Pre-Joycean Fellowship

Last updated

The Pre-Joycean Fellowship, abbreviated PJF, was a collective identification that was semi-seriously adopted by several writers known for fantasy and science fiction, to indicate that they value 19th-century values of storytelling. An example of such values is clarity, which was called by Jane Yolen the "lovely limpid quality" of writing. [1]

Steven Brust wrote that "it is in large part a joke, and in another large part a way to start literary arguments." [2]

The term was probably coined by Will Shetterly, and was adopted in imitation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, [3] positing James Joyce as the dividing line (in English) between 19th-century fiction intended for a general audience and a modern desire to write for readers who are well educated in literary history. Writer Tappan King is credited with the comment, "The Pre-Joycean Fellowship exists to poke fun at the excesses of contemporary literature while simultaneously mining it for everything of value." [4]

The name was meant as a joke; a "gathering of the PJF" was an excuse for writers with shared interests to meet at a bar. Steven Brust took the joke public when he began signing "PJF" after his name on his title pages.

Members have included:

On page 2 of issue #31 of Vertigo Comics' The Sandman , the comic's author is identified as "Neil Gaiman, P.J.F." in the credits box. This credits box was not included in at least some editions when the issue was reprinted as part of The Sandman, Volume VI: Fables & Reflections .

Related Research Articles

Neil Gaiman English fantasy writer

Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, nonfiction, audio theatre, and films. His works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. He has won numerous awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards, as well as the Newbery and Carnegie medals. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work, The Graveyard Book (2008). In 2013, The Ocean at the End of the Lane was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards.

Steven Brust American fantasy and science fiction author

Steven Karl Zoltán Brust is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He is best known for his series of novels about the assassin Vlad Taltos, one of a disdained minority group of humans living on a world called Dragaera. His recent novels also include The Incrementalists (2013) and its sequel The Skill of Our Hands (2017), with co-author Skyler White.

<i>The Sandman</i> (Vertigo) Comic series by Neil Gaiman

The Sandman is a comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics. Its artists include Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Jill Thompson, Shawn McManus, Marc Hempel, and Michael Zulli, with lettering by Todd Klein and covers by Dave McKean. Beginning with issue No. 47, it was placed under the Vertigo imprint. It tells the story of Dream of the Endless, who rules over the world of dreams. The original series ran for 75 issues from January 1989 to March 1996.

The alt.* hierarchy is a major class of newsgroups in Usenet, containing all newsgroups whose name begins with "alt.", organized hierarchically. The alt.* hierarchy is not confined to newsgroups of any specific subject or type, although in practice more formally organized groups tend not to occur in alt.*. The alt.* hierarchy was created by John Gilmore and Brian Reid.

The Sandman: Book of Dreams (1996), edited by Ed Kramer and Neil Gaiman, is an anthology of short stories based on The Sandman comic book series.

The Flash Girls are a now defunct folk music duo based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota.. The duo consisted of Emma Bull, a noted science fiction author, and Lorraine Garland, also known as "The Fabulous Lorraine". Garland is also notable as Neil Gaiman's personal assistant; the group formed at a Guy Fawkes Day party at Gaiman's home. The connections that both Bull and Garland had with the science fiction and fantasy communities allowed them to have an unusually notable group of people writing songs for and with them, including Jane Yolen, Alan Moore, and Neil Gaiman. These songs are mixed in with their own original works, traditional songs such as Star of the County Down and Lily of the West, as well as poems put to music, including works by Dorothy Parker and A.A. Milne.

Joel Furr American usenet personality

Joel K. "Jay" Furr is a writer and software trainer notable as a Usenet personality in the early and mid-1990s.

Charles Vess American illustrator

Charles Vess is an American fantasy artist and comics artist who has specialized in the illustration of myths and fairy tales. His influences include British "Golden Age" book illustrator Arthur Rackham, Czech Art Nouveau painter Alphonse Mucha, and comic-strip artist Hal Foster, among others. Vess has won several awards for his illustrations. Vess' studio, Green Man Press, is located in Abingdon, VA.

Adam Stemple American musician

Adam Stemple is a Celtic-influenced American folk rock musician, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is also the author of several fantasy short stories and novels, including two series of novels co-written with his mother, writer Jane Yolen.

Will Shetterly American writer and politician

Will Shetterly is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction best known for his novel Dogland (1997). The novel is inspired by his childhood at the tourist attraction Dog Land owned by his parents. He won the Minnesota Book Award for Fantasy & Science Fiction for his novel Elsewhere (1991), and was a finalist with Nevernever (1993); both books are set in Terri Windling's The Borderland Series shared universe. He has also written short stories for various Borderland anthologies.

