5 ms·

He wrote a massive novel, is dead and left no estate, and yet it remains unavailable to read. There is certainly no technological reason why this is the case.

dfxm12 3y ago
A lot of problems like the one you're describing boil down to commercial rather than technical reasons.
- 39896880 3y ago
  Why do some randos get to profit from this work? Life of the author full stop. Leeches and hangers on fuck off.
1auralynn 3y ago
Personally, I find his work compelling - I saw an amazing exhibit at the Frye in Seattle and the scale of it was incredible, also the composition. But I think his work makes some people uncomfortable. From Wikipedia: "One idiosyncratic feature of Darger's artwork is that his girl subjects are shown to have penises when unclothed or partially clothed. Darger biographer Jim Elledge speculates that this represents a reflection of Darger's own childhood issues with sexual identity and homosexuality."
- 1auralynn 3y ago
  There is a great documentary on him: In the Realms of the Unreal
  - sitkack 3y ago
    I saw this and came to say the same thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRlvDKcDvsI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRlvDKcDvsI Weird dude, but outsider art is fascinating.
- fumeux_fume 3y ago
  I also got to see his work at the Frye many years ago. It was one of the best exhibits I've seen in Seattle. That was also the era they had R. Crumb retrospective--a real coup for a museum that's free to the public.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
dhosek 3y ago
From all accounts, it’s—not good. Also, it’s really long and it would be a non-trivial (and expensive) effort to make it available.
- 39896880 3y ago
  It's already been digitized [0]. It's just being held up due to you, you guessed it, lawsuits [1]. Whether it's "good" or not is not really relevant; we have the capacity to preserve it and make it available. [1]https://web.archive.org/web/20230811081008/https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=c283844b-1282-4e83-97c9-7de54b3b552c https://web.archive.org/web/20230811081008/https://www.lexol... [0]https://folkartmuseum.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/12 https://folkartmuseum.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resourc...
HanClinto 3y ago
This is the best (only) copy that I have been able to find that appears to be legitimate (?). It only includes selections, is of low quality, and is not the entire work -- but it does provide some legible pages: https://archive.org/details/realms-of-the-unreal/Realms%20of%20the%20unreal%252C%20volume%2001%20-%20intuit_37%20-%20325pp https://archive.org/details/realms-of-the-unreal/Realms%20of... This book also supposedly includes excerpts from his writings, but I didn't check: https://archive.org/details/henrydargerdisas0000darg/ https://archive.org/details/henrydargerdisas0000darg/

dfxm12 3y ago

A lot of problems like the one you're describing boil down to commercial rather than technical reasons.

39896880 3y ago
Why do some randos get to profit from this work? Life of the author full stop. Leeches and hangers on fuck off.

1auralynn 3y ago

Personally, I find his work compelling - I saw an amazing exhibit at the Frye in Seattle and the scale of it was incredible, also the composition. But I think his work makes some people uncomfortable. From Wikipedia: "One idiosyncratic feature of Darger's artwork is that his girl subjects are shown to have penises when unclothed or partially clothed. Darger biographer Jim Elledge speculates that this represents a reflection of Darger's own childhood issues with sexual identity and homosexuality."

1auralynn 3y ago
There is a great documentary on him: In the Realms of the Unreal
- sitkack 3y ago
  I saw this and came to say the same thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRlvDKcDvsI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRlvDKcDvsI Weird dude, but outsider art is fascinating.
fumeux_fume 3y ago
I also got to see his work at the Frye many years ago. It was one of the best exhibits I've seen in Seattle. That was also the era they had R. Crumb retrospective--a real coup for a museum that's free to the public.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

dhosek 3y ago

From all accounts, it’s—not good. Also, it’s really long and it would be a non-trivial (and expensive) effort to make it available.

39896880 3y ago
It's already been digitized [0]. It's just being held up due to you, you guessed it, lawsuits [1]. Whether it's "good" or not is not really relevant; we have the capacity to preserve it and make it available. [1]https://web.archive.org/web/20230811081008/https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=c283844b-1282-4e83-97c9-7de54b3b552c https://web.archive.org/web/20230811081008/https://www.lexol... [0]https://folkartmuseum.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/12 https://folkartmuseum.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resourc...

HanClinto 3y ago

This is the best (only) copy that I have been able to find that appears to be legitimate (?). It only includes selections, is of low quality, and is not the entire work -- but it does provide some legible pages: https://archive.org/details/realms-of-the-unreal/Realms%20of%20the%20unreal%252C%20volume%2001%20-%20intuit_37%20-%20325pp https://archive.org/details/realms-of-the-unreal/Realms%20of... This book also supposedly includes excerpts from his writings, but I didn't check: https://archive.org/details/henrydargerdisas0000darg/ https://archive.org/details/henrydargerdisas0000darg/