Karl Wenclas

Karl "King" Wenclas (born in Detroit, Michigan) is a founder and the former Publicity Director and front man of the Underground Literary Alliance. (The moniker "King" was taken from a critic of the ULA.) After ceasing publication of his zine New Philistine, Wenclas returned to writing at the urging of fellow underground zinesters Michael Jackman and Steve Kostecke, both of whom founded the ULA with Wenclas in 2000. His essay "How to Create a Literary Movement", published in Zine World: A Reader's Guide to the Underground Press, launched the idea of the ULA. Wenclas likens his brand of "ballyhoo" to the tactics of famous promoters including P.T. Barnum, Brian Epstein and Malcolm McLaren. A quote: "The entire history of rock music is a history of ballyhoo."

After leaving the ULA, Wenclas left Philadelphia to return to his birthplace and devote himself to his many blogs. His philosophy, particularly as conveyed via his flagship blog, Attacking The Demi-Puppets, centers on several related core beliefs: that the literary world is unhealthily centered in New York City, that the literary world is overly insular and therefore corrupt, and that the literary world is bent on silencing him. In opposition to what he sees as the corrupt status quo, Wenclas offers up works of "literary rebellion" that exist outside of the mainstream. Generally, these works appear to be limited mostly to DIY authors, as exemplified by members of the ULA.

Frequent targets for Wenclas' scorn include the Ivy League, The Paris Review, N+1, The Believer, McSweeney's, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Franzen, The Nation, PEN American Center, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and especially Rick Moody. Critics have observed that Wenclas' arguments are weakened by his unwillingness to acknowledge the differences among these individuals and institutions, and his similar unwillingness to acknowledge the world of literature that exists between the poles represented by the "establishment", as exemplified by the above, and the "underground", as exemplified by the ULA and other DIYers. After repeatedly being challenged on Attacking the Demi-Puppets to identify authors, small presses, or journals he supported that did not belong to the ULA or the DIY community, and after repeatedly being called out for the extra-literary appeals to class resentment embodied by his blog postings, Wenclas temporarily shut down comments on the blog. After a period, comments were restored, though they now appear only with Wenclas' approval.

Attacking the Demi-Puppets has undergone something of a thematic change in recent months. Rather than centering specifically on literature, Wenclas recently has devoted many posts to debunking what he views as the "myth" of climate change, and attacking the media for what he sees as its unfair portrayal of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, which he links to her having attended a non-elite, public university and her self-styled outsider status.

External links

• Underground Literary Alliance website
• King Wenclas blog
• Happy Lit America blog
• Save the Beatniks!
• 2007 WHYY radio debate
• 2007 City Paper
• Interview with Karl "King" Wenclas
• Start Making Sense
• Believer Article
• Boston Phoenix
• Swimming Against the Mainstream an interview with Michael Jackman
• Writers Beware! an interview with Steve Kostecke
• A Reader's Guide to the Underground Press