‘The works of Hans Henny Jahnn exploded on to the inter-war literary scene in Germany as a crazed marriage of Gothic Romanticism, modernist literary Expressionism and the experiments of writers such as Döblin and Joyce. Jahnn’s personal cry of existential horror and guilt expresses both a repulsion and fascination for mortality which stemmed from his earliest years; it was subsequently reinforced by his unconventional sexuality and a by a philosophy that celebrated life and death in all its aspects — not least in the embrace of eroticism and decay. His narratives, even when rooted in everyday life, burst forth in a wholly intemperate flood of prose, at once lurid and baroque. Little alleviates the apocalyptic fervour and morbid sense of doom in these writings.
‘He has been only rarely translated into English, whereas in France his works have been compared to Antonin Artaud and Georges Bataille.’ — This Space
‘Hans Henny Jahnn (1894-1959) is one of Germany’s most controversial modern authors, in large part due to sharply diverging reactions to the depictions of sado-masochistic brutality, incest, and homoeroticism in his plays and novels. Jahnn’s rank as a writer has long been a topic of intense debate between rival schools of critics, and his works have provoked extreme responses, both positive and negative, from a wide spectrum of scholars, writers, and critics, including such prominent figures as Alfred Döblin, Walter Benjamin, Thomas and Klaus Mann, Wolfgang Koeppen, Walter and Adolf Muschg, Wilhelm Emrich, Hubert Fichte and many others.
‘Jahn is an highly uncomfortable writer; his style was and remained idiosyncratic, bearing the discerning influence of Expressionism and later Joyce, and containing the timbre of the antique tragedies. In both his writing and life he rejected society’s morals and institutions, psychological interpretation, dualism, and the enslavement of the world about us by homo faber, championing in their stead a heathen, pan-erotic return to the deeper strata of mythology, where time and place converge into one.
‘”He was a writer of Baroque sexuality, of fleshiness and macabre desperation […]. The reader continuously stumbles over coffins and tombs, witnesses deeds of horror, awesome fear of death and the performance of the necessities of metabolism….” Thus wrote Werner Helwig to his close friend Hans Henny Jahnn. It was not Helwig’s own criticism of Jahnn, but that of a critic he had invented in order to show Jahnn what the public thought of his work. No invented critic was needed, however; Jahnn is known as “the writer who uncovered the hells of the flesh and drives, the abyss of demoniacal passions and sinister licentiousness,” his writings are described as “materialism of pure faith in the body,” his reader is “numbed by the eternal drone of the hormone organ.”
‘The Ship’s introduction namechecks both Melville and Giorgio de Chirico, and the book indeed is an odd combination of nautical metaphysics and surrealism’s insidiously creepy emptying out — an intense mystery story, not unlike the slow build-up of a Bela Tarr movie. In places it moves at a wild pace like a murder story’s final confrontation or a chase scene; other times it lingers endlessly over each character’s neurotics and guilt and anxiety–everyone in it an active Raskolnikov.
‘Jahnn has never enjoyed popular success, but he is often viewed as one of the most influential and important German-speaking writers of this century, his works are currently being re-evaluated in France, where the majority have now been translated.’ — collaged from various sources (Eugene Lim, shigekuni.wordpress, Gerda Jordan, zoran rosko vacuum player)
Hans Henny Jahnn – Ein Mann ohne Ufer (in German)
Gallery
Hans Henny Jahnn as a child
Diagram of the cosmos c. 820 AD that inspired HHJ’s cosmology
HHJ handwritten mss. pages
HHJ’s diagram for use in the restoration of church organs
Organ in Hamburg restored/reinvented by HHJ
‘Neuer Lübecker Totentanz’ (Text: Hans Henny Jahnn; Musik: Yngve Jan Trede)
Jean-Christophe Norman ‘sans titre” (le navire de bois – Hans Henny Jahnn)’
Commemorative plaque (Hamburg)
HHJ’s grave
Organ-izer
‘Hans Henny Jahnn’s association with the organ began as early as 1913, and by 1916 (in Norway) he was intensely involved in organ studies. He was an outspoken critic of late-nineteenth-century organ building (although he accepted Aristide Cavaille-Coll’s work with reservations), and he determined that the foundations of German organ building had disappeared and needed to be reestablished. In 1919 he and his friend, Gottlieb Harms, happened into Hamburg’s Jacobi-Kirche and became acquainted with the Arp Schnitger organ in such bad state that the church had decided to remove and replace it. Jahnn began researching the instrument and convinced the authorities to let him restore the organ, a task he completed in 1923. This was the first major restoration of an historic organ and became a symbol and model for the Orgelbewegung (Organ Reform Movement).
