Project Statement

by J. Drucker

Dark Decade extended the play with narrative tropes and fictional conventions that had, in part, motivated Against Fiction. The text is dark, ironic, and mixes imagery from mass media, contemporary life, and fantastic images of dystopic fiction. In short, it was meant to be an accurate portrait of American culture in the 1980s, though it was still all too apt when published in the 1990s. The fragmentary pastiche of plots, sketches of characters from imagined tales, popular and pulp, and the textual heterogeneity were echoed in the images.

Dark Decade

Johanna Drucker

title note: Written in the 1980s, published in the 1990s, the decade referred to switched, but remained chillingly relevant as the political and cultural times got even darker. [J. Drucker]

Agents

Johanna Drucker

type: initiating

role:
author
artist

nationality:
born: United States
active: United States
citizenship: United States

dates:
birth: 1952-05-30

Gary Sullivan Detour Press

type: other

role:
publisher

dates:
publication: 01/06/1995

note: Gary and his then partner had been typesetters for a magazine in San Francisco in which an excerpt of this text appeared. They had contacted me with enthusiasm. I wrote back to see if they might want to publish the work in its entirety through their own imprint. They agreed. [J.Drucker]

Publication Information

publisher: Detour Press

dates:
publication: 1995-00-00

publication history: A single edition of this work was produced in 1995, paperback, offset. [J.Drucker]

Aesthetic Profile

movement:
unknown

subject:
United States Politics and Government

themes: The darkly grotesque condition of American culture. [J. Drucker]

content form:
narrative (local)

publication tradition:
small press (local)

inspiration: Real life, the news, tabloids, pulp fiction. [J. Drucker]

related works: Against Fiction, the Current Line, Deterring Discourse, Damaged Spring and From Now are all related in spirit, style, and substance. [J.Drucker]

other influences: Terry Gilliam's Brazil, George Orwell, Nathanel West. [J. Drucker]

community: other Poets and artists, as usual. [J. Drucker]

Exhibition Information

exhibition history: See c.v., though this was not a much-exhibited book. The format and distribution of the book suited it to a small press, literary audience and readership, rather than art venues or exhibition displays.

reception history: Very little except for notes from friends and colleagues.