Punk literature (also called punk lit and, rarely, punklit) is

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

related to the

punk subculture The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual freedom ...

. The attitude and ideologies of punk rock gave rise to distinctive characteristics in the writing it manifested. It has influenced the

transgressional fiction Transgressive fiction is a genre of literature which focuses on characters who feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and who break free of those confines in unusual or illicit ways. Literary context Because they are rebelling ag ...

literary genre, the

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...

genre and their derivatives.

Journalism

The punk rock subculture has had its own underground press in the form of punk zines, which are punk-related print magazines produced independently and distributed on a small scale. Many regional punk scenes have had at least one punk zine, which features news, gossip, social commentary, music reviews and interviews with punk rock bands. Notable punk zines include ''

Maximum RocknRoll ''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly zine of punk subculture. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and hardcore music, and primarily featur ...

'', ''

Punk Planet ''Punk Planet'' was a 16,000 print run punk zine, based in Chicago, Illinois, that focused most of its energy on looking at punk subculture rather than punk as simply another genre of music to which teenagers listen. In addition to covering music ...

'', ''

Cometbus Aaron Elliott (born May 20, 1968), better known as Aaron Cometbus, is an American musician, songwriter, roadie, and magazine editor, best known as the creator of the punk zine ''Cometbus''. Career Born in Berkeley, California, Cometbus started ...

'', ''

Girl Germs ''Girl Germs'' was a zine created by University of Oregon students Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman, both members of the band Bratmobile. Feminism was influential in the Pacific Northwest in the early nineties: ''Girl Germs'' identified feminist ro ...

'', ''

Kill Your Pet Puppy ''Kill Your Pet Puppy'' was a UK punk zine that ran for six issues between 1979 and 1984. It was edited by Tony Drayton (Tony D) who had previously produced Ripped and Torn fanzine, which he started in October 1976 and for 18 issues until 1979. ...

'', '' J.D.s'', ''

Sniffin' Glue ''Sniffin' Glue and Other Rock 'N' Roll Habits...'', widely known as simply ''Sniffin' Glue'', was a monthly punk zine started by Mark Perry in July 1976 and released for about a year. The name is derived from a Ramones song " Now I Wanna Sniff ...

'', ''

Absolutely Zippo Robert Burnett, (born 1973) better known as Robert Eggplant, is an American writer, publisher, musician and activist from Pinole, California, United States. Background Robert Eggplant has been the editor and publisher of the '' Absolutely Zippo' ...

'', ''Suburban Rebels'' and ''

Punk Magazine ''Punk'' was a music magazine and fanzine created by cartoonist John Holmstrom, publisher Ged Dunn, and "resident punk" Legs McNeil in 1975. Its use of the term " punk rock", coined by writers for ''Creem'' magazine a few years earlier to desc ...

''. Notable punk journalists and magazine contributors include

Mykel Board Mykel Board (born January 31, 1950) is an American journalist, musician, and writer of English-language haiku. Bibliography * ''Even A Daughter Is Better Than Nothing'' Garrett Country Press (2005) * ''I A, Me-ist'' Hope and Nonthings Pres ...

John Holmstrom John Holmstrom (born 1954) is an American underground cartoonist and writer. He is best known for illustrating the covers of the Ramones albums '' Rocket to Russia'' and '' Road to Ruin'', as well as his characters Bosko and Joe (published in S ...

, Robert Eggplant and

Aaron Cometbus Aaron Elliott (born May 20, 1968), better known as Aaron Cometbus, is an American musician, songwriter, roadie, and magazine editor, best known as the creator of the punk zine ''Cometbus''. Career Born in Berkeley, California, Cometbus started ...

Poetry

Patti Smith performing at Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona

Many punk poets are also musicians, including

Richard Hell Richard Lester Meyers (born October 2, 1949), better known by his stage name Richard Hell, is an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and writer. Hell was in several important early punk rock bands, including Neon Boys, Television and T ...

Jim Carroll James Dennis Carroll (August 1, 1949 – September 11, 2009) was an American author, poet, autobiographer, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work '' The Basketball Diaries'', which inspired a 1995 film of ...

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter and author who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album '' Horses''. Called the "punk poe ...

John Cooper Clarke John Cooper Clarke (born 25 January 1949) is an English performance poet, who first became famous as a "punk poet" in the late 1970s. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he released several albums. Around this time, he performed on stage with sev ...

Nick Toczek Nick Toczek (born 20 September 1950; Shipley, England) is a British writer and performer working variously as poet, journalist, magician, vocalist, lyricist and radio broadcaster. He was raised in Bradford and then took a degree in Industrial ...