‘Jahnn’s work with the Schnitger organ had prompted studies of the pipework and led him to consider theories and perform experiments relative to what an organ should be. Between the years 1933 and 1945 Jahnn lived in political exile in Denmark and served as a consultant to the Theodor Frobenius firm in Copenhagen. Altogether, he consulted or designed the restoration or construction of over one hundred organs; several of the new organs incorporated Jahnn’s ideas, such as the segregation of what he termed “masculine” and “feminine” stops. Examples of this include the Kemper organ at Hamburg, Heinrich-Hertz-Schule (now Lichtwarkschule), Hamburg (1931), and the Hammer organ at Langenhorn/Hamburg, Angarskirche (1931).’ –– The Organ: An Encyclopedia
die Hans-Henny-Jahnn-Orgel der Heinrich-Hertz-Schule in Hamburg
Hans Henny Jahnn – untitled composition
Further
Hans Henny Jahnn Tribute Blog
Hans Henny Jahnn – The most terrifying author of the 20th century
Hans Henny Jahnn Website (jn German)
Podcast: Hold Fast Network: ‘The Ship’
‘abyss: hans henny jahnn’s “perrudja”’ @ shigekuni
‘Bornholm in the Work of Hans Henny Jahnn’
‘Hans Henny Jahnn and James Joyce: The Birth of the Inner Monologue in the German Novel’
‘Ugo Rondinone: The Night of Lead at Aargauer Kunsthaus’
Mike Kitchell on HHJ’s ‘The Night of Lead’ @ HTMLGIANT
HHJ @ Goodreads
HHJ Board @ the Fictional Woods
HHJ Group @ Last.fm
Hans Henny Jahnn’s books @ Bookfinder
‘The Ship’ @ Internet Archive
Hans Henny Jahn The Ship
Scribner/Peter Owen
‘This book is devastating. Even in the fairly rough English translation, it lodged in my brain and I consider it one of the more powerful and disturbing works of the twentieth century. Atlas Press published a translation of Jahnn’s 1962 novella The Night of Lead. They say that it “shows Jahnn at his darkest: man is portrayed as the toy of supernatural powers, where his only certainty is a bodily existence which, in turn, is blindly bound to the laws of growth, death and decay and procreation – the major themes of Jahnn’s writing.” This description can also apply to The Ship. Even after reading Lovecraft and Thomas Bernhard, I’m tempted to think of Jahnn as the most terrifying author. Bernhard can make me feel a little crazy (finishing Correction was one of the more masochistic things I’ve ever done, and I grew up on gore movies), but he’s often hilarious. Jahnn isn’t very funny. He’s bleak and unrelenting bizarre.’ — A journey Round My Skull
Excerpts
We have witnessed the horrible again and again, a transformation no one could forsee. A healthy body is run over by a truck, crushed. Blood, once secreted, once feeling its way blindly through the body, pulsating in a meshwork of thin streams, spreading the chemically charged hormones and their mysterious functions like a red tree inside man–this blood now runs out shapelessly in great puddles. And still no one grasps that, in a network of veins, it had form. But even more horrible–the death struggle itself, in which the innumerable organs, which we believe we feel, take part. Terror is stronger in us than delight.
*
It had been fifteen minutes since I ordered the taxi. According to the tracker on my phone it had spent that time down a dead-end street, turning slowly in circles. I considered cancelling, but with the instinctive human yearning for a reasonable explanation I convinced myself that my phone was faulty, that I was overreacting, that the fear I felt was unwarranted. When eventually the car pulled up I got in and asked the driver if he had been having mechanical problems. He told that he had been stuck at traffic lights. The lie unnerved me further. When the vehicle moved, it did so at great speed. I felt for my seatbelt, pulled it across my chest. It would not click into place. It was obstructed by something. ‘It doesn’t work,’ the driver said. I asked him to stop the car. He seemed agitated. ‘It’s fine,’ he said. ‘Stay there.’
It crossed my mind at this point that he meant me harm, and, further, that in harmful situations the victim usually waits for the terrible moment, the blow, before reacting. I was ready to act, to preempt. The driver offered me the backseat, then changed his mind. ‘Stay there, it’s fine,’ he repeated. We sped on. I wondered, with that futile human need for clarification, why he was so insistent on me being in the front of the car. A robbery? A sexual assault? I contemplated jumping, but, in compromise with myself, persuaded him to let me in the back instead. It’s either that or I get out, I stated firmly. What an absurd agreement. A few moments later we pulled up at some traffic lights. ‘My eyes,’ he said. ‘They feel itchy, I can’t see.’ He wants me to get in the front again, I thought. To check his eyes. I didn’t. I asked to be let out, and to my surprise he stopped the car.
I’ve told this story numerous times. Most think that it was nothing, that the danger was a figment of my imagination, that it was no more than dust dirtying the mirror of my mind. Sometimes I think so too. Is it not I who am mad, and not the world? I’ve asked myself that question before. Isn’t it possible, likely even, that I am viewing the world through the prism of my own insanity, and that this is the reason why everything I experience seems so peculiar, offbeat, and frightening? Is that the reasonable explanation for which I yearn? There are no demons in dark corners, they are all in my head. Yes, that is certainly a more straightforward way of looking at things. There was no maniacal taxi driver intent on hurting me, simply a taxi driver who was bad at his job; there are no trapdoors, simply doors upon which my diseased mind has imposed a sinister significance.
*
Later Gustave recalled that he had never spent a more exquisite night. Hours filled with sweetest sadness. To be sure, he had touched Ellena before. His hands were not innocent; their lips knew each other. But all through the night Ellena’s body lay close to Gustave and she was as safely hidden as in a hollow. And he felt the urge to enfold her completely, to explore her body palpably with his warmth, to unite with the girl on the periphery of their skin without disclosing the fact that she was female, he male. Sensuousness was like thin air above them. Far more powerful were the premonitions of immeasurable grief. Their eyes filled with tears that sprang out of the natural pain of existence, which was like an open book in front of them. In it they could read that they had been conceived and born and that Providence had brought them together, two creatures of very different origin, but both in a way undeserving. In spite of separations and strange trials, they felt the harmony of being united, the shapr magic of a deliverance, of wild, immeasurable hopes. At the same time–a callous picture of death. A merciless pounding of waves. The hand of murder. Fear. All the distrust of Providence that overcomes a helpless, crushed creature who one day has to sink bereft, uninformed, and freezing into the grave, who leaves no legend behind him, who has trembled, suffered, hoped–for nothing. The space through which the stars hasten played on them, moving like young cats. And they fell asleep, arm in arm, as they sailed out to sea.
