News

Bulletin of the Harry Stephen Keeler Society

No. 1............................................. January, 1997

Welcome!
Well, like it or not, youÕve gotten
yourself into the Harry Stephen Keeler
Society. What did you do to deserve this?!
You simply expressedÑor seemed to ex-
press!Ñinterest in the work of AmericaÕs
comic Kafka, the sole practitioner of the
webwork plot, master of the deus ex
machina, consummate crafter of convo-
luted capersÑin short, one, Harry S.
Keeler.
The Keeler News will be printed, oh,
roughly once a month, and will carry
IÕm also less interested in pointing out
items of interest to the few, the not-too-
everything that Keeler is not than in ex-
proud, the Keelerites. YouÕll find ads for
ploring what he so exuberantly is. Keeler
Keelerganzas (have any to sell? let me
was not a writer who failed to live up to
know!), reviews, letters, and trivial
literary standards; he was a creator of his
Keeleriana of every sort.
own standards. And thatÕs just what
As our ranks grow, I hope to put out a
makes him fascinating.
much more substantial newsletter
(proposed name: Webwork) which will be
big enough to include a lot more features,
including previously unpublished work
by HSK himself. Over a dozen Keeler
Send Õem in!
novels have never been printed in any
language. What better forum for them ¥ Letters
than a Keeler Society newsletter? ¥ Reviews
As editor of the Keeler News, I ¥ Books for sale
promise never to give away any impor- ¥ News items
tant plot elements from a Keeler novel. ¥ Names of more Keelerians
2 Keeler News No. 1
Book
Review
The Search for X-Y-Z. London and
Melbourne: Ward Lock, 1943.
This is vintage webworkÑKeeler glee-
fully doing what only Keeler does. The
plot is so intricate that a good dozen new
facts are presented on each of The Search
for X-Y-ZÕs over 300 closely-printed pages,
and each of those facts is likely to be a sec-
tion of a plot-string whose other sections
may turn up, unexpectedly, on any other
page of the book. It is a web in x-y-z di-
mensions, pasted together with hideous
puns, absurd laws passed yesterday,
Electra complexes, and noms de plumeÑ
all reeking with the ripe, glorious smell of
red herrings.
Our protagonist is one Ezra Jenkins of
Wauwaukauchee Lake, WisconsinÑa
gee-whiz, whitebread young romantic like
most Keeler heroes. Like Ezra Abner Hick
of The Portrait of Jirjohn Cobb, Ezra
Jenkins is a country bumpkin dressed in
ludicrous rural clothes, but blessed with a
fine education that lets him speak literary
English (thank you, Harry, for sparing us
some dialect). EzraÕs mission is to find his
brother, X-Y-Z Jenkins, in the metropolis
of Wiscon City. Ezra has to find X-Y-Z
within a few days, or else Ezra is headed
for prisonÑand he canÕt hire a private eye
or contact the police for help. Why? Well,
the reasons are revealed at length within
the first few pages of the novel, and of
course, they only succeed in making the
situation still more absurd and
Kafkaesque.
Wiscon City, in fact, seems taken from
the world of KafkaÕs AmerikaÑit is the
mirror image of a comic dream about a
terrifying reality. This vast pseudo-
Milwaukee is riddled with dead-end
streets, flying-machine factories, mudflats,
taxicabs in scores of bright designs, and
unique establishments. ThereÕs UmlaufÕs
$33.33-One-Hour-All-Outfit haberdashery
and barbershop. ThereÕs the Buffalo Bill
Shootery, where you can try your luck
shooting at a Òspray of whitish-marble-
sized glass balls.Ó And thereÕs ErnieÕs
Ratskeller of the 40 Biers, featuring a
robotic band in costumes from around the
world, moving in time to ErnieÕs World-
Famous 22-Tube All-Globe Radio (Keeler
has anticipated Disneyland and Chuck E.
Cheese!). But not all spots in Wiscon City
are so cheerful. One scene is set in a
square that is completely hemmed in by
warehouses, and is accessible only
through Òsubwaylike gangways.Ó Perfect
for both claustrophobics and agorapho-
bics! EzraÕs tiny hotel room is even more
deChirico-ish: it is furnished in spartan
metal furniture; its big window faces an
enclosed yard, and lacks both pane and
windowshade. At night, with his light on,
Ezra can see nothing outdoorsÑbut any-
one lurking outdoors can see him and
reach him!
This eerie city is known as ÒAmericaÕs
Berlin.Ó So of course, much of its popula-
tion talks like this: ÒBut de point iss dot
vunce in a plue moon comes someputty
vot iss imbortant.Ó Readers will be intro-
duced to Herman Hieronymus, the ruth-
less Kraut King of Wiscon City (thatÕs not
an anti-German slur: heÕs a sauerkraut
pickler!). ThereÕs StateÕs Attorney Foxhart
