This one I quite like. J. G. Ballard’s “Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan”, which later became part of his larger work, ‘The Atrocity Exhibition’, was first published in pamphlet form. The way it’s written is in the style of a scientific paper, and I believe some people took it seriously. Regardless, some people definitely weren’t fond of it, taking it seriously or not. One bookseller distributing the pamphlets got charged with obscenity, and the first American releases of ‘The Atrocity Exhibition’ were destroyed before release.
I’m in kind of the opposite situation from what you propose. My Substack, Mama Ephemera’s Muddy Feet, is a series of short, linked, somewhat lyric essays at the intersection of personal essay, science/nature, and poetry/literature. I’m still finding my beat, if I can call it that, but I’ve just started reading a book published in Wales, “Birdsplaining” by Jasmine Donahaye, that I hope will serve as a sort of model. As a long-time poet (one book published, one making the rounds), I’m finding prose to be more fun than I thought writing could be!
This one I quite like. J. G. Ballard’s “Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan”, which later became part of his larger work, ‘The Atrocity Exhibition’, was first published in pamphlet form. The way it’s written is in the style of a scientific paper, and I believe some people took it seriously. Regardless, some people definitely weren’t fond of it, taking it seriously or not. One bookseller distributing the pamphlets got charged with obscenity, and the first American releases of ‘The Atrocity Exhibition’ were destroyed before release.
I’m in kind of the opposite situation from what you propose. My Substack, Mama Ephemera’s Muddy Feet, is a series of short, linked, somewhat lyric essays at the intersection of personal essay, science/nature, and poetry/literature. I’m still finding my beat, if I can call it that, but I’ve just started reading a book published in Wales, “Birdsplaining” by Jasmine Donahaye, that I hope will serve as a sort of model. As a long-time poet (one book published, one making the rounds), I’m finding prose to be more fun than I thought writing could be!