*
‘You are suffering,’ she said simply. ‘Why?’
‘I can present my parables in a different connection or in a different order,’ he said. ‘Millions of ears hear the magical sound of universal sadness, true or false, and fall prey to it. There exists only one pain, one passion, on death. But they glitter limitlessly in infinity, in motion everywhere. And every ray, the known and the unknown, hums this consuming rhythm, this melody of downfall. He who lays himself open to it founders, goes up in flames, succumbs. Perhaps the greatest work of art is the masterpiece of omnipotence which is everywhere with a soft voice. And we, its servants, are being summoned to all things at every moment. But often we refuse. We shut ourselves off. But when are we so completely healthy or invulnerable that pain cannot reach us? When could we call ourselves out of the reach of death? Where is there peace and justice, a condition without condemnation, that we could let sadness go from us with impunity?’
‘That is a theory of how suffering spreads on this earth, from the stars or from somewhere or other.’
‘But I don’t want it that way,’ he said. ‘I want to experience everything but I want to remain as virtuous as matter, which is unaware of its own manifestations. I want to stand at my own side when I scream or sink to the ground in convulsions. I am not prepared to let myself be put on trial as to whether I am a useful or an objectionable male animal. I have come into being and intend to make myself at home in the condition as I please. I don’t escape the voice, I swing and twitch with it, but I don’t want to feel it as everybody else feels it.’
‘You are crying.’ The words come from her forced.
‘I know,’ he said. ‘But it doesn’t mean anything to me.’
*
In spite of the horrible and painful task he was undertaking, which he liked to call his duty, Gustave had his experiences or, perhaps, he was not yet so spent that he could not be impressed by things that took him out of himself. It was absolutely incomprehensible that he was able to wake up again and again out of the stupefaction into which his fanaticism had led him. With renewed astonishment he took in the multifariously constructed inner form of the swimming ark. He told himself that all this could not be the fantastic idea of a single man, the shipbuilder, but rather the result of an accumulation of constructive experience. Flights of the imagination and penetrations of space throughout centuries. Primeval visions, even though they had come as a surprise to the novice. Beside the thing which had come to pass gradually stood the independent and sudden revelation which emanated from what had been put together, which could not be thought out in advance. A beam, laid on top of another beam, held together with brackets, fastened with dowels, and other beams surrounding three-dimensional proportions, with a limitless and an enclosed outlook, is like a crystal creating a rhythmically divided world . . . that is how the miracle of a sexagonally symmetrical form takes place . . . a form which adapts itself not only to the circle circumscribing it but also, in the repetition of its symmetry, turns seamlessly into the mesh of a honeycomb. An event that takes place with immeasurable ease and puts human reason and the powers of the imagination to shame.
*
Then it was over. They climbed across the cargo toward the door by which they had entered. Gustave, in a last effort to come closer to the content of the cargo, threw himself down on one of the coffinlike crates. He made the effort, even if with dwindling will power and filled with a premonition of futility, to establish some sort of relationship with the mysterious thing. It seemed foolish to him, an error of human perception, that anything could remain hidden which could be approached until only a few centimeters lay between. But it was the usual thing to be struck with blindness. Who could recognize the sickness of his neighbor with his eyes even though it lay palpable under the skin? When Gustave arose from the crate a few seconds later, he had assured himself that the icy aura which filled the hold had infected the crates or, perhaps, they were its sources. He felt as if he had thrown himself down on the snows of a wintry field. And a white wraith of cold crept up to him.
*
p.s. Hey. ** lotuseatermachine, Looking at rides can be enough sometimes. I can’t ride anything that turns in circles, so that’s what I do admiringly in those instances. I know a little about ‘hell gardens’. There’s a crazy one in Thailand whose name I forget whose imagery I gaze upon with wonder. I’m so sad you don’t get to do Halloween. I think there are some haunted houses there that I’ve noticed in my searching. I’ll try to remember to alert you to them when I put together my fave haunts post in October. I’ll look for that catalog. Timeless generally puts out very worthy books. Me too: infinite backlog. You should see my desk. It’s like a dystopian cityscape of books. ** Jack Skelley, Hi, J. Yeah, I would assume the FFS recovery is the opposite of a picnic, but it’ll be over soon, I’m sure. POP was a dream. Probably shaped my brain pan as much as Disneyland did. I’ll check that YouTube channel, very cool. Me too, re: Little Leota. I was sad that last time I went there to see that she’s been ‘upgraded’. Ugh. ** _Black_Acrylic, ‘Wooden and rickety’ would make such a good blurb. The weekend is going to its oyster. ** Carsten, Well, of course I was generalising wildly about presses, and generalisations are always bullshit, but neglect certainly can happen. Having run a small press all by myself, I totally get how that happens, not to excuse it. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a real feel for Germany. I haven’t been there a ton, but its character is so far elusive to me. I think Dusseldorf was the cosiest place there for me, I don’t know why. I go to LA usually just once a year around Halloween but more often now because of the film stuff. I think I’m pretty into living in Paris. No longings to relocate at all. Whatever happens though, of course. But, no, being here feels right. ** jay, I’m happy that you see the considerable good in thrill rides. That speaks well of you, in my book. My luck is majority yours for the foreseeable future. Let me know when I can put it bed. I get what you’re saying about the pairings, but, no, I don’t think I was thinking about the Bataille example at all, as far as I can remember. Preciado, cool. Well, we just got into a film festival that we really wanted to get into yesterday, so things are good du jour. See you likewise! ** Steve, Hi. I’ve ridden all of these rides. That’s how I know they’re my faves. Symbolica is lovely. It’s the only ride I know of where it has three separate ways to ride it, meaning three different routes through it. Good, I need to catch up your show! Everyone, Steve hosts/curates a terrific musical radio show/podcast called ‘Radio Not Radio’, and if you haven’t heard the latest edition, you can by clicking this. ** Tosh Berman, Well, you know I heartily agree about POP. I was obsessed with it as a kid. If it was still extant, I’m sure I’d think it was very small, but it seemed like an entire world to me back then. There’s a very good book about POP if you haven’t read it: ‘Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles’ Space Age Nautical Pleasure Pier’. Yes, I went to the Cheetah a few times. I saw early Alice Cooper, The Byrds (too), Spirit, and I think The Doors there. My parents used to dance there earlier when it was the Aragon Ballroom. You probably know that the Cheetah is the setting of the terrific film ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They.’ ** Sypha, Well, I’ve been going to theme parks since I was a kid at every opportunity, so that helps. The Cinematheque is just concluding a giant Wes Anderson retrospective. In fact there’s a big show of props and art and so on and so forth from his films there too that I think I’ll need to see in the next two days or I’ll miss it. ** Hugo, Thanks. Zac and I actually hoping to go to Wailbi in the next few weeks. I went to it in the mid-80s, so it’s probably a totally difference place by now. I don’t know anything about showing our film in Ghent. Weird. That sure would be nice. I’ll check with our distributor. They sometimes set up stuff and forget to tell us. Sunny (in the good sense) day. ** Bill, Tivoli Gardens is sweet. They have a roller coaster there that’s so old that they have to have a guy sitting the train of cars with you to use manual brakes when you come to a curve or start going too fast. I will for sure tip you on adventurous film festivals with open submissions when I find them. ** SP, I’ll try to go find the playlist of the ‘IAM’ trim my friend made. ‘Baby Invasion’ was a joy. Thank god Harmony’s out there fucking with film. Boy, we sure need it. ** Uday, I hope you end up somewhere with a big, packed theme park. Wonderful that you love ‘Action Kylie’. Kevin was way up there among the most dedicated and devoted of her fans. ** Bernard Welt, Hi! Wait … Nicholas., If you didn’t see it, Bernard had a whole lot of STH related information for you in his comment yesterday, and he knows his stuff. Thank you B. Nice about the Lippens like. Porn me up! And, you know, everyone. ** Audrey, Ah, you’re off if you aren’t already. I’m glad yesterday was pretty dry and not too shabby in the temperature department. Next time, yeah, let’s meet. Thank you for the info on possible Seattle film venues. That’s really helpful. I don’t know anything much about the scene there. I’ll look into those. It wouldn’t shock me whatsoever if a doc on Berman is in the works somewhere. Seems like a no brainer. Double yay about the hrt and your excitement. X2 has sadly gotten very rough. To the point where I almost don’t want to ride it anymore. It was more painful than fun the last time I rode it. But I guess smoothing those tracks out is very expensive. No, I haven’t seen ‘Vanderpump Rules’. With TV stuff, people have to point things out because I never watch shows on my own. I’ll seek it. Very curious now. I hope your trip back home is smooth, and see you soon! ** scunnard, Yes, I’ve ridden/experienced all of those rides. Cool, write me whenever the time is right. ** Alistair, I go to amusement parks as often as I possibly can. They’re my post-drugs drug. I think you’re supposed to risk your life when you’re young without realising that you’re risking it? ‘Concerts are a lot’: how so? ** Steeqhen, Oops. I’m imagining that Kneecap’s music isn’t as exciting as their politics, but I don’t know. Sounds interesting: your ‘inbred’ angle. The Haunted Mansion is so incredibly not as scary as your young imagination proposed. You might be disappointed although relieved simultaneously. ** julian, Haunted Mansion is hard to beat. Although not when it has that stupid, counterproductive Tim Burton style overlay in the Halloween period. Burritos with fries in them? Whoa, yum. My favorite thing about Paris in a general way is how beautiful it is and how you can just walk and walk and be totally happy. If I’m here when you’re here, I’ll give you a selective tour. Very nice about the semester abroad in Rome. Have you been there before? It’s lovely and another great place to just walk and walk. ** HaRpEr //, People’s beeline attraction to the confessional in art and life is probably the root of everything that’s wrong in the world. That’s overly judgemental, duh, but that’s surely why Taylor Swift and that meme of the CEO cheating on his wife at a Coldplay concert are phenomenons while, okay, Kenward Elmslie is barely known and considered niche. Or something. He’s so great. Really one of the most underrated original writers in the English language by far. I’ve never been to the UK parks other than Diggerland, which is insane since they’re so close. Every other time I go to the UK I get weirdly hassled and treated with suspicion at the border, which is probably a big reason why I rarely go at this point. ** tom, Hi! Thanks for coming back! I’ve been meaning to watch ‘Friendship’. I’ll do that. Noted. Thanks. You’re from SoCal. High five, etc. Tatsu is great. I don’t know why I forgot to include it. I do Disney vloggers too. I feel like I spend, like, half my time looking at amusement park nerd vlogs and websites and stuff. Absolutely, yes, about the Disney college people. Fascinating. Good novel premise even. Hmm. Catskills, nice, I’ve only seen them from afar. They seem a lot more doable than, say, the San Gabriels. Enjoy that maximally. Wow, that is an interesting role. Yeah, I’m trying to picture ‘masculine swagger’ and I can’t seem to quite get the swish out of it. Weird. Like … John Wayne or something maybe? I’m sure you’ll ace it, but luck galore anyway. ** Nicholas., Go read Bernard’s comment of yesterday if you didn’t. It was largely for you. Yeah, haha, see, being in a place that’s nothing but suntanned gay guys judging each other on their looks and trying to get laid 24/7 is my idea of pure hell. Even when I was young, I practically had to be bribed to set foot in a gay bar much less in a gay sauna. But there are lots of people who are thrilled and set free by that context, and more power to them and of course to you. I fully admit I’m the weirdo. When I went it was exactly as I described above, and I mostly tried to hide out in the place I was staying and write. But I also don’t like the sun or the beach. What can you do? ** Right. Today I spotlight a fascinating and, some say, important novel that a lot of people don’t seem to know, and that seemed like a good impetus to do a presentation on it. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
d-
tripping again. eating a sandwich. just finished with some porn. got pretty… visionary if i do say so myself.
