by Jed Birmingham
Back in the day, I was something of a fanboy. For a while there I wrote fan letters to academics and scholars whose work struck a chord with me. I should say fan emails. Even an avid collector of paper like me did not write hard copy letters. So, when I read Kyle Schlesinger’s essay on Robert Creeley as a publisher and editor, I dropped him a line expressing how impressed I was with his essay. It made me see my Black Mountain Reviews and Divers Press items in a whole new light. Same with Oliver Harris. Daniel Kane. Jim Pennington. Roy Pennington. The list goes on.
Most of these initial emails are lost on my end. Part of me believes that hard copy letters are in some ways more likely to survive than emails and texts. But the experts tell me differently; they insist that emails and texts are persistent, even indestructible. Tell that to my initial email to Kyle Schlesinger. I can’t find it. Maybe he has it. That said, I do have my fan email to Reva Wolf. Wolf wrote one of the best books on the Mimeo Revolution of all time: Andy Warhol, Poetry, and Gossip in the 1960s.
Here is what I wrote about her book on the Mimeo Mimeo Blog:
For me, Reva Wolf’s Andy Warhol, Poetry, and Gossip in the 1960s is the mirror by which all books relating to the Mimeo Revolution must stand in front of to judge their appearance. Wolf’s mirror is unforgiving and reveals all blemishes. This was the first book I read that provided a coherent, directed reading of mimeo mags beyond providing a narrative history of a scene and its participants. Wolf does not tell a story, she provides a close, fascinating reading. She has read all the mags; she has dug into the archives, she has watched the films, she has seen the artwork, she has read the interviews and histories, she has talked to the participants, and then wonderfully she weaves it all together in a readable, clear, exciting fashion.
Generally, in the little magazine universe only Modernist magazines get this superstar treatment, such as Mark Morrisson’s The Public Face of Modernism, and to be honest, I do not think anybody has approached what Wolf accomplished. The reason is Warhol no doubt. The success of Wolf’s book stems from art criticism rather than literary criticism. Wolf is an art historian and the better for it. In my opinion, art criticism is far more interesting and exciting in its readings than literary criticism. Wolf’s book is much more innovative and entertaining than Morrisson’s book for example. As we will see further on, the most successful treatments of the Mimeo Revolution have treated the publications in the context of art.
Wolf’s readings of the Warhol covers of C and Fuck You have become the accepted way to approach those magazines. Her treatment of 2/2 Stories for Warhol is fantastic and fun. Her analysis of the Haircut piece in Floating Bear 26 is as close as the shave on Kojak’s head. She ends any doubt over whether Warhol was an intellectual (he was). Wolf can handle the bread and butter of literary criticism with ease as she shows by documenting how little magazines operate in a creative community and how mags talk to each other and about each other. Any number of literary scholars have dealt with reception theory in terms of little magazines (such as Morrisson). Wolf does it better. In short, her too short book is absolutely brilliant. Yet like a gifted teenager, this book is a bit of a loner. Maybe I’ll think of some company for it in the days to come, but Wolf’s book stands in a class by itself.
One way to see if a work of criticism has made its case, and even to an extent crossed over out of the academy, is whether the book is cited in rare book catalogues. Wolf’s book is a standard reference for bookdealers everywhere and is relied on heavily. It is as essential as Clay and Phillips Secret Location. Only Daniel Kane approaches Wolf’s mastery of New York mimeo.
The minute I finished Wolf’s book I was literally bouncing off the walls with excitement, and I wrote her what amounted to a fan letter. The book was so fun to read, so informative, and so inspiring I had to let her know that she had changed the way I looked at the mimeo mags I had the opportunity to look at every day for years. She revitalized my book collection and infused it with meaning and energy. I would guess that academics do not get fan letters from those outside of the academic establishment very often. Maybe that is for the best, because I think I scared her.
And here is the fan letter:
Professor Wolf
My name is Jed Birmingham. I am a William Burroughs and little magazine collector. This pursuit has lead (sic, Oy!!!) me to studying the material I own and writing about it on a Burroughs site called Reality Studio. As you may know, Burroughs appeared in most of the major magazines of New York in the 1960’s: Floating Bear, Fuck You, C Journal, Yugen, Kulchur, et al.
Your book on Andy Warhol and gossip has been a wonder to me. I cite and link to it often in my articles. Given all the items I have purchased lately dealing with the New York scene, I will be sure to reread your book soon. It is a wonderful resource. Although I am not an everyday reader, I am not an academic either. In any case, I found your book fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable.
I eagerly await any new work you might have as well as any articles or essays you might suggest. Thank you for your scholarship; it is appreciated.
You might be interested in some of my articles if only for the images that accompany them. Below is a small sampling. I would appreciate any comments, additions or corrections if you so choose.
https://realitystudio.org/bibliographic-bunker/kiss-and-couch/
https://realitystudio.org/bibliographic-bunker/couch-the-andy-warhol-cover-of-fuck-you/
https://realitystudio.org/bibliographic-bunker/burroughs-berrigan-and-the-ticket-that-exploded/One of the joys of your book was all the great images.
Thanks again
Wolf’s response was not as aloof as I remembered but we did not get in touch ever again as I recall. Going through the Sanders Archive I thought of Wolf and her book once again. Box 349 – `1962-1964, Folder: 1964 Peace Eye Gossip Item Ashbery + Warhol brough her to mind to be exact. Just a scrap of paper really with writing on both sides, and one that was hard to decipher, but I did my best to transcribe it:
Have quiz on mouth
Ashbery/Drunk took Warhol/hook up/woke up bed full/of big gobs vaseline/+ piss
What would Wolf make of this? She wrote on Sanders and Ashbery extensively in her book but not in this context. Although she does mention Sanders in terms of blow jobs. I can only imagine her take would be brilliant, insightful, and well-researched. Maybe it would only be a lengthy footnote.
Gossip is a big part of Sanders’ Fuck You publications. The Talk of the Town section of Fuck You, a magazine of the arts is a gossip section for the literary underground of the Lower East Side. A zine like Bugger has tabloid, gossipy elements to it. The Dick is a mimeo gossip tabloid fully realized. I suspect that Sanders got some of the inspiration for these gossipy elements from Warhol as well as Ted Berrigan and C Press. Berrigan is a major figure in Wolf’s book, of course. In 1969, Warhol would publish his own version of The Dick with the publication of Interview, a magazine in part dedicated to gossip. Sinking Bear also plays into this Warhol-Ashbery item in some way. Sanders’ interest in gossip, like the tidbit in the Archive, parallels his foray into investigative journalism in the 1970s, starting with his study of the Manson Family. Investigative journalism is the less tawdry, more serious manifestation of dishing gossip. Keaton has been looking into this angle for quite some time and maybe in the future he will expand on it on Mapping the Secret Location on RealityStudio. Maybe this scrap of gossip involving Warhol and Ashbery will find its way in his account somewhere.
That said, should I email Reva Wolf? Remember me? If she doesn’t respond I can write Chad Bennett a fan email. His book Word of Mouth: Gossip and American Poetry looks promising. There is a chapter on Frank O’Hara, so he must know about the New York mimeo scene. Well, before you write a fan email, you must become a fan. So, I guess reading Word of Mouth is long overdue. It has been sitting on my shelf for ages. On the same shelf as the Wolf book. I wonder if Bennett’s book measures up. Does anyone out there have any word of mouth on it?