Raegan Butcher CrimethInc., also known as CWC, which stands for either "CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective" or "CrimethInc Ex-Workers Ex-Collective", is a Decentralization, decentralized anarchist collective of autonomous Clandestine cell system, cells. * * * Cr ...

and

Attila the Stockbroker John Baine (born 21 October 1957), better known by his stage name Attila the Stockbroker,Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 208 is an English punk poet, multi instrumentalist musician and songwriter. He pe ...

. Carroll's autobiographical works are among the first-known examples of punk literature.

The Medway Poets The Medway Poets were founded in Medway, Kent, in 1979. They were an England, English Punk ideology, punk based poetry performance group and later formed the core of the first Stuckism, Stuckists Art Group. The members were Miriam Carney, Billy C ...

, an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

punk poetry performance group founded in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, included punk musician

Billy Childish Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper, 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing and visual art. He has le ...

. They are credited with influencing

Tracey Emin Tracey Karima Emin, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Associate of the Royal Academy, RA (; born 3 July 1963) is a British artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. Emin produces work in a variety of media including drawi ...

, who was associated with them as a teenager. Members of the Medway Poets later formed the

Stuckists Stuckism () is an international art movement An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) o ...

art group.

Charles Thomson Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was an Irish-born Patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson ...

's description of a Medway Poets performance highlights its difference from a traditional poetry reading:

Bill Lewis William Lewis (born 1 August 1953) is an English artist, story-teller, poet and mythographer.Milner, Frank, ed. ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p. 86, National Museums Liverpool 2004, . Pages 6–30, Charles Thomson's essay, "A Stuckist on ...
jumped on a chair, threw his arms wide (at least once hitting his head on the ceiling) and pretended he was Jesus. Billy sprayed his poems over anyone too close to him and drank whisky excessively. Miriam told the world about her vagina. Rob and I did a joint performance posing, with little difficulty, as deranged, self-obsessed writers. Sexton finally introduced us to his girlfriend, Mildred, who turned out to be a wig on a wadge of newspaper on the end of an iron pipe."1979" from "A Stuckist on Stuckism", Charles Thomson, 2004
Accessed April 9, 2006

Inspired by punk poet John Cooper Clarke and

dub poet Dub poetry is a form of performance poetry of West Indian origin, which evolved out of dub music in Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1970s,

Linton Kwesi Johnson Linton Kwesi Johnson (born 24 August 1952), also known as LKJ, is a Jamaica-born, British-based dub poet and activist. In 2002 he became the second living poet, and the only black one, to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series. His ...

, a ''ranting poetry'' scene developed in the early 80s, which included performers such as "Seething" Wells, Joolz, Attila the Stockbroker, Porky the Poet, "Teething" Wells, Garry Johnson, The Big J, Little Brother, Swift Nick, Little Dave and Ginger John. Ranting poets often provided support at punk/new wave gigs and some went on to release their own records or appear on punk compilations.

Fiction

The punk subculture has greatly influenced the

literary genre A literary genre is a category of literature. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or length (especially for fiction). They generally move from more abstract, encompassing classes, which are then further sub-divided i ...

and its various derivatives.

Punk zines A punk zine (or punkzine) is a zine related to the punk subculture and hardcore punk music genre. Often primitively or casually produced, they feature punk literature, such as social commentary, punk poetry, news, gossip, music reviews and art ...

have spawned a considerable amount of punk-oriented fiction, some of which has made an impact outside of punk circles. Many of the major works of

Kathy Acker Kathy Acker (April 18, 1947 isputed– November 30, 1997) was an American experimental novelist, playwright, essayist, and postmodernist writer, known for her idiosyncratic and transgressive writing that dealt with themes such as childhood trau ...

reflect themes of punk literature, most notably ''

Blood and Guts in High School ''Blood and Guts in High School'' is a novel by Kathy Acker. It was written in the late 1970s and copyrighted in 1978. It traveled a complex and circuitous route to publication, before being officially released in 1984. It remains Acker's most po ...

''. Daphne Gottlieb's poetic works are similar in motif. The novelist and screenwriter Diablo Cody has self-identified as "punk" in the past. ''Love and Rockets (comics), Love and Rockets'' is a comic with a plot involving the Los Angeles punk scene. Jack O'Donnell, the protagonist in Ben MacNamara's 2004 ''Fire Work'' embodies many of the qualities of the punk ethos.

Journalism

Poetry

Fiction

See also

References

Further reading