In the Realms of the Unreal

This fine documentary written and directed by Jessica Yu concerns Henry Darger, a recluse who lived his entire adult life near Chicago's Lincoln Park. Working by day as a dishwasher, janitor, and bandage-roller(?), Darger seems to have spent much of his free time writing a 15,000 page novel entitled "In the Realms of the Unreal". That's a lot, maybe the most ever for a single work, and after finishing the novel he began producing a tremendous number of watercolors to go with text. And man, is it all weird. As far as I can tell it is about a set of Bobsey Septuplets named the Vivian girls, who as very observant, even angelic, Christians lead a war on behalf of their Christian nation (Angel-something or other) against the evil nation (Gland-something), a nation which practices child slavery and from the paintings appears to be led by purple-coated Confederate dandies with names like "General Smashface" and "Corporal Pugnose". Specialists and scholars from diverse fields are going to be dining out on Darger's legacy for years to come, so by all means get in on the action as soon as you can. This movie is a good place to start. Another are various presentations on the web, and some guy named Gavin has written an informative (and somewhat pejorative) review of John M. MacGregor's book on Darger, which you can read by following the link here.