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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2004)
TICKETS IN ADVANCE SUGGESTED TICKETS AVAILABLE AT CAVENDER’S BOOT CITY, TRADITIONS BOOKSTORE, AND ONLINEWWW.CROSSCANADIANRAGWEED.COM HURRICANE HARRY’S Meet The Battalion Wednesday, Jan. 28 2-4 RM. Forsyth Galleries, MSC Meet the writers, photographers, artists and editors who produce your campus newspaper. The Battalion 4A Monday, January 26, 2004 American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar By Harvey Pekar Ballantine Books the thoughts that clouded his mind. For readers, this is an look into life, pure and simple. Pekar never found the massive other writers found and his work hits kept its humble inti throughout its run. One story details Pekar s experience with voice loss. His pari Honesty is not easy to come by in today’s world. Through editing processes and clever wordplay, many authors can manipulate their work to create a larger-than-life image of who they are as people, in the process revealing themselves even further. It is a rare treat to come across a work of literature that is a pure, unfiltered reflection of a human soul. It’s lucky for readers that there exists a near-perfect expression of Harvey Pekar’s life in “American Splendor” which is a touching mosaic of moments that compose Pekar’s life as told by Pekar himself. From the mundane to the cosmic, these moments of life captured in print are a beautiful testament to blunt honesty of Pekar. The author is not con cerned with glossing over the truth with hyperbole and fantasy; instead, he presents an amazing collection of short, illustrated stories that man age to worm their way into readers’ lives. Originally published in magazine form, “American Splendor” is a collection of the best stories to emerge from a magazine. From reflec tions on his failed marriages, his growing obsession with record collect ing and his many jobs, Pekar’s stories cover a broad spectrum of topics. Each story is illustrated by a who’s who list of talented underground artists including Robert Crumb, Kevin Brown and Gerry Shamray. Never steering away from his follies, Pekar tells about his life in all of his triumphs and tragedies. Stories about his ever-present loneliness and his desperate need for recognition have a tendency to nuike the read er pause and reflect. Pekar often uses his writing as a catharsis to purge obsession with getting his voice back consumes his life, almostt vide W point of ruining his marriage. While it is obvious to readers ttu obsession is responsible for his marital strains, Pekar is convince )lK ]dy p disease itself is responsible for the problems between him and his This adds a depth of realism that most authors fail to meet in theirs Like a modem philosopher, Pekar’s insights tire an excellent wa\ readers to create their own thought processes. ‘American Splendor” was the basis for a motion picture of the. c ;tereoty xiends ( name in 2(X)3 and won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Juiyh With the new resurgence of interest in his work, Pekar continues to Bjre out ate and publish the American Splendor magazine. New readers into (lease ai ed in escaping from their own lives for a while may be advised toes into the mind of Harvey Pekar and maybe learn a bit about themsei - Robert Sm Use this os flrestorter o look; Hive pre Head onltj when Insomnia hit] gud US i Hum I* at a used bookstore Uu«j It In hardback b«i*j a cop«j for uour coffee nluhtstand. and bookshelf Is it the wind that generates electricity? Or is it the idea to harness it? At GE, we believe in the power of ideas. Ideas that not only turn wind into electricity but make the world a better place than it was the day before. If you have those kinds of ideas, we hope you'contact us. GE Careers gecareers.com /notredame The future relies on inventions from GE. GE’s future relies on people like you. GE is looking for some motivated Aggies to fill engineering positions this spring. Latel ie entir go boo he tact vailabk jare-all hey knc Matt ures an ?ound i ob. Hi; Rour pace in (range 1 t's first relativ ilfers h \llkTK, Come see us at the Engineering Career Fair January 27th Reed Arena 10 AM-5 PM imagination at work ire shor )r two t< The i ormat ii inline d ip that lelete e; mly c ul with loses. 7 eems R ered de hai the ead. The: iVeb sin ob to hi emed t tandins ites are The [nations .|Ul//Cs irofessi hat test oilers a darryha or mak ext ge Ifhese ; Ili'I'l'Cih Ccnsinu An Equal Opportunity Employer www.gecareers.com LAST 3 DAYS #liff ™«Si lilrjl SENIORS We're back by popular demand, but this is your FINAL CHANCE. Graduation portraits for the 2004 Aggieland Yearbook will be taken yearbook; resits are $10. To make an appointment, call Thornton Studio today, Jan. 26. through Wednesday. Jan. 28. 2004. in Room 407 of at 1-800-883-9449. Rudder. There is no sitting fee required to be photographed for the Aggieland 2004 Texas A&M University Yearbook *