yes, do give tfs the time. you should like them, but maybe i’m projecting. i am a little chemically altered at the moment. their latest two, fairyland codex and submersible behavior, are quite great. hendrix covers and original tunes and whatnot. i must admit a bit of a crush on their guitarist erica. she’s just so cute.
i gotta send you this video i was watching, the boy in it is another perfect one for yr gallery. perfect, delicious ass, really cute face. a real catch, you know.
reading. finished wrong and am about halfway on i wished. trying to finish it without crying this time, but it’s not going so well. i think i’ve mentioned it, but yr works are going to be studied for centuries. literally, that’s how huge the mark you’ve made on contemporary letters is. if i were educated at all, i would try to teach a class about it but i’m not good at school because i have autism or something. i don’t have regrets, but i do wish i had given school a better shot, i think i would’ve made a great professor or something. it’s too late for all that now.
you saw neil young? great show? i saw costello about a month back, it ruled. he’s just a very good songwriter. i have tickets now to see black eyes in DC later this year at their inaugural speaking in tongues festival, for which you should be the keynote speaker. are you familiar with black eyes at all? super crucial DC noise/jazz/dub/queercore group from the early-2000s. one of the few good records released in that cultural wasteland between 1999 and 2014 or so where nothing good ever seemed to happen except maybe deerhunter and puce mary. they claim not to be familiar with yr work, or hugh did when i interviewed him for a project that went nowhere back in 2019, but i can’t see how, because their work is very much of a piece with yr especially contemporaneous stuff like period and my loose thread, but the concerns are all there and they fit with yr work in so many ways. maybe i’ll ask hugh if we can have room temp be part of the festivities, i’ll bet i could twist his arm into it. that would maybe mean you would have to be on this dreadful continent for a couple days, but i’ll be there so … aw who am i kidding, that’s not a selling point. anyhow, dead serious on trying to get room temp on the bill if you want to try for a DC screening in october. it would be ever so cool.
just blue-skying because i can’t think of much else to do right now besides masturbate more and my cock kinda hurts so i’m gonna skip that for a bit. i know i het really verbose and TMI-guy when i’m dosed like this so i’m gonna go put on some music and read this book about the oakland county child killer that’s captured my attention. did you ever hear about that whole story and how those boys got abducted and it was probably part of some auto-exec’s extensive child porn ring and also the same auto-exec’s kid kept getting caught with his dick in like every random neighborhood boy between the ages of 8 and like 16 who he may also have been filming for said child porn ring? so then the auto-exec and some cop buddies had to snuff the kid to stop their whole kid-fucking empire from getting exposed? fucking man, the 70s sounded like a wild time and i’m seriously depressed i missed them. it would make a great movie, but they’d have to cast someone really cute to play timmy king. i’m so out of touch, i don’t even know who the latest crop of cute young things are. those stranger things kids sure turned out weird-looking, though.
i hope yr day is as cool as mine is shaping up to be, i hope all good things happen for you today and tomorrow and let’s do something in DC later yeah? love to yous always. talk soon.
-c.
*Poof*AHHHHHH! I just read the comment not yours the other guys so this is to BERNARD **opp lol missed this Thanks for all this background information on STH! and how it flopped I guess haha Please do send over the pdf (Reclusiveinternet@gmail.com) I have MEAT Volume 1 on PDF which is the compilation of S.T.H I believe and a few Copies of S.T.H myself! Two issues I bought and Spoonbill in the burg! Two Issues and a circus of books poster with a sad clown on the back lol. I am actually obsessed with these faggy little zines so yeah pdf away and actual genius for recognizing how powerful S.T.H could be digitally with Grindr, and sniffles and everything else there should be a S.T.H. thriving again lets talk more haha you seem cool in a Dennis way.**
Now you. Thanks you can tell I don’t read everything can’t you haha. Speaking of I’m gonna read Wrong then flunker or flunker than Wrong cause they’re both story books seems like a fun reading thing ill keep you updated! And okay when you say it like that LOL Well im weird like you and just sort of above the judging I was more basking like AHHHHH we can all be gay and safe and naked if we want! I didnt feel judged or like I was judging but it takes a lot for a man to move one and The only one on that island who did was huge like big strong nice boy I already knew and like owns my heart totally different story! The sun isn’t my fav either but idk just walking back and forth on the island got my body together like its WILD walking on sand is endurance training and the ocean is brutal but refreshing. I just feel a pulse there thats no where else and I literally think its just cause everyone is happy horny and free and you get sort of permanently high on an island with or without drugs haha.
