One year. 100 articles. So we're having a Reader's Party. Come along to Upsidecrown.

Upsideclown banner

Fresh Mondays and Thursdays   ARCHIVE   US

 
 

Point of View

22 March 2001
Victor has fan mail.

19th March 2001

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

I am writing to complain about the content of the website 'upsideclown'. This site purports to be a reputable concern, a hotbed of new writing talent and a forum for 'youth' opinion. In reality it encourages a ferment of lies and deceit, and seeks only to mislead.

Some of the members of said collective clearly have aspirations to be serious writers: these show potential and, frankly, deserve to be aired in a more salubrious and credible environment. There are others, however, who have wasted their opportunity to speak, and use the medium as a space for mindless rant, monotonous polemic and victimisation.

Chief among these is Victor, whose literary purpose appears to be wholly destructive. Even the name is surely a disguise - else the individual is either supremely unlucky or considerably older than his counterparts.

Victor's writing in the main consists of imposing his own bigoted personal views on the rest of the world. Under the flimsy justificatory veil of satire, he is clearly no more than a petty fascist, keen to eradicate diversity. Insults are levelled in the basest terms, with little if no concern for political correctness. This format varies rarely, if ever, calling into question the writer's literary credentials. In the creative menagerie, Victor is a one trick animal. As such his shelf life is limited - the scrupulous reader will accept this kind of filth only for a certain amount of time.

The writer's malicious stance is compounded by his desire to confuse and mislead. No doubt Victor thinks that he is blurring the distinction between truth and fiction in an enlightened, humorous and slightly disorientating fashion. He isn't. He just tells lies. Whoever heard of a sweet made from dismembered fishermen? Who does he think he is kidding? It is hardly subtle.

Victor takes us for mugs. He assumes that the audience is gullible and underinformed, and thus deals them yet another blow. How can this be seen as a positive literary contribution?

With regard to my criticisms of this particular individual's writing, I trust that they will be taken on board, and that there will be an overall improvement in the quality of Victor's output and a more optimistic emphasis. On a more general note I think that there is a lesson to be learnt here by all the contributors: when the man in the street comes home from work of an evening and greets his wife he does not want to be depressed further, nor does he need to be confused. Perhaps, then, thoughts should turn towards producing something a bit lighter - an account of a day trip, beauty tips, the odd recipe - in order to lift a reader's spirits.

Indeed, I have written a literary guide to this effect, still available in all good bookshops:

Writing for Pleasure, 1979, Grande Dame Publishing, $14.50, ISBN 12 4265 2769 7.

I hope that you will find this of help.

Yours,

Dr E. J. Hunsucker
University of Lamford

 

 
     
Previously on upsideclown

top

Current clown:

18 December 2003. George writes: This List

Most recent ten:

15 December 2003. Jamie writes: Seven Songs
11 December 2003. Dan writes: Spinning Jenny
8 December 2003. Victor writes: Rock Opera
4 December 2003. Matt writes: The Mirrored Spheres of Patagonia
1 December 2003. George writes: Charm
27 November 2003. James writes: On Boxing
24 November 2003. Jamie writes: El Matador del Amor; Or, the Man who Killed Love
20 November 2003. Dan writes: Rights Management
17 November 2003. Victor writes: Walking on Yellow
13 November 2003. Matt writes: Disintermediation
(And alas we lost Neil, who last wrote Cockfosters)

Also by this clown:

8 December 2003. Victor writes: Rock Opera
17 November 2003. Victor writes: Walking on Yellow
27 October 2003. Victor writes: Our Tune
6 October 2003. Victor writes: Sucking face (in a public place)
15 September 2003. Victor writes: You got any ID?
25 August 2003. Victor writes: Blood on the Boulevard
4 August 2003. Victor writes: In (paren)theses
10 July 2003. Victor writes: Island Fling
19 June 2003. Victor writes: Back (back) and forth (and forth)
2 June 2003. Victor writes: 300 clowns, 13 eight-year olds
12 May 2003. Victor writes: The swings and roundabouts of outrageous fortune
21 April 2003. Victor writes: ...just sitting there quietly contemplating suicide
31 March 2003. Victor writes: Victoria
6 March 2003. Victor writes: Relevant experience
17 February 2003. Victor writes: You will eat chips and go nowhere
27 January 2003. Victor writes: A bushy fish for fishy Mr Bush (after Juvenal)
6 January 2003. Victor writes: The Accidental Voyeur
16 December 2002. Victor writes: Gripper goes bang
25 November 2002. Victor writes: Bediquette
4 November 2002. Victor writes: Where have all the spastics gone?
14 October 2002. Victor writes: An Immodest Proposal
23 September 2002. Victor writes: Fastscan masterplan
2 September 2002. Victor writes: Dry Humping Social Club
12 August 2002. Victor writes: Beat the Mongol
22 July 2002. Victor writes: What life is not
1 July 2002. Victor writes: Stupor heroes
6 June 2002. Victor writes: Dry
13 May 2002. Victor writes: Muppet Suite
18 April 2002. Victor writes: gingermingeninja
25 March 2002. Victor writes: Sodomize with Pukka Pies
28 February 2002. Victor writes: Dave's problem
4 February 2002. Victor writes: King of the Aisles
10 January 2002. Victor writes: Here come the decorator gimps.
17 December 2001. Victor writes: Make war, not supper.
22 November 2001. Victor writes: Cough
29 October 2001. Victor writes: vbarnesinstruments.com
4 October 2001. Victor writes: Green Gauges
10 September 2001. Victor writes: Blind weed
16 August 2001. Victor writes: Snout!
23 July 2001. Victor writes: You're not going to put this in a clown are you?
28 June 2001. Victor writes: What is a droll?
4 June 2001. Victor writes: Burt Pakamak
10 May 2001. Victor writes: Board to Death
12 April 2001. Victor writes: Tricolon with anaphora?
22 March 2001. Victor writes: Point of View
26 February 2001. Victor writes: Goth's Dinner
1 Feburary 2001. Victor writes: Les Miserables
4 January 2001. Victor writes: Flat-packed furniture
14 December 2000. Victor writes: Deliverance
20 November 2000. Victor writes: Bottomry: Exorcising Ghosts
26 October 2000. Victor writes: Body Art
2 October 2000. Victor writes: Disney must die
7 September 2000. Victor writes: Ice-cream in Offworld
14 August 2000. Victor writes: I like sweets that taste of medicine
26 June 2000. Victor writes: I've seen the future, and it's feathered

Let meeeeee entertain you

top

We are all Upsideclown: Dan, George, James, Jamie, Matt, Neil, Victor.

Material is (c) respective authors. For everything else, there's it@upsideclown.com.

And weeeeeee can entertain you by email too. Get fresh steaming Upsideclown in your inbox Mondays and Thursdays. To subscribe, send the word subscribe in the body of your mail to upsideclown-request@historicalfact.com. (To unsubscribe, send the word unsubscribe instead.)