Roller Derby is back and its packing a literary punch.
My friend and fellow bookseller Charles Seluzicki took in a match in Portland last week and shares this:
Anyone who has ever seen a women’s flat track roller derby game knows the mixture of high camp theatricality and hypnotic sport. It is the last place you would think of in terms of literature and books. But scrolling through the on-line register of roller derby names reveals a recent trend in names that reference books and literature. These derby identities function as both acts of hommage and in-your-face persona of fun-loving menace.
The following names are gleaned from the thousands on the register:
Agatha Frisky,
Anna Kareena,
B.F. Skinnher,
Count Smacula,
Creeping Beauty,
Dorothy Park-her,
Germaine Leer,
Goria Steinem,
Hunter Stompson,
Kama Suture,
Killustrator,
Knuckleberry Finn,
Lady Shatterly,
Little Miss Tuffit,
Noam Stompsky,
Scarlet O’Hurtya,
Thumpelina,
Velveteen Savage and
Virginia Woolferine
Talk about a literary all star team.
The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the place start to see what’s going on.
Seattle’s Rat City Roller Girls homepage
Portland’s Rose City Rollers website
And if you think Roller Derby is pure theater have a look at the “battle scars” page of the Steel City Derby Demons website.
or the Hall of Pain Gallery from the Rat City Roller Girls
Oouch!
Image via Library of Congress
Thanks Charlie!