Hans Henny Jahnn is not a name that I’m familiar with, but I appreciate the uniqueness and force of his obsessions. I’m thinking the guy would settle right into the contemporary Euro literary scene, although always being an outlier maybe.
This is a good reminder that there’s much more to post war german literature than Grass and Böll and whoever. Did you know that Sebald is pretty much unknown in Germany?
ciao dennis!
so glad you remember me ♡
in response to yesterday’s post, i have been to Efteling for my birthday in may, and can totally confirm that De Vliegende Hollander is one of the best rides i’ve ever been on. totally crazy. i never want to spoil rides before going to a theme park, so i was first row the first time i rode it and didn’t really knew what it was all about. it was so good, but honestly didn’t expect the scary screams of the hollander..before the drop, you know. have you been able to go to Efteling since they opened Danse Macabre? such a gem. probably my favourite at the moment. let me know!
oh!! you’re coming to ams!!! so nice. i know the owner of a bookstore that would love to have you for a talk!! the bookstore is called San Seriffe, we actually talked about it some time ago. if you’re interested, i could put you in touch! but either way, would love to be able to see your movie somewhere in the city!
and thanks for the help with Flunker. we actually tried to order from that bookstore i just told you about, but he said that the publishing house in the UK is actually a record label (or something similar) and it’s harder for them, as a bookstore, to order from them. so yeah, we’ll see, i’ll get it somehow.
a presto!
Yes indeed! I’ve been really enjoying AI in general. Have you heard about the gay robot walking around in LA?
Oh hello phss I suppose I didn’t send it in time. Oh very nice post that takes me out a bad mood this very painful day and every day and everything day. No one ever listens to me and I’m tired. The guardianship takes so long to to just approve something necessary. I was scared I got pregnant a week or so ago and if I did I would have probably killed myself. As if this body is already be so denied what it had just for them to prove I’m “rational”. And I am rational. You can’t just not give someone birth control. Maybe I seem irrational, to someone Atypical, (barf those words) I never even get this emotional except in my head, so the judge wouldn’t even know how “dysfunctional my thoughts are when I am externally being productive and bashing yet simultaneously trying to stifle a suicide plan in my head that I have to object so maybe someone will actually want to get closer to me. They could only presume emotional pain from what’s on my arm, which I have failed to keep clean since leaving the hospital. I succeeded in not hurting myself for a week, but then I realized I’m already doing unhealthy habit so self harm is something they can’t take from me, this control and this great feeling. It feels pathetic not doing it because the more common I do it the funner it gets. and its euphoric when you go deeper, like almost a stimulant 20 seconds after.
Maybe that’s why I’ve been really liking the Piano teacher because those paragraphs Erika mentioned about hurting herself resonated with me. I’m too much of a sentimental reader.
everything is just hurting so much and it’s not fair that everyone has someone but maybe I don’t deserve a friend and it’s so stupid and pathetic but whatever I’m thinking is always is so pathetic and weak no matter what I can convince myself because everyone has someone who cares for them and it’s not one of those “ You never know know who cares” because why have none of my friends ever cared for me and why must I fake being happy just for them to even want to talk to me. They’ve never told me what I meant to them. why was the lowest I was begging for help and no one cared. maybe I’m just not deserving of it and I’m so tired because that’s all I was told growing up so how can it not be true when there’s no one who cares about me to prove its not true. And these thoughts are so useless and pathetic because no one will ever like me with this, so it becomes a thinking paradox because I know only a very disorganized and unpromising person who probably becomes homeless could think these things of themselves. I’m not manifesting disaster I’m just observing from the people around me in this stupid fucking town where everyone I observe tears me apart because it’s so sad just seeing so much people damaged by systems walking around and some of them are weirdos don’t get me wrong, they flirt all the time with me when I’m walkin, oh my God I’m rambling .
Well anyways I love German writers so this is a good one I haven’t read in very long time. It’s almost bittersweet, maybe I’ll do a dive today. I appreciate me forgetting this whole upper half by tomorrow (I will leave yesterday’s comment since it never came which I think maybe I was in a better mood. Probably a lie but it doesn’t matter. My friends only want to talk to me when I’m happy. I’m never happy although I try to be, and forcing it makes me feel lonely. They aren’t even friends I know that. I know there’s other people I suppose this morning just hurts very much and death or pain is very promising. I hope you can forgive me.
Today might be a reading day because nothing feels like it has purpose worse than yesterday
(yesterday reply)
Oh let’s see if I can send this before the deadline of your posting. Hey dude,you’ll never guess. It’s 1am right now and I’m just relaxing in the gym locker room. I am not certain, just felt like one of those moments. So I went with it. Good workout tho!
A rollercoaster would be fun right now. They should have amusement section in gyms with steep halls and along with a jungle gym just like mini rides. I think working in a circus would be fun. Just not doing the animal abuse routines.
Oh yes OooOh is a very great band I don’t know why I said white Ring my bad. I suppose those three (including SALEM another similar sounding female vocalist same genre music group) are like the front of the genre most notable.i do that a lot sorry happens even with the stuff I know.
Oh did you make it to your cozy apartment in California? (crossing fingers and preparing for the worst) did the package I sent just evaporated? Was it ever located? I suppose it was odd to send one anyways I’m not sure.
Have a great day. Hazelnut coffee is really great—oh nutritional yeast is something I bought just the other day but I think it’s what hardcore vegans use as cheese substitute bits it’s good regardless, has a lot of vitamins I dunno maybe this is boring
Sorry for writing alot today. I wish I didn’t bother you for that much of a paragraph sitting
Hi Dennis,
So happy the blog is back! Just wanted to say hi. I have nothing else important to impart.
