Thursday, February 16, 2012

Jim Woodring's 'Weathercraft'



I just read Jim Woodring's Weathercraft - one of those books that I actually see myself going back to revisit multiple times. In Woodring's words, "One of the themes in Weathercraft is that art is like drugs—it will show you places but it won’t get you there."

When I hear people say that a story or movie is something 'that I get something new from whenever I read it or see it again,' I suspect often that they are referring to the phenomenon of one being able to re-measure themselves against a particular baseline (given story or movie) as they themselves move (change?) through time (speaking maybe Heraclitian-ly). I suspect that Weathercraft will be a tailored and highly-calibrated yardstick for taking my measurements in the future.

Some things I like about the story are it's unsettled and uncertain meaning; mythological meaning, perhaps, and it's elastic relationship to space-time. I like the faint nausea (motion sickness?) that I felt while reading this story -- literally. I like seeing realistic sources of fear shown in a (superficially) unrealistic universe.

The Comics Journal has a great interview with Woodring that touches on Weathercraft and his other works, but also broaches upon such topics as transmogrification, horror as a sacred thing, and the overtly Vedantic tone of Weathercraft.

2 comments:

shoko said...

Sounds fantastic. Definitely want to check this out. Have you guys ever read any Richard Sala? I just read The Hidden and it was a little nugget of horror and beauty.

YoungDayofAllDays said...

haven't read Sala - although I know the name from somewhere... not sure where, though.