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New Orleans has long been a beacon of creativity for the literary set, most notably in the early 20th century with the publication of the Double Dealer, the stellar literary magazine published from 1921 to 1926 that featured the works of luminaries such as William Faulkner, Hart Crane, Robert Penn Warren, and Ernest Hemingway. Though other magazines and journals appeared intermittently on the local scene after the Double Dealer ceased publication, the Outsider, published by Loujon Press in the 1960s, became its successor in spirit.
Loujon Press was founded by Jon and Louise “Gypsy Lou” Webb, a restless couple from Cleveland, Ohio, who were drawn to the eccentrics and eccentricities of the French Quarter. Gypsy Lou sold art on the corner of Royal and St. Peter Streets while Jon worked as a freelance writer and editor out of their
apartment across the street. Jon, who served three years’ prison time for robbing a jewelry store during the Great Depression, had struggled to fit in with mainstream establishments, literary and otherwise. He conceived of a literary magazine that would feature works by other “Bohemian fugitives” from New Orleans and around the country. Through various connections, Jon enlisted contributors such as the Beat writers Gregor}' Corso and William
Burroughs, and, armed with a hand-operated printing press, Loujon released the first issue of the Outsider in 1961.
Although only four issues were published, the final one appearing in 1968, the Outsider parlayed exquisite taste into cultural capital. The magazine focused primarily on poetry, though it also included works of prose and nonfiction, such as a three-part series of letters from Henry Miller to Walter Lowenfels and an article in the second issue on old New
Above: The Blue Oasis edition of Henry Miller’s Order and Chaos Chez Hans Reichel was printed in 1966, after the Webbs left New Orleans and were living and working in Tucson, Ariwna. This is one of only four copies of the special edition that bear an inscription by Miller to the subscriber. (THNOC, MSS 647; gift of Edwin J. Blair)
Cover: New Orleans artist Noel Rockmore’s cover design for Charles Bukowski’s Crucifix in a Deathhand (1965) is one in a series of dark, dreamy illustrations and etchings he provided for the book. (THNOC, 83-545-RL)
2 Volume XXX, Number 3 — Summer 2013


New Orleans Quarterly 2013 Summer (02)
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