It's a frame of mind, really - a questioning of what we catagorize as humour, while being provocatively amusing in itself (hopefully).
Q:
And how did it come about?
A:
I have a real love for joke cartoons and wanted to enter that world, so I set about reassembling some of them: cutting them up and changing their captions.
Q:
Does that act as some kind of critique?
A:
I like all of the characters involved - I just gave them a new script.
Q:
So are you claiming originality from other people's work?
A:
Yes
Q:
!
A:
The originals have long since wrapped someone's fish and chips/mouldered in an attic/grown yellow in a box in a car boot sale. I did make a donation to relevant charities.
Q:
Who do you see as the audience for this work?
A:
Well, I love the idea of someone coming across a copy of mourHu in a library or second-hand book shop unexpectedly (just as I did as a child with Hoffnung's little books and Spike's 'Milliganimals'). I think the appeal will be to around 6 people in the UK - less so overseas, as they say: humour doesn't travel...
Q:
A:
I assume the original material was very un-PC?
A lot of it yes, eye-wateringly so. And very few women cartoonists appear–it is its own world, passing now.
Q:
On reading this book I sensed that there was perhaps more than one kind of mourHu?
A:
Yes, this unfolded over time. I wasn't solely interested in the purely bizarre or in exposing the power relations of the characters in any obvious way - there had to be something else...
I agree there do seem to be types...
Q:
What were the rules?
A:
I've described the rules of generation, in a broad sense, at the beginning of the book. For this particular work, the picture and its altered caption had to come from the same book/magazine (often only a few pages away). The age-range of the material is 40s through to the 80s, though most is from the 50s and 60s - this gives a particular flavour. Future mourHu may vary in approach and source material.
Q:
So you intend er... more?
A:
Yes, I am currently working on a mourHu Summer Special and have ideas for other publications.
Q:
...more mourHu!
A:
You said it!
Q & A with author Paul Ramsay on his book 'mourHu'
interview: Saul Mapray(2017)
•
Q:
What exactly is 'mourHu'?
A:
It's a frame of mind, really
Q:
And how did it come about?
A:
I have a real love for joke cartoons and wanted to enter that world, so I set about reassembling some of them.
Q:
Is that some kind of critique?
A:
I like all of the characters involved - I just gave them a new script.
Q:
Are you claiming originality from other people's work?
A:
Yes
Q:
!
A:
The originals have long since wrapped someone's fish and chips/mouldered in an attic/grown yellow in a box in a car boot sale. I did make a donation to relevant charities.
Q:
Who do you see as the audience for this work?
A:
Well, I love the idea of someone coming across a copy of mourHu in a library or second-hand book shop unexpectedly (just as I did as a child with Hoffnung's little books and Spike's 'Milliganimals'). I think the appeal will be to around 6 people in the UK - less so overseas, as they say: humour doesn't travel...
Q:
I assume the original material was very un-PC?
A:
A lot of it yes. Very few women cartoonists appear–it is its own world, passing now.
Q:
On reading this book I sensed that there was perhaps more than one kind of mourHu?
A:
Yes, this unfolded over time.
I wasn't interested in the purely bizarre or in exposing the
power relations of the characters in any obvious way. I agree there do seem to be types...
Q:
What were the rules?
A:
I've described the rules of generation, in a general sense,
at the beginning of the book. For this particular work, the picture and the caption also had to come from the same title/source. The age-range of the material is 40s through to the 80s, though most is from the 50s and 60s. Future mourHu may vary in approach.
Q:
So you intend er... more?
A:
Yes, I am currently working on a mourHu Summer Special and have ideas for other publications.
Q:
...more mourHu!
A:
You said it!
mourHu is on sale now
look out for the Summer Special in 2020!
paperback
Alembic 9:
ISBN 978-1-873396-27-8
180 pages, b&w/colour,
colour cover, 5x8 ins £11(inc p&p)
hardback
Alembic 9H:
ISBN 978-1-873396-28-5
180 pages, b&w/colour,
colour cover, 5x8 ins £20 (inc p&p)
•
Release date:
bookwork - Alembic 9: mourHu by Paul Ramsay
If you would like to know more, please get in touch
