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Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The
Best of McSweeney's Humor Category
Dave Eggers, editor
Knopf
239 pages
$16.95
Something of a bathroom book for the highly erudite, Created in Darkness relies on its readers having a wide range of philosophical and cultural education under their belts. If you know the Cantos-era, late-period work of Ezra Pound, for instance, you'll probably find Greg Purcell's spot-on impressions of the goateed one rather funny. If your tastes run more toward Better Than Ezra, you'll probably be left scratching your head. Keith Pille's "Journal of a New COBRA Recruit" will have you slapping your knees if you were ever a fan of the crudely animated 1980s children's show. Haven't seen it, or else can't remember it? Then you'll more than likely leave the bookstore empty-handed, wondering what all the fuss was about.
However, when this book really works -- that is to say, when you find a well-written section that you can actually, you know, understand -- it works like a charm. Getting humor across on the written page is much harder than having it delivered visually or verbally, and, judged on those merits, the book is a success. Created in Darkness is perhaps the first book I've read in two years to have me actually laughing out loud. J.M. Tyree's "On the Implausibility of the Death Star's Trash Compactor" will have Star Wars fans -- e.g., the book's intended readership -- sweating in their Boba Fett suits. Folks fond of PoMo/meta humor will find plenty to like, too: Tim Carvell's "A Brief Parody of a Talk Show That Falls Apart About Halfway Through" is a winner, as is the caveman-revisionist "Fire: The Next Sharp Stick?" by John Hodgman.
Eggers and Co. have always prided themselves as being scissors-bearers on cutting edge of slacker/ironic/ennui-based humor, so it should be no surprise that the book shines brightest when it gives itself over to that most favored nation in Slackerworld, The List.
Some personal favorites:
1. "Not Very Scary Movies" by Joshua Watson (The Island of Dr. Huxtable, The Howlin')
2. John Moe's "Possible Follow-up Songs For One Hit Wonders" ("How Are We Going to Get These Dogs Back In?", "Seriously, Eileen, Come On")
3. Sean Carman's "Lessons Learned From My Study of Literature" ("You think you know someone, then they go do something you'd never expect.")
4. Danielle and Mickey Hess' "The Latest In Fake Meat Products" (Beef Fauxganoff, Soylisbury Fake).
In the end, the book is just one more offshoot of the Eggers brand, which currently encompasses The Believer magazine, McSweeney's, book publishing, and his own career as an author of both fiction and non-fiction. The Eggers credo? Write what you know -- and preferably a lot of it, so as to make more possible connections -- and let the chips fall where they may (or CHiPs, as the case may be).
Whether you find the end result a mind-bendingly observant commentary on popular culture or the nadir of navel-gazing will depend solely on your point of view. Eggers and his minions will no doubt continue to write from theirs, however: comfortably above it all.
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Starworks Craft Invitational @ Starworks
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Disney's Winnie The Pooh Kids @ The Carolina
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John Crist: Jokes for Humans @ Ovens Auditorium- Sat., May 3, 7 p.m.
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ANNIE LEIBOVITZ / WORK @ Mint Museum Uptown at Levine Center for the Arts
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Over The (Big) Top
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Edward Hopper Moments
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