[Jandek] Jandek Fictional Biography Forthcoming; Author to Read/Sign in Toronto & Chicago

[Danen D. Jobe]

> Good point, but Jandek isn't Batman. He's not some media-saturated 
> character that gets licensed out to whoever has a clever idea. 

The rights were licensed, as it happens, to me. You're defending Sterling Smith/Corwood as if I wrenched the idea fro his hands. No artist I'm aware of keeps a tighter control on his persona. Feel what you want (and I'm sure you're not alone) but don't act like I bought the rights from Sony and somehow undermined the artist. I didn't put a gun to his head. It's not a publicity stunt or something, it's a book. If you don't see/agree with this, fine. 

He's 
> the persona of a particular musician (and even that notion is 
> debatable). To put it bluntly, he's not Danen's character, so what 
> business does Danen have writing about him? And I don't care if 
> "Corwood" sactioned the project- it's a matter of artistic 
> integrity.

So you're saying that Corwood has no artistic integrity? I'm not taking his character - I'm writing a book based on gleaning from the music using the name in a ficitonal sense. Sure, I could've changed that and of course I contemplated that - but the more I toyed with it the more damaging it seemed to the music to create the musical persona of "Dekjan." If Corwood didn't agree that what I was doing was my own creative endeavor then it wouldn't be happening. I don't see the compromise of integrity here.

 Let Sterling tell Jandek's story!

See the 46 and growing albums of the Corwood catalog. And this ISN'T JANDEK'S STORY. This is my story based on how I perceive the music. I'm using the songs because I'm responding to them, working inside them and outside them. That's only for the artist to tell. I don't see that what I'm doing is so different than what the documentary did (interpretations of who Jandek could be), save that I'm finding a different media to express it in, and I'm not even pretending this is the real story. In fact, I'm coming out and quelching any exploitative concerns before the book is even published.

 As a fellow auteur of 
> fiction I don't want to take a shit on your creativity, Mr. Jobe, 
> but don't you have anything else to write about?  

You're judging this asked and answered without even looking into what I'm doing. I suppose I shouldn't react so harshly but I feel like you're fixated on one part of it and not noticing that it's my story. I might add as well that the names "Jandek" and "Corwood Industries"  only appear in this book on the acknowledgments page. In future editions (as I said, this is intended to be probably three short novels) the name Jandek will appear, but only as it becomes necessary for the character to use it. Integrity has been EVERYTHING to me on this project - I wasn't about to slather the pages with "a boy named Jandek" or some such thing. And yeah, I have several other projects but this is the one I'm passionate about and I've been fortunate to find others who agree.  I believe an artist should always pursue those things that insist they be done. To me, that's what Jandek's always done and is why his music is more important now than ever. Speaking of,  Jandek's music DOES leave thi
s wonderful interactive space open for interpretation. Corwood are very open to creative work within that space but they want that space to remain there, does that make sense? If they didn't like what I was doing, I'd know about it. Again, the artist has approved this and given support of it. If you don't like that idea fine, but don't act like I'm stealing something when the rights have been freely given. Good luck in your own creative endeavors - I mean that sincerely. You probably understand already how damn hard it is to get something finished, attempt to publish it and promote it.  You've voiced that you don't agree with the idea and that's fine. I do wish, though, that you wouldn't make such harsh statements judged only by your perception of how a creative process is supposed to go.   



Danen