial assistance to already successful and affluent writers, well-connected, who clearly don’t need the help—while other writers abjectly struggle—and because this runs counter to the implicit charitable purpose behind the tax-exempt status of a foundation like John Simon Guggenheim.
In addition to the six who met in Hoboken, this protest was later signed by over 30 other zinesters. It was also sent out to approximately 300 of the American lit world’s biggest-named writers, editors, and agents—but none of them signed.
Since its founding, the ULA has constantly engaged in its own brand of “literary activism
” which has gained the group a notoriety for exposing what they see as corruption in the American literary world and for harshly criticizing corporate-promulgated literary fiction.
Current ULA members include Patrick Simonelli, editor of litvision.org, Leopold McGinnis, author of Game Quest, Tom Hendricks
, creator of the Zine Hall of Fame, and poet Frank Walsh.
The ULA launched its own independent press in 2006.
As of December 1, 2010, the Underground Literary Alliance appeared disbanded, with no viable webpage. One observer commented, "What? Despite all their self-publicity espousing their own greatness, they faded away without even a whimper of anyone caring?"
being awarded Best Zine of the Year by the Firecracker Alternative Books Award because McSweeney’s does not fit their definition of zine
. The jury of the Firecracker Alternative Books Award remarked that they didn't ask the ULA what was their definition of a zine
, because the ULA wasn't the organization presenting the award.
(NEA) award of $20,000 to Jonathan Franzen
, an already-wealthy author and highly-publicized best-selling author of The Corrections. Rick Moody was on the NEA panel, and the ULA contested that this was an example of the literati insularly awarding each other.
in New York City for heckling readers. They stated that they were confronting the writers about what they saw as a lack of social or political relevancy to the stories being read that night.
revealed that Dave Eggers
(of McSweeney’s and The Believer
magazine) had posted an anonymous response to reviews he believed were posted by ULA members (as reported by the New York Times). David Eggers suggested that a series of negative reviews at amazon.com were the result of ULA members retaliating against an article about them in The Believer. As a policy, the ULA does nothing anonymously, and says the negative reviews were not posted by members of the ULA.
’s Howl
at Miller Theater at Columbia University
, which they say was hosted by the elite literati and had no representation of the "underground", from which the Beat Generation
had sprung. The AP
covered the protest and reported on it by means of a podcast.
, and that for two years he used the magazine as his cover. This article publicized the fact first revealed by Matthiessen himself to author Frances Stonor Saunders in her 1999 book "The Cultural Cold War." The ULA also reported the connection between the CIA and Matthiessen, in May, 2005. The ULA article also went on to allege that The Paris Review exercised covert influence over the London Review of Books.
DIY ethic
The DIY ethic refers to the ethic of self-sufficiency through completing tasks oneself as opposed to having others who are more experienced or able complete them for one's behalf. It promotes the idea that an ordinary person can learn to do more than he or she thought was possible...
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 don't easily fit into mainstream institutions and agendas.
Among many other activities, they have gained considerable attention for their exposure of an insular literary practice whereby establishment
The Establishment
The Establishment is a term used to refer to a visible dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation. The term suggests a closed social group which selects its own members...
authors serve on juries to award monetary prizes to their writing friends. In particular they have been able to point out cases where the prizewinning authors are in fact already wealthy, and thus can be seen as taking money from other authors who actually need it.
In general the ULA favors direct, vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
writing over the more cryptic and mannered styles of the present-day academy. They present their literary aesthetic in their communal lit-zine, Slush Pile.
A quote from Karl Wenclas
Karl Wenclas
Karl "King" Wenclas is a founder and the former Publicity Director and front man of the Underground Literary Alliance...
, the organization's Publicity Director: "The Underground Literary Alliance is the most controversial writers' group in America. We stand up for writers, expose corruption in the publishing world, and work to create a fun & exciting alternative to the literary mainstream."
History
The Underground Literary Alliance has its roots in the independent zineZine
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....
scene that flourished in the 1990s. The founders of the group were zinesters who connected with each other through A Reader's Guide to the Underground Press
A Reader's Guide to the Underground Press
Zine World: A Reader's Guide to the Underground Press is an independent publication which covers independent and underground media. It reviews mostly zines, but also books, comics, newsletters, videos and spoken word recordings...
or through other underground writers. These founders, and their zines, were: Karl Wenclas, New Philistine; Michael Jackman, inspector 18; Steve Kostecke, Seoul in Slices; Joe Smith, The Die; Ann Sterzinger, Bottle-Fed; and Doug Bassett, a literary theorist. The six of them met in Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
, in October, 2000, in order to launch the group and commence their activism by signing a statement of protest against a Guggenheim grant
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
given to 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...
, an already-wealthy writer. The text of the statement read as follows:
We the undersigned protest the year 2000 Guggenheim grant to well-known author Rick Moody, because it exemplifies the practice of giving financial assistance to already successful and affluent writers, well-connected, who clearly don’t need the help—while other writers abjectly struggle—and because this runs counter to the implicit charitable purpose behind the tax-exempt status of a foundation like John Simon Guggenheim.
In addition to the six who met in Hoboken, this protest was later signed by over 30 other zinesters. It was also sent out to approximately 300 of the American lit world’s biggest-named writers, editors, and agents—but none of them signed.