Cubycheck, whose name alone is worth
the price of the book. ThereÕs an entity
called LifeÕs Triple Enigma spending a lit-
tle time on Honomiehl Road, just out of
town. And thereÕs Olivia Debrevois, the
most cultured, wisest, and blackest
woman poet youÕve ever met.
This brings us to the striking racial
dimensions of this story. Despite the pres-
ence of typical Keeler cartoons who say
 Keeler News No. 1
things like, ÒAh tÕought yoÕ uz de boss!Ó
Keeler is also determined to slap contem-
porary racial stereotypes in the face. Not
only does he introduce Madame
Debrevois, but he creates a Chinese-
American gunman who holds a degree
from Yale, and who bitterly notes:
ÒChopsuey restaurant waiterÑbusboyÑ
shirt-sorter in a Chinese laundryÑthat,
believe it or not, is the complete pro-
gramme of openings in t h i s Êland of
ee-quality, to a Chink!Ó And then thereÕs
the appearance of a group of ÒIndians
from whose ancestors this entire state,
with its plethora of Indian names, had
been stolen bag and baggage by the noble
white man.Ó ItÕs good to see that KeelerÕs
heart is in the right place, even when his
mind is lost in the never-neverland of
Wiscon City.
The structure of this novel is delight-
ful. It is divided into ÒThe Book X!Ó, ÒThe
Book X-Y!Ó, and ÒThe Book X-Y-Z!Ó
(exclamation marks included, of course).
Most chapters are subdivided into num-
bered sections, some only a paragraph
long.
ThereÕs plenty of the patented Keeler
syntax, and thousands of sentences that
only Harry could write: Ò ÔTo hell with the
identities of future Chiefs of Police of this
town, Doc,Õ retorted the Chinese.Ó
In short, the reader of this unique and
oneiric text is in for a perverse treat. It is a
windowÑno, ten thousand windowsÑ
into a parallel world populated by a cast of
ghosts. The most substantial of these
characters haunts every page, even
though he is alluded to only briefly: he is
the Òauthor of one or two published pot-
boilers,Ó who goes by the name of ÒHenry
Stepney KolerÑor Keiler.Ó N
ÑRichard Polt
Keeler News is perpetrated by:
Richard Polt
828 Newell St.
Walla Walla, WA 99362 USA
509-529-6116
Republished by: Harry Stephen Keeler Society, 4745 Winton Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45232
3
Keeler on the Net
The Internet is a boon to oddballs all
over the world. If youÕre one in a million,
there are dozens more like you on the
Net. This applies to Keelerites, and it
gives us a great way of keeping in touch.
Many of you have e-mail addresses
and are already part of my Keeler mailing
list. This is a group of about a dozen peo-
ple who keep abreast of Keelerism by e-
mailing each other. Just e-mail me at
polt@xavier.xu.edu and IÕll add you to the
list.
Bill PoundstoneÕs well-written Harry
Stephen Keeler Home Page was the first
Keeler site on the World Wide Web. The
URL is: http://users.aol.com/bigsecrets/
Keeler.html. (Make sure to capitalize
ÒKeeler.Ó)
Our own Society has a home page at
http://xavier.xu.edu:8000/~polt/keeler.
html.
IÕve also started the Keeler Dustjacket
Vault. This is a site where you can view
and download images of cover art from
about a dozen HSK novels, as well as read
the blurbs from their dustjackets. ThereÕs
room for more, so help me out! The ad-
dress is http://members.aol.com/rpolt/
jackets.html.
Go aheadÑplunge into the Amazing
Web and become a cyberkeelerite! N
Read any good Keelers lately? Want to
share your observationsÑbut no crucial
plot twists!Ñwith the rest of us? Write
a review for the Keeler News!
Keeler Society Web site:
http://xavier.xu.edu:8000/~polt/keeler.html
polt@xavier.xu.edu
 Keeler News No. 1 4

Harry Stephen Keeler Society

828 Newell St.
Walla Walla, WA 99362 USA

Three titles available from Richard Polt:

THE MYSTERIOUS MR. I. Dutton, first ed. Fine, no dj. $30.

THE RIDDLE OF THE TRAVELING SKULL. 1938 Triangle reprint. Very good, with
good dj. $20.

SING SING NIGHTS. A.L. Burt reprint. Fair, no dj. $15.

A few booksellersÕ terms:

Fine = Nearly new, with slight signs of aging, but no defects.

Very good = A complete book, as issued, with very few blemishes or signs of wear.
Good = A complete book with no major defects, showing normal wear and aging.
Fair = A worn book with defects such as a torn dust jacket, loose binding, etc.
Reading copy = A book which has little or no value as a collectible item, but has
complete text.
dj = dustjacket (paper cover)

Do you have any spare Keelers that you want

to offer to our other members? Sell them here!
Let me know what youÕve got, describe it and price it.
IÕll print your ad in the next Keeler News.