Patrick Nielsen Hayden American science fiction editor, fanzine publisher, essayist, reviewer, anthologist, and teacher

Patrick James Nielsen Hayden, is an American science fiction editor, fan, fanzine publisher, essayist, reviewer, anthologist, teacher and blogger. He is a World Fantasy Award and Hugo Award winner, and is an editor and the Manager of Science Fiction at Tor Books. He changed his last name to "Nielsen Hayden" on his marriage to Teresa Nielsen in 1979.

<i>Babylon 5</i>s use of the Internet

Babylon 5's use of the Internet began in 1991 with the creator of the series, J. Michael Straczynski, who participated in a number of Internet venues to discuss elements of his work with his fans, including the rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 Usenet newsgroup, where he continued to communicate as late as March 2007. This flow of information and feedback had a substantial impact on Babylon 5, as well as Straczynski's other shows and his fan base. This interaction pre-dated the coining of the term "blog", but is functionally similar.

James Davis Nicoll is a Canadian freelance game and speculative fiction reviewer, former role-playing game store owner, and also works as a first reader for the Science Fiction Book Club. As a Usenet personality, Nicoll is known for writing a widely quoted epigram on the English language, as well as for his accounts of suffering a high number of accidents, which he has narrated over the years in Usenet groups like rec.arts.sf.written and rec.arts.sf.fandom. He is now a blogger on Dreamwidth and Facebook, and an occasional columnist on Tor.com. In 2014, he started his website, jamesdavisnicoll.com, dedicated to his book reviews of works old and new; and later added Young People Read Old SFF, where his panel of younger readers read pre-1980 science fiction and fantasy, and Nicoll and his collaborators report on the younger readers' reactions.

rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated is a moderated Usenet newsgroup that focuses on the science fiction television series Babylon 5 and the works of writer J. Michael Straczynski. It was spun off from its un-moderated version, rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5, in 1996. The newsgroup counts Straczynski as a frequent contributor, and was among the first internet-based fora where fans interacted directly with a 'showrunner'.

Cats Laughing

Cats Laughing is a folk rock band, founded in the late 1980s in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and revived in 2015. Several of its members, including Emma Bull and best-selling author Steven Brust, are better known as writers of fantasy and science fiction.

David G. Potter was a computer technician at California State University, Sacramento who was widely known for acerbic, scathingly humorous and knowledgeable postings to Usenet science fiction newsgroups. He assumed the name of Gharlane of Eddore, a character from the Lensman series, as a Usenet pseudonym for Usenet postings and carefully guarded his true identity for many years before his death. He is best known for authoring the Lensman FAQ and voluminous Usenet postings. He died on June 13, 2001 following a heart attack.

The Borderland series of urban fantasy novels and stories were created for teenage readers by Terri Windling. The series is set in Bordertown, a dystopian metropolis that lies along the border between "the Elflands" and "The World". The series consists of five anthologies and three novels to date. The series has spawned fan groups, gaming groups, costumed events, and was discussed in The Fence and the River: Culture and Politics at the US-Mexico Border by Claire F. Fox.

A Usenet personality was a particular kind of Internet celebrity, being an individual who gained a certain level of notoriety from posting on Usenet, a global network of computer users with a vast array of topics for discussion. Since its inception, Usenet newsgroups have attracted a wide variety of people posting all manner of fact, fiction, theories, opinions, and beliefs. Some Usenet posters achieved a certain amount of fame and celebrity within Usenet circles because of their unusual, non-mainstream ideas, or because their writings and responses are considered especially humorous or bizarre.

Endicott Studio was a nonprofit organization, based in the United States and United Kingdom, that is dedicated to literary, visual, and performance arts inspired by myth, folklore, fairy tales, and the oral storytelling tradition. It was founded in 1987 by Terri Windling, and is co-directed by Windling and Midori Snyder. In 2008, Windling and Snyder won the World Fantasy Award for the Endicott Studio's website and web magazine, The Journal of Mythic Arts.

References

  1. ↑ Yolen, Jane (2006). Take Joy: A Writer's Guide to Loving the Craft. Writer's Digest Books. ISBN   9781582973852.
  2. ↑ Brust, Steven (Dec 12, 1996). "Re: Initials after Brust's name" (Usenet newsgroup post). rec.arts.sf.written. 58pu4o$1l7@news5.wavefront.com.
  3. ↑ Shetterly, Will (Aug 5, 1995). "Re: Steven K. Z. Brust, PJF" (Usenet newsgroup post). rec.arts.sf.written.
  4. ↑ Shapero, Kay (Sep 26, 2008). "Re: Need help with abbreviations" (Usenet newsgroup post). rec.arts.sf.written. MPG.23476c8343314f9b98981a@news.west.earthlink.net.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.