Since its founding, the ULA has constantly engaged in its own brand of “literary activism
Literary activism
Literary activism is a form of protest and critique aimed at corporate publishing houses and the literary fiction/nonfiction which they publish. The progenitors of literary activism are the members of the Underground Literary Alliance...
” which has gained the group a notoriety for exposing what they see as corruption in the American literary world and for harshly criticizing corporate-promulgated literary fiction.
Current ULA members include Patrick Simonelli, editor of litvision.org, Leopold McGinnis, author of Game Quest, Tom Hendricks
Tom Hendricks
Tom Hendricks is an American eccentric Dallas-based musician, painter, writer, and creator of a zine called Musea.-Musea:The Musea zine has been published since 1992 and currently has 175 issues. It includes reviews, art discussions, and often, articles about the problems with music and other...
, creator of the Zine Hall of Fame, and poet Frank Walsh.
The ULA launched its own independent press in 2006.
As of December 1, 2010, the Underground Literary Alliance appeared disbanded, with no viable webpage. One observer commented, "What? Despite all their self-publicity espousing their own greatness, they faded away without even a whimper of anyone caring?"
Guggenheim grant protest
In late 2000, the six founders of the ULA signed a protest against the $35,000 Guggenheim grant awarded to Rick Moody, an already-wealthy author.Debate with George Plimpton & The Paris Review
In early 2001, the ULA held a press conference at CBGBs in New York City which was attended by George Plimpton, staffers at The Paris Review, and staffers of Open City magazine. The ULA debated with those who attended about what they perceive to be the irrelevancy and lack of integrity of the current realm of corporate/academia-sponsored literature.KGB Crash
In early 2001, the ULA crashed a literati reading at KGB in New York City. The members present disrupted the reading with arguments about how literature has died under the current corporate system – and were then thrown out of the venue. The remaining audience members, who were in attendance to enjoy poetry, briefly cheered and then went back to reading the words they cared about.Firecracker Awards
Late 2001, the ULA protested against McSweeney's Quarterly ConcernTimothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern
Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern is a literary journal, first published in 1998, edited by Dave Eggers. The first issue featured only works rejected by other magazines, but thereafter the journal began to include pieces written with McSweeney's in mind. McSweeney’s has since published works by...
being awarded Best Zine of the Year by the Firecracker Alternative Books Award because McSweeney’s does not fit their definition of 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....
. The jury of the Firecracker Alternative Books Award remarked that they didn't ask the ULA what was their definition of a 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....
, because the ULA wasn't the organization presenting the award.
Perceived Cronyism in the Lit World
The ULA protested the 2002 National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
(NEA) award of $20,000 to 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...
, an already-wealthy author and highly-publicized best-selling author of The Corrections. Rick Moody was on the NEA panel, and the ULA contested that this was an example of the literati insularly awarding each other.
Housing Works
In early 2003, members of the ULA were kicked out of a reading at Housing WorksHousing Works
Housing Works is a New York City based non-profit fighting the twin crises of AIDS and homelessness. The charity is well-known for its operations, which have recently included outreach to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake....
in New York City for heckling readers. They stated that they were confronting the writers about what they saw as a lack of social or political relevancy to the stories being read that night.
Amazon.com & the New York Times Article
In early 2004, a glitch at Amazon.comAmazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
revealed that 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,...
(of McSweeney’s and 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...
magazine) had posted an anonymous response to reviews he believed were posted by ULA members (as reported by the New York Times). David Eggers suggested that a series of negative reviews at amazon.com were the result of ULA members retaliating against an article about them in The Believer. As a policy, the ULA does nothing anonymously, and says the negative reviews were not posted by members of the ULA.
Howl Protest & the Associated Press Podcast
In April 2006, the ULA protested against the reading of Allen GinsbergAllen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
’s Howl
Howl
"Howl" is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1955 and published as part of his 1956 collection of poetry titled Howl and Other Poems. The poem is considered to be one of the great works of the Beat Generation, along with Jack Kerouac's On the Road and William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch...
at Miller Theater at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, which they say was hosted by the elite literati and had no representation of the "underground", from which the Beat Generation
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
had sprung. The AP
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
covered the protest and reported on it by means of a podcast.
Peter Matthiessen and the CIA Connection
In January, 2007, the New York Times reported that Peter Matthiessen had been working for the CIA at the time of the founding of the Paris ReviewParis Review
The Paris Review is a literary quarterly founded in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen and George Plimpton. Plimpton edited the Review from its founding until his death in 2003. In its first five years, The Paris Review published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip Larkin, V. S...
, and that for two years he used the magazine as his cover. This article publicized the fact first revealed by Matthiessen himself to author Frances Stonor Saunders in her 1999 book "The Cultural Cold War." The ULA also reported the connection between the CIA and Matthiessen, in May, 2005. The ULA article also went on to allege that The Paris Review exercised covert influence over the London Review of Books.
External links
- The Believer - Protesting All Fiction Writers!
- 2001 Village Voice Article
- Associated Press podcast of the ULA protest of the Columbia University reading of Howl
- Audio of ULA poet Frank Walsh discussing the ULA on public radio station WNYC
- Literary Activism of the ULA (press archives)
- Underground Literary Alliance website
- King Wenclas blog
- Interview with Karl "King" Wenclas
- Swimming Against the Mainstream an interview with Michael Jackman
- Writers Beware! an interview with Steve Kostecke
- A Reader's Guide to the Underground Press