The Relms of the Unreal

I happened upon this amazing man. Henry Darger. Who wrote a 15,000 page novel about seven beautiful little girls. The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion.Awesome title right! Anyway, this work as well as hundreds of paintings some of which were 12 feet long painted on taped together butcher paper were discovered in his room after his death. The novel contains thousands of battles depicted in gory details, heroic rescues and mysterious beasts! I watched a reasonably good documentary on him, they animated sections of his work which I found a little inappropriate. As he never intended his art to be viewed as such. In all reality he never intended his art to be viewed at all, so I guess everything is up in the air.He was declared a gifted reader when he was in first grade and bumped strait to third, but then found himself shortly after in a boys institution for the “Weak Minded.” In his artwork and story he depicts the seven Vivian Girls as the great heroins, and gives them dashing lines. In his auto-biography he claims girls are far more courageous then men, and which in certain circumstances I would agree with.

He had a very limited perspective on the world, and very limited experiences. He lived his whole life as a janitor in a hospital, spent a short stint in the military and as a Christian he attended mass every day (I didn’t even know mass happened everyday!). But he had a challenging relationship with god, as was a vehement protector of children, he wished to adopt but was always refused. God never answered his prayers. His war with God in the real world takes its tole in the novel, as the Vivan Girls fight for the Christian army. Whenever Darger has a dispute with God in the real world, the Vivian Girls suffer horrible losses in there battles, or are nearly fatally wounded. His knowledge of sex, and women was so limited, all of the females depicted in his art possess the male genitalia!! He spent nearly every hour of his free time working on the novel in some shape or form. He was a completely self taught writer and artist, which I respect enormously!
This man created such an elaborate world in his mind, he kept track of the casualty’s, the generals names and the expenses for the battles in a log book.When he was finally put in the same elderly home his very own father had died in thirty years before, he whithered and died very quickly. Without his fantasy he had no reason to live.

The mind is capable of creating such amazing and elaborate worlds based on the knowledge it at absorbs. My god… the mind is powerful.