I just finished reading Harvey Pekar’s The New American Splendor Anthology. I’ve long been impressed with Harvey’s honesty and ability to write stories steeped realism and daily life that are still interesting and highly accessable. I sincerely recommend his comics work and the film based on that work and his life, American Splendor.
His work is mostly autobiographical, though he often writes of things he has been told or observed. One of my favourite stories he told in this collection was of an appearance he made on Late Night where he made an effort to expose G.E. (NBC’s parent company at the time) as being corrupt and having a conflict of interest by owning the network, all the while having Letterman try to move him away from the subject. Of course, Harvey being, in his words, a “strident leftist” endears him more to me.
There’s a stong link between the autobiographical work Harvey has done for decades and the emerging culture of online journal keeping and blogging. We need insight into the lives of others and storytelling is our best source for exploring the experiences of others and learning of the diversity our societies hold. On the last page of this book, in an introduction he wrote for Colin Upton‘s Big Thing (this introduction was also illustrated by Colin, who has produced some fine work himself), Harvey touched on this importance.
His work is mostly autobiographical, though he often writes of things he has been told or observed. One of my favourite stories he told in this collection was of an appearance he made on Late Night where he made an effort to expose G.E. (NBC’s parent company at the time) as being corrupt and having a conflict of interest by owning the network, all the while having Letterman try to move him away from the subject. Of course, Harvey being, in his words, a “strident leftist” endears him more to me.
There’s a stong link between the autobiographical work Harvey has done for decades and the emerging culture of online journal keeping and blogging. We need insight into the lives of others and storytelling is our best source for exploring the experiences of others and learning of the diversity our societies hold. On the last page of this book, in an introduction he wrote for Colin Upton‘s Big Thing (this introduction was also illustrated by Colin, who has produced some fine work himself), Harvey touched on this importance.
There are a bunch of folks out there who think if you’re not a president or a general you’re not worth reading about. Q. How can a democracy function in a nation full of people who believe that their lives and their neighbour’s lives are insignificant? A. In such a situation democracy functions imprefectly at best. Colin realizes, though, that he has something to say, that his observations are useful, that they may be comforting or enlightening to some readers.