Love,
B
Hey D! Thanks, hopefully would have done that before your next theme park post. Thanks for today’s post. As with many days on here, would have had no idea without your intervention. Already downloaded the book and am midway through it. Was suitably impressed by this sentence, ‘Kebad Kenya was considering eating the flesh of his own thigh, raw, just as it hung down from him, warm and pulsating with his heart’s blood, but already detached from the man to whom it belonged, ready to take root elsewhere’, which would have been just fine if it weren’t for that last part. Ready to take root elsewhere. Outside of some Coyote stories and another example that comes to mind without a name, I can’t recall seeing an instance of this eagerness of an escaped body part to reattach elsewhere. Really cool. Are you familiar with ClubChalamet?
I’ve already edited the next “Radio Not Radio” show and sent it off to Red Berry Radio. It’ll air there and get archived on Mixcloud Sunday.
I find grief affecting me in very unpredictable ways. Something will remind me of my parents out of nowhere, and then I’ll feel very sad and lonely. It was difficult to communicate with them for several months before their deaths, but it’s sunk in that I’m starting new experiences without them, and that’s very hard to come to terms with that. I hope that my cousin Andrea and her husband will visit New York this summer, because she’s the only relative I’m still close to, but they haven’t been able to schedule a trip yet. If that doesn’t work out, I’d like to go see them for Thanksgiving.
On a brighter note, I got a letter from the state probate court today about their estate, so they’re keeping me in the loop without any prompting.
The New York Film Festival just announced Luca Guadagnino’s AFTER THE HUNT as their opening night film. Rumor has it they may be premiering Gregg Araki’s new movie.
hi dennis!
halloween is celebrated to a very minor extent in australia but nowhere near as much as in america. i never celebrated halloween or trick-or-treated or anything as a kid (tho that was partially cuz my family were christian conservative). at the same time, you get halloween sales and masks being sold in stores during october (to be honest i’m not sure if anyone actually buys those masks). i’d love to hear about any haunts you’ve seen in australia! i’ll try to remind you in october.
i’ve been following the comments about straight to hell from you, bernard welt, and nicholas. i love straight to hell and boyd mcdonald too! i’ve read william e. jones’ excellent biography ‘true homosexual experiences’, as well as ‘cruising the movies’ and a physical copy of the first straight to hell compilation ‘meat’ which i got from an awesome queensland bookstore called ‘book merchant jenkins’. boyd mcdonald is a fascinating figure and i find him relatable in many aspects, namely the fact that he was an artist who lived on social security most of his life (which i relate to as a disabled artist) and his mental health struggles (and because of the queer anti-establishment nature of his work of course). as a non-binary pansexual, i sometimes wish there was a more broadly queer equivalent to straight to hell (or something along those lines) that also included women, bisexuals/pansexuals, trans people, etc. is such a thing even possible? maybe i’ll need to be the perverted change i want to see in the world.
also to bernard welt, i’d love to have that pdf article you mentioned to nicholas. too!
i find that i inevitably end up buying too many books or movies and so they just end up in a pile collecting dust. i eventually get so frustrated with having too much stuff that i can’t consume fast enough that i periodically purge my book/movie collections by selling stuff i either don’t want anymore or, if i haven’t watched/read it yet, don’t have enough interest in watching/reading anytime soon.
Hiya Dennis. Today I was able to spend time writing. I chose to go to my university’s library. It’s weird to see it so empty after spending many hours there during peak times. Either way, it helped me settle into the mood of my craft. I’m proud of myself as I was able to conceptualise a character. They’re someone who retreats into their dissociation. I was interested in creating a scenario where they’re unexpectedly aroused. In this position, they try to understand the moment through lucid images that they’re daydreaming. My play is to create different scenarios for them and consider how they would respond in these moments. The extract I wrote today is something I’m confident about developing for my novel. It’s nice that I’ve been able to ground some ideas into a fictional individual. I was wondering if what I’m writing may relate to you when crafting characters?
I understand what you mean by solitary gameplay. Usually, I keep multiplayer habits as a secondary means of avoiding games that I want to immerse myself in. Now that I’m home, I’m thinking of pushing forward with my installed library on my PS1 emulator. I suppose that’s the exciting thing about having a lot of spare time haha.
Tomorrow I’ll be seeing a friend. She’s downsizing her clothes and wants to see if any will fit me. I’m quite excited about it. Lately, I’ve been a bit self-conscious about my presentation. I just haven’t had the money to explore what could fit me. This will be a nice response to that. We’re also thinking of watching Malice@Doll. It’s this 2001 Japanese OVA that’s entirely CG animated. The little I know about it and its sexually transgressive elements seems fascinating. We’ll see how it goes.
I hope your day has been well too. Take care Dennis!
Never read Jahnn, but I’m aware of him. Certainly an interesting cat. I came across him during a deep dive on Gilgamesh. Jahnn (like Rilke) was deeply shaken by it & referenced it often. He seemed quite the wild pagan at heart, which I instantly found appealing.
See, I’m German & I’ve never been to Düsseldorf (or Cologne, Dresden, Bremen… the list is endless). I honestly know SoCal better than this country. OK, I had a lot of driving jobs in L.A. (catering, taxi etc.) which taught me the lay of the land in no time, but then I also actually loved SoCal & was hungry for every corner of it.
Judging from afar, you seem a perfect fit for Paris. I’m glad that wondrous city is treating you well.
With me nothing is set in stone either. Andalusia feels good for me right now & I’ll ride it out for as long as it’ll end up feeling good.
