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

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, 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 ...

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 freedo ...

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

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 fea ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', '' Kill Your Pet Puppy'', ''

J.D.s ''J.D.s'' is a queer punk zine founded and co-published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada by G. B. Jones and Bruce LaBruce, that ran for eight issues from 1985 to 1991. " ''J.D.s'' is seen by many to be the catalyst that pushed the queercore scene i ...

'', '' Sniffin' Glue'', ''

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''. Notable punk journalists and magazine contributors include Mykel Board,

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 Sch ...

Robert Eggplant 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' ...

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, Jim Carroll,

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 poet ...

, John Cooper Clarke, Nick Toczek, Raegan Butcher and Attila the Stockbroker. Carroll's autobiographical works are among the first-known examples of punk literature. The Medway Poets, 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 ...

punk poetry performance group founded in 1979, 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, CBE, 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 drawing, painting, sculpture, film, photography, neon text and ...

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

Stuckists Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art.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 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, 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 in ...

and its various derivatives. Punk zines 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 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 p ...

''.

Daphne Gottlieb Daphne Gottlieb is a San Francisco-based performance poet. She is the winner of the Acker Award for Excellence in the Avant-Garde, the Audre Lorde Award for Poetry, the Firecracker Alternative Book Award, and a five-time finalist for the Lambda ...

's poetic works are similar in motif. The novelist and screenwriter

Diablo Cody Brook Maurio (''née'' Busey; born June 14, 1978), known professionally by the pen name Diablo Cody, is an American writer and producer. She gained recognition for her candid blog and subsequent memoir, '' Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unl ...

has self-identified as "punk" in the past. '' Love and Rockets'' is a comic with a plot involving the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

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