Blankety Blank: A Memoir of Vulgaria
Encyclopedia
Blankety Blank: A Memoir of Vulgaria (2005) is a novel
by American
author D. Harlan Wilson
. The novel critiques the idea of the memoir
as a form of truth-telling and problematizes history
and narrative
itself as possible modes of truth. It contains various “short histories” and literary devices that are flagrantly inaccurate or misguided, all in a way that underscores the constructedness of the human condition
, as well as humanity’s collective racist tendencies.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author D. Harlan Wilson
D. Harlan Wilson
D. Harlan Wilson is an American short-story writer and novelist whose body of work has been associated with the genres of irrealism, science fiction, fantasy, horror, bizarro fiction, megalofiction, splatterpunk, absurdism, literary fiction, ultraviolence, and postmodernism...
. The novel critiques the idea of the memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
as a form of truth-telling and problematizes history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and narrative
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
itself as possible modes of truth. It contains various “short histories” and literary devices that are flagrantly inaccurate or misguided, all in a way that underscores the constructedness of the human condition
Human condition
The human condition encompasses the experiences of being human in a social, cultural, and personal context. It can be described as the irreducible part of humanity that is inherent and not connected to gender, race, class, etc. — a search for purpose, sense of curiosity, the inevitability of...
, as well as humanity’s collective racist tendencies.
Cover Description
Rutger Van Trout has worse problems than his mundane existence in the all-consuming, all-suppressing Vulgaria of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It's not that his son might be turning into a werewolf, or that his daughter might be a nymphomaniac. The problem does not lie in his obsession with transforming his middle-class estate into a three-ring barnyard, nor in the shrunken head collection under the bed. He doesn't even mind his wife's (possibly) haunted skeleton or the freak-of-the-week superheroes and window-jumpers populating his neighborhood. The complication has invaded his community in the form of a new breed of serial killer, one who stalks from house to house throughout the Vulgaria leaving a bloodbath that would make Jack the Ripper himself blush. The killer's name is Mr. Blankety Blank, and Rutger Van Trout's neighborhood is on the wrong end of a killing spree ...Table of Contents
- The Silo
- Neighbors & Pain
- Costume Party
- BMW Futique
- “Goodbye,” said Mr. Van Trout
- Contemporary Juwes
- Sausage Party
- All Events Take Place in Realtime
- Cause & Effekt
- Blankety Blank
- Adulteration
- A Short History of Grand Rapids, Chapter 1
- Purple Party
- Ode to Joy