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the
current
Monday
Report
below!
This week's report by KING WENCLAS
DIY?
THE MIRANDA JULY STORY
Are there many examples besides "Dishwasher Pete" of DIY
writers gaining significant attention and press?
There's the case of underground phenom Miranda July,
performance artist, filmmaker, and writer, who gives readings at
$13 a head. In New York magazine (5/21/07) journalist Kimberly
Cutter called Miranda "undisputed high priestess of the DIY art
revolution."
The number of Ms. July's accomplishments give one pause. For a
college dropout "underground" artist, establishment success
across the board.
Miranda's first full-length performance piece, "Love Diamond,"
was commissioned by the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art
in 1998. That and other multi-media works of hers like "Swan
Tool" appeared at museums around the country, including the
leading art venues in New York City; Lincoln Center, the
Guggenheim, the Museum of Modern Art, and two Whitney
Biennials.
Her short films have won the Camera d'Or prize at Cannes and a
special jury prize at Sundance. She's been both a Screenwriter's
and Director's Lab Fellow at Sundance, and received other
monetary endowments, such as an Andrea Frank Foundation
grant, and a grant from the Creative Capital Foundation, which
is funded by a long list of big money tax shelters including the
Ford Foundation, the J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, and the
Rockefeller Foundation.
Miranda July's career as a writer began with a story in a special
issue of Mississippi Review. She quickly placed other short fiction
in elite literary magazines like Paris Review (2003), Harvard
Review (2003), The New Yorker (2006), McSweeney's (2006), and
Harper's (2007)-- difficult venues for any writer to get into,
particularly one who presumably has to submit
over-the-transom. In the midst of the flurry of publications,
Miranda was nominated for a National Magazine Award.
No underground writer has received so many accolades and so
much grant money so quickly. All this for a Do-It-Yourself street
kid from Berkeley. Is there a backstory here we should know
about?
Miranda's real name is Miranda Grossinger. She's the daughter
of Lindy Hough and Richard Grossinger, both published authors
who own their own small press company.
Lindy and Richard were chic hippies in the 1960's. Lindy
attended exclusive Smith College; Richard, nearby Amherst.
They cooperated in creating a literary journal, Io, centering on
work from elite small colleges in their area.
Modest individuals both (photos from that time show a hip,
attractive couple), neither could be said to be from a modest
background.
Richard Grossinger was born into the Grossinger family which
owned the famed Grossinger's resort in the Catskills; long-time
playground for rich people from New York City. (The movie
"Dirty Dancing" gives a glimpse into this world.)
Lindy Hough has taught at various colleges, and received grants
and fellowships from the Vermont Council of the Arts, the
California Arts Council, the Coordinating Council of Literary
Magazines, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has
worked for several foundations, and run her own company,
Lindy Hough Associates, acting as consultant to arts foundations
on questions of grant writing. Few people know how to access
this country's arts system as well as Lindy Hough.
Lindy's father, Henry W. Hough, was a Colorado-based
correspondent for Time Magazine, writing often about the art
world. He was also a President of the local chapter of the
Mayflower Society.
Our simple DIY artist and writer Miranda July turns out to have
quite a pedigree; striking bloodlines on both sides (including
tracing her descendents to the Mayflower). This, alone, isn't a
full explanation. For that we need return to the Kimberly Cutter
New York article.
According to Cutter, while finding fast attention as a filmmaker,
Miranda became a protege of (of all people) the ubiquitous Rick
Moody, who advised her to become a writer and gave her
suggestions to improve her work. He then published her fiction in
Mississippi Review in an issue he edited. The Paris Review
appearance quickly followed, leading one to think Miranda's
story wasn't found in the slush pile. Then, The New Yorker. Book
giant Simon & Schuster has just released a collection of her
stories. To promote it, Miranda is giving readings in cities like
London, Milan, and Amsterdam.
Do-It-Yourself?
Background and connections shouldn't matter, and wouldn't in
an equitable society. The important question: Is her work any
good; is Miranda July worth the acclaim?
Kimberly Cutter thinks so. Yet one quote in her article on
Miranda July stands out against the chorus of hosannas, when
she says that Miranda's film work has detractors who regard it
as "preciousness in place of thoughtfulness, trafficking in the
worst faux-earnest indulgences of the post-McSweeney's
brigade."
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King Wenclas www.kingwenclas.blogspot.com
Miranda July www.mirandajuly.com
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