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Literary Tue Jul 14 2009
Bohemian-style sensory overload
John Hospodka's South Side Trilogy goes a little more than the extra mile and not just because it's a three-parter.
The literary project, which debuts July 23 at bohemianpupil.com, is a multi-sensory literary experience.
The stories and poems are compelling. Hospodka introduces us to characters that share lonely monologues, sing-song lyrics and narrative story-telling. Chicago is more than just a setting in these scenes. It is a character unto itself.
Reading the trilogy is certainly enjoyable, especially for any self-identified Chicagoan who, like any Chicagoan (whether a baseball player or politician or writer) just wants to be taken seriously.
And Hospodka should be taken seriously because the real treat of South Side Trilogy is its complete sensory overload. Visitors aren't just reading Hospodka's work; they are hearing it and seeing it. Fellow Chicago artists paint, perform, sing and speak the poems and narratives to create what Hospodka calls "a literary picture show."
The characters throughout South Side Trilogy completely come alive through the artists' colors, instruments and voices. Visitors can tour the site of vibrant voices, images and sounds, figurative and literal scenes for free and then purchase a PDF of the text if they want.
Hospodka's roots in Chicago's South Side come through loud and clear. Imagine a Bohemian Mike Royko. Hospodka paints a picture of Chicago that, like Royko, takes this immense and sometimes overbearing city, for what it is: dirty, unforgiving and home.
[Editor's note: John Hospodka once wrote a column for Gapers Block: Three Questions For.]
