Friday, December 16, 2005

The Realms of the Unreal











The world seems so quiet tonight…. where is everyone? I’m alone…I feel like I’m in a state of suspension…a netherworld feeling…the last time I felt like this I went into a “fugue” state that lasted a week.

Maybe I’m just tired…spent the day with my mom, which these days is somewhat like being with a 4-year-old. She has trouble counting money…making simple decisions such as whether to buy large browning bags or a turkey-size bag for an 8-lb turkey breast…. wondering how someone can afford to rent a house and sell one at the same time…and asking the most annoying questions! Then I screwed up and forgot to get with the girl that makes the schedule at work to make sure I’m off Saturday. Hell, I didn’t even realize Saturday was Christmas Eve!

I’ve been so busy pushing and working towards finishing this semester and now it’s over. I feel drained, lost, empty, without a purpose. But on the other hand, waiting for my grades is much like waiting for the results of a pregnancy test!

I just watched a documentary I got from Netflix about this janitor who spent over 60 years writing this book called “The Realms of the Unreal” for short. The entire title of the book is The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, as caused by the Child Slave Rebellion. This is pretty much the synopsis of the book too. He was an artist and slaved over his illustrations using many different techniques. Watercolour, pencil, pen, collage, and copying drawings from thousands of pictures he collected. Pictures of young girls from newspapers, magazine ads, and storybooks led many people to portray him as a pedophile. The documentary didn’t touch on this subject, which is a moot point since Henry Darger died in 1973.They found volumes of his works, which included the 15,000 page “Realms of the Unreal” in the room he rented. He obviously didn’t know much about human anatomy because he when portrayed the little girls in his story naked they had tiny little penises. Maybe he knew more than we think. Maybe he just exaggerated.

The artwork is primitive, surreal, and sells for around $60,000 at the Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago Illinois, where Darger lived. Fascinating story and art, however, the documentary was boring. It was too long and spent too much time on the story, was well plotted but belonging in one of those dreadful pulp novels of the 40’s. Dakota Fanning narrated and contributed to the voice of the Vivian Girls, the heroines of the novel. The narration went well with the art, but I would have like to hear more about the contents of his room, not just quick glimpses of his material.

I wonder what they’ll find in my room when I die?