Following up on something I mentioned the other day: what do you think of a poetry chapbook with accompanying photos? I know it depends on the photos, but just generally, where do you stand on that?
Hey Dennis,
That’s encouraging to know you’re still motivated to make movies in spite of the stresses. I must admit, I have a new admiration for the straightforwardness of publishing. I’ve found the music industry and the movie industry to be rough going. So many constituent parts. I think I’ll stick to the isolated practices!
We just wrapped on the short. It looks incredible – although, one of the expensive probe lenses was damaged to I’ll have to take the claim on the rental insurance. It’s a pain in the arse, but at least we got the footage we needed. That said, I’m not sure I’ll step into the producers/writer role again.
Hoping to head over to Paris next summer, though. It would lovely to grab a coffee with you if you’re there or had any free time.
Stay well!
Chris
Hey Dennis
Ah, well– the guy telling me about it seemed quite excited and said he contacted you through New Juche (?) I dunno, it was a while back.
Back on the subject of amusement parks — have you ever been to “The Forbidden Corner” up in Yorkshire? It’s a folly park I used to go to all the time as a kid, and I got lost in the rat tunnels and labyrinths they have there, seems like something you might like. It figures in a lot of my dreams, so I would be curious to know what you might think of it. Diggerland and Flamingo Land are also up there, those are also cool places I went to a lot.
I had some of my birthday presents early today because my dad and brother are leaving to go up to England soon. I got a copy of “Giles-Goat-Boy” since I can never find any of John Barth’s longer works. I remember you put it on a list one time. Do you have anything to say about it before I dig into it?
Anyway, wish you the best down there. If you do go to Walibi, tell me about it, I’ve been there a ton of times (maybe I will find an excuse to go sometime.)
‘A Writer of Baroque sexuality, of fleshiness and macabre desperation’. That sounds like my thing indeed, thanks for the intro!
That’s an interesting theory about the confessional, and that’s why T. Swift is so big. Her music is definitely just subliminal messages to her fans about her private life. Also, It’s crazy how many people think that writing is definitionally just elaborate sentences about your feelings. That’s sort of what they tell you poetry is in school.
Yeah, UK customs does have a reputation for being invasive. That said, did you notice anything weird when you landed in the US? I’ve heard a lot of stories of people who have either critiqued the government or are artists or whatever who have been detained and questioned, even American citizens.
I’m staying with my parents for the moment, I don’t know for how long, but it is a temporary weight off my chest.
It’s a weird summer, which I say every year but unlike ever before I’m really focused on just getting through this one. It is sort of passing me by though. It’s totally isolating, I had to come and stay here because I needed to be away from that. If someone asked me where I see myself by the end of the year I wouldn’t know what to say at all. I really don’t know how so many people stay afloat. I guess I’ll be less worried about this stuff if I can find people who are going through the same things. I really don’t know what I’ll do if I can’t figure that out. But anyway, best to focus on the first step: work. I’ve been researching stuff about onlyfans, I know it’s not like you just post a few nudes and get rich or whatever and that it is like a real job. I have no qualms about doing that stuff, it’s just the question of if I can actually make money from it. I did webcam stuff for a brief stint in the past but I couldn’t figure out how to make money from it so quit.
I’ve only read a little Jahnn, haven’t thought about him in ages. My favorite parts of “The Living are Few…” were that amazing bio, “A Master Selects His Servant”, and a lot of the “Night of Lead” excerpt. I need to get to “The Ship” and revisit the collection soon. The opening of that untitled composition is pretty great.
By the way, the graphic meta-stories guest post is just about ready. Let me know when I should send it your way.
Bill
Hey Dennis,
Had an interesting day; the first half being spent with my mam at this old fort in Cork that was only reopened as a museum-esque locale in the past few years; the latter half being spent on my bed in a haze of podcasts and texting.
It all seemed to meld together actually in a very interesting way. I was listening to this 4 and a half hour podcast about Mulholland Drive, with them talking about how reality can reawaken dreams from some reminder, and have you be in two places at once. This is somewhat what it was like at that fort, as we had gone out there one time during 2020 for a drive, before it was opened. What’s more, my mom reminded me of this experience I had on a playschool trip to a firefighter department, and had my mind half in those memories and half in the reality of almost 20 years later. Anyway, I learnt a fair bit about WWI and Ireland today, and I found a 2L bottle of Dr Pepper in a shop, which I have never seen before in Ireland (and something I had always wanted to find!). The most important thing, however, is that the breeze and coast of the sea reminded me of how much I long to swim in the ocean again — not even for sunny summer beach ideals, I would perhaps rather an overcast, maybe rainy day, which would feel almost strangely spiritual. I haven’t done so in at least 3 years at this point… I can’t even remember it, but instead am being flashed with memories of being 16, 12, 19, 17, jumping off piers, sat down, swimming far out, in Spain, in West Cork, in this one pond with luminescent plankton. It’s a bit overwhelming!
Hey Dennis – it’s been a while! I’ve been listening to a few audio books for the first time like Edmund White’s sex memoir and Jamie Bernstein’s memoir about her dad, Leonard Bernstein. The readers are very good. And I just found the audio book for I WISHED, which I liked a lot a few years ago. Really enjoying the audio book so far! I think the narrator is perfect and especially enjoyed his Russian accent in Chapter 2. Have you heard it and if so, what do you think? It’s like I’m experiencing the book all over again and probably getting much more out of it this time!
I’ve been so busy with work (psychic work!) so haven’t been here in a while, but the blog is as good as ever. I have to return more often!