Paul Arthur Garon (July 6, 1942 – July 26, 2022) was an American author, writer, and editor, noted for his meditations on
surrealist
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
works, and also a noted scholar on
blues as a musical and cultural movement.
Born in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, the son of a doctor and a sociology graduate,
[Daniel Leon, "Paul Garon, 1942–2022", ''Les temps du blues'', July 27, 2022]
Retrieved July 28, 2022 Garon settled in Chicago and was one of the founders of the
Chicago Surrealist Group in the mid-1960s.
Garon was one of the founding editors of ''
Living Blues
''Living Blues: The Magazine of the African American Blues Tradition'' is a bi-monthly magazine focused on blues music, and America's oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded as a quarterly in Chicago in 1970 by Jim O'Neal and Amy van ...
'' magazine in 1970. He once wrote that "blues represents a fusion of music and poetry accomplished at a very high emotional temperature". Amongst his other publications, Garon was the biographer of
Peetie Wheatstraw
William Bunch (December 21, 1902 – December 21, 1941), known as Peetie Wheatstraw, was an American musician, an influential figure among 1930s blues singers.
Early life and career
William Bunch was the son of James Bunch and Mary (Burns) Bunc ...
.
Later, Garon and his wife Beth operated Beasley Books together, a rare book business in Chicago. He was also a founding partner of the Chicago Rare Book Center, in
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...
.
Garon died on July 26, 2022, at the age of 80.
[
]
Works
* ''What's the Use of Walking if There's A Freight Train Going Your Way? Black Hoboes and Their Songs.'' with Gene Tomko, 2015.
* ''Woman With Guitar: Memphis Minnie's Blues'', with Beth Garon, 1992.
* ''Blues and the Poetic Spirit'', 2001.
* ''The Forecast Is Hot: Tracts & Other Collective Declarations of the Surrealist Movement in the United States 1966–1976'', with Franklin Rosemont
Franklin Rosemont (1943–2009) was an American poet, artist, historian, street speaker, and co-founder of the Chicago Surrealist Group. Over four decades, Franklin produced a body of work, of declarations, manifestos, poetry, collage, hidden hi ...
and Penelope Rosemont
Penelope Rosemont (born 1942 in Chicago, Illinois) is a visual artist, writer, publisher, and social activist who attended Lake Forest College. She has been a participant in the Surrealist Movement since 1965. With Franklin Rosemont, Bernard Mar ...
, 1997.
* ''The Devil's Son-In-Law: The Story of Peetie Wheatstraw and His Songs'', 2003.
* ''Rana Mozelle: Surrealist Texts'', 1978.
* ''The Charles H. Kerr Company Archives 1885–1985: A Century of Socialist and Labor Publishing'', 1985.
* "White Blues," ''Race Traitor'' 4 (1995)
References
External links
*
Beasley Books
*
1942 births
2022 deaths
Writers from Louisville, Kentucky
American writers about music
American art critics
American book editors
{{US-nonfiction-writer-stub