So I continue with Roberto Bolan~o's Nazi Literature in the Americas. In many ways this book is perfect for lunch. What I mean by this is that it is made up of twelve or thirteen page short stories that for a person like with with an hour lunch can be read and digested well. There is so much texture in this book and its critique of 'fascist intellectuals' can serve well as a critique for all 'poets'.
I don't know if you all saw but Charles Bernstein is not profiled on the Poetry Foundation website- obviously Established Verse Culture no longer includes the great foundation on Clark Street. Or maybe Charles IS established verse culture? Ron Silliman started this on his blog...
But back to Bolano( I cannot do the ~ on my Blogger) he really cuts into the literary mindset the way that Gilbert Sorrentino did in an early novel talking about poet's and writer's real motivations. This book slowly disects the mentality and shows us how much we need to be chastised. I like books that expose hypocracy and this book does that well.
Read this Book.
I went to a play by Carla Harryman on Friday last- it was interesting- it helped that the actors were all very attractive. It was an interesting U of Chicago type event (where you feel like a skunk at a picnic or a black guy trying to hail a cab).
I got to Meet the real Barrett Watten- all tweedy and Homo Professorus. But in all seriousness Watten is a favorite and the fact that he lives in Detroit gives him some street cred- he and Ms Carla lived in San Francisco for a long time but there is no street cred there- unless you are Robert Duncan and he is dead.
Garin Cycholl and I are going to go with Bill Allegrezza on pilgrimage to hang out with the bard of Ypsilanti- Clayton Eshelman- and maybe we can get Barrett to go to a Tigers game with us??
But the play was something- very engaging and I was prepared to hate it and I was moved.
I continue with Robert Bolano's book- go buy it.
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