http://www.christopherhiggs.org/
Christopher Higgs recommends Tierra Whack's WHACK WORLD, Otomo Yoshihide's ANODE, Marlon James's BLACK LEOPARD, RED WOLF, and a lunch of cucumber, tomato, red onion, feta, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Mykki Blanco – “Join My Militia (Nas Gave Me A Perm)”
Directed By: Mitch Moore
Channel the Howl:
A Conversation with Kate Durbin and Kate Zambreno
“Criticism is itself an art.” – Oscar Wilde
A couple of months ago I shared a list of “Five Works of Theory You Should Consider Reading,” at least two fifths of which could also easily be described as criticism (Glas viz Genet, and Crack Wars viz Flaubert, for sure). Boundaries, of course, are porous.
As if it’s not obvious, I love reading theory and criticism. Two forthcoming books I can’t wait to read are Kate Zambreno’s Heroines
Similar to my theory choices, I could’ve picked a hundred dozen or more, so limiting myself to five seems like a good, if difficult, idea. And, like last time, I cheated and added a bunch of alternative choices within the five major choices. Ah the joy of making up the rules as you go.
For the most part, I chose the books I chose because I like them for the way they play with genre, the way they enact formal deterritorialization, the way they make the criticism itself a work of art, or as Wilde puts it in the essay I quoted from above, “It treats the work of art simply as a starting-point for a new creation.”
Fascinating, puzzling, provocative exchange between Kent Johnson and Craig Dworkin in the newest issue of Claudius App adds a very interesting spin to the current conversation surrounding sincerity. Here is the encounter between them (maybe? or maybe it’s all just a hoax?).
After considering the Johnson/Dworkin letters, be sure to check out the whole issue, it’s got a bunch of killer stuff in it by Joyelle McSweeney, Ariana Reines, Brandon Downing & Daniel Tiffany, and loads more.
Do you remember when Mud Luscious Press announced the chapbook Y2K by Ken Baumann? What about Rat Beast by Nick Antosca, or They by Brian Evenson?
Do you remember when they announced We Take Me Apart by Molly Gaudry?
Do you remember when they announced books by Ben Brooks, Sasha Fletcher, Norman Lock, Michael Stewart, Mathis Stewart, Gregory Sherl, or Matt Bell?
Do you remember when they birthed a NEPHEW? With titles by Andrew Borgstrom, Robert Kloss, Darby Larson and forthcoming Brandi Wells.[…]
Now they need our help. It’s best summed up straight from the horse’s mouth: “We need to raise roughly $2000 to continue our release schedule of the next 2 novel(la)s and the next 2 Nephew titles. Seriously, or Mud Luscious Press may tank. For real.”
So how can you help?
[Basically, buy a book!]
via Ben Spivey (click his name for more options)
For those of you who might be interested, click through for the reading list I’ve assigned the students taking my “Major Figures in American Literature: Gertrude Stein, The Mother of Invention” course this summer.
Okla Elliott’s published drama, non-fiction, poetry, short fiction, and translations have appeared in Another Chicago Magazine, Indiana Review, The Literary Review, Natural Bridge, New Letters, A Public Space, and The Southeast Review, among others. He is the author of three poetry chapbooks—The Mutable Wheel; Lucid Bodies and Other Poems; and A Vulgar Geography—and he co-edited (with Kyle Minor) The Other Chekhov. His new book, From the Crooked Timber is out now from Press 53. You can get it from Amazon
To help celebrate the recent publication of From the Crooked Timber I asked him a few questions and got him to talk about a bunch of things, from art to politics to influence to the narcissism of minute differences.
Or, a recommended reading list for those who wonder where to begin.
As with any field of study, entry points abound.
With that in mind, my objective here is not to be comprehensive but rather to suggest a limited set of key texts that should help readers familiarize themselves broadly with the critical conversation surrounding the historical Avant-Garde. In the interest of symmetry, I offer ten books and ten articles, with a few supplements along the way.
One of the inherent problems of studying the Avant-Garde is its interdisciplinary nature, which could make it seem overwhelming given the vastness of its reach: far beyond typical artistic areas. Cecilia Novero’s recent book Antidiets of the Avant-Garde: From Futurist Cooking to Eat Art
Oh, one last thing…keep in mind, what follows is a list of secondary materials: writing about the Avant-Garde. In the not-too-distant-future, I intend to produce a companion list of primary materials: writing from the Avant-Garde.
Since it’s likely I left out your favorite book on this subject, additions to the list are welcome in the comment minefield.