"That was the first time I came face-to-face with an indifference of this magnitude, of an atmosphere where all, everyone save small children is disinterested in who you are or from whence you came.  There are two kinds of indifference, it seems: one born of ignorance and apathy (the ugliest kind) and another born of immoderation, of possibly once caring too much, sending off too many warm Hallos and receiving none in return, soon believing it all a waste of time and energy (the saddest kind).  The first is inexcusable, the second also inexcusable but understandable – Cold hearts are not born, but created.  Still, it's sad to think the human heart could be so frail, so susceptible, quick to surrender its strength in spirit just because a few cold bastards couldn't give a shit one way or another if you exist or not.  The heart of anger and violence thinks this way, this apathetic, indifferent way, even toward itself, smothering itself in fear and hate and cowardice – the institution of war – an outward war which breeds nothing but more fear, more hate, more cowardice and indifference and apathy in the frail heart of humanity.  There is, however, another kind of war, an inner war which, once waged and fought and won, renders the violent in spirit at total peace, an inner peace which radiates and permeates the ones around him, around her.  First, though, the violence, the anger and hate and apathy and indifference must be confronted and fought and conquered.  Till then, the institution of war within humanity will always exist, always occupy men's minds as the end-all by which to protect his four spongy chambers and the blood flow which is automatic."

- Jeffrey Woolf, Apples of Arcadia



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The first words you read in "Apples of Arcadia," Jeffrey Woolf's debut novel, are "To the Unnameable."
An odd dedication, to be sure, but the Twin Ports hasn't spawned an author like this in some time — if ever.

The Duluth author recently sat down with the Budgeteer to discuss the six-years-in-the-making "Apples" and Black Umbrella Books, his upstart publishing house. 

Recalls and reflects

Woolf was born in Beloit, Wis., and raised in Superior, but the novel-writing process didn't even really start to take roots until his senior year at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. (Woolf describes his college experience as, more or less, an extended episode of sleepwalking. He had no real ambition to attend, but he knew that it was "the thing to do.")

"I was still kind of sleepwalking until I got interested in scatological literature — books that, at one time or another, had been banned, usually for lewd content," he said. "I don't know how that happened; I think I was just looking to entertain myself."

It was during this time that Woolf sought out Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer," which he had heard a lot about.

"I picked it up and immediately recognized it as something that was extremely different from anything I had ever read — different in the voice that was used," he said of the controversial 1934 novel. "It wasn't actually academic, even though it was very intelligent.

"It spoke in a very unique and individual voice."

After reading it three times back to back, Woolf knew he had found his calling. As is the case with most authors, he experienced many "fumblings" between that decision and "Apples" — including writing music reviews in the Reader Weekly that were, according to him, less about music than him trying to fit favored words into any given sentence.

"I was still looking to find out what this whole writing business was," he concedes. "Not if it was worth pursuing, but how to pursue it.

"A lot of my time writing happened very privately — very, very privately, where there was only one or two people who even knew the type of stuff I was writing."

Woolf said he never set out to write a book like "Apples," which he describes as 80 percent nonfiction and 20 percent "license." Rather, he was on a journey to find his voice — a journey that took almost three years.

"A lot of what you're reading in the book I was living," he said of the novel's middle pages, which move beyond earlier bartending anecdotes and sexual conquests (like the explicit "Tropic of Cancer," "Apples" isn't for impressionable readers). "All those experiences were taken directly from myself trying to find out what my voice is."

After he found that fabled "voice," Woolf said "Apples" really started to take care of itself.

"… To the point where all I really had to do was show up and drink a lot of coffee," he said, laughing about how cliché the process turned out to be. "And Radiohead helped out a lot too."

The plight of the creative artist

Novel done, where does the novelist go?

Like just about every talented wordsmith before him, Woolf attempted to "shop" his novel to a number of different houses — at least to as many as he could afford. (While "Apples" is no "In Search of Lost Time," a healthy 400 pages still equates to hefty postage fees.)

"After two years (of little response) I looked at myself and said, You could quit now, and say you gave it a hell of a shot — or you can continue, pursue it and see what develops," he said. "I was always extremely serious about it, and it was never really just a hobby for me."

Enter "How to Publish Your Own Books," a simple how-to Woolf discovered at his place of employment's donated library while waiting for a weekly team meeting to start.

"I just thumbed through it, you know, and it was so simple," he said. "It was just like, Why isn't anybody else doing this? Or: Why hasn't somebody told me how simple this was?

"By that time, I was telling my book idea to anybody who would listen — and even people who wouldn't listen."

With his newly acquired knowledge of the DIY book-publishing biz, Woolf launched Black Umbrella Books. (To secure the trademark, he quickly released a chapbook of his poems.)

While he is not currently seeking submissions [actually, we are.  please see submission blog for details], Woolf hopes to get another Black Umbrella project going by the end of the year.

"I don't mean to make my venture into publishing sound trivial — it was accidental, but I take it extremely seriously, and I want to showcase, of course, the Duluth literary arts," he said. "I think that there's a lot of music happening here, but there's also a lot of literary things that are happening."

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NEWS TO USE
Duluth author Jeffrey Woolf will celebrate the release of his debut novel, "Apples of Arcadia," at Carmody Irish Pub Saturday, March 8. After he signs copies (available at a reduced rate of $10) from 8 to 10 p.m., Andy Lipke's North Shore Trio will perform. No cover.