THE AGRICULTURE READER’S LABOR DAY SPECIAL—DISCOUNTED COPIES OF ISSUE 3 UNTIL THE END OF SEPTEMBER!

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Fellow Workers,

We here at limited-edition arts annual The Agriculture Reader know that times are tough. The paper of record says ’09 was the worst back to school season in years! We’re feeling it, too. No, not because we’re under-employed and lack health insurance (though yes, that too) but because we’re trying to unload the last of our stock of AGR 3 in order to fund the production of AGR 4. To that end, from Labor Day till the end of September, we will be selling AGR 3 for a measly TEN DOLLARS. Your sawbuck gets you the current issue of our annual, which features writers such as Dennis Cooper, Heather Christle, Ariana Reines, Diane Williams, Matthew Zapruder, Christian Hawkey, Eileen Myles, Matvei Yankelevich, and many more. Some of the best work is by people you’ve maybe never even heard of, like Jen Hyde. All this plus a special section celebrating the work of the poet Tony Towle—and that’s just the words. The whole issue is custom-illustrated by the artist Joey Parlett, and all the layout and design work is done by Amy Mees and Mark Wagner—a dynamic duo, if there was one—and there was (is). Every cover is cut, stamped, stickered and colored on by hand, so each copy is unique. There are only 600 total in the world, and more than half of them are already gone. (The first two issues both sold out; we expect that this one will too.)

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Uncategorized / 4 Comments
September 7th, 2009 / 10:36 am

Monday morning (early, early morning) craft notes.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9aaS2ipAQ4

The inspirational part of this video for me starts about 2 minutes in.

[Announcer] We spoke to Gerard earlier about his strategy. I’d like you to understand exactly what he thinks.

[Gerard] Hello, I’m Gerard Gordeau. I’m a fighter of Holland. And my discipline is savate, the French boxing. The same like kickboxing, only without knees. I hope that I win the tournament, and I don’t make mistakes.

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Craft Notes / 4 Comments
September 7th, 2009 / 4:02 am

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EWGpZwwoM8

15 ‘Towering Literary Artists’ Who Are Still Alive

By request, a list of 15 living writers who I would consider ‘towering literary artists,’ even though that phrase itself comes with the baggage of being a little silly, but still. These men and women all spit fire line by line, and have been doing so for many years, and continue to do so, as we speak.

This list, of course, is somewhat arbitrary in its compiling, as I just jotted down the first 15 towers that occurred to me, and there are many others that could have, should have appeared on this list, a list that likely could go to at least 30, maybe 50, and especially had I included authors with smaller yet still growing bodies of work. Here I stuck to people who mostly have published at least 8 books so far (I think here only one of them has less than that) (and if I opened beyond that this list would be easily twice as long right off the bat), and with a dearth of poets as I am not quite as done up in that area as in fiction, and therefore this list also clearly reflects my taste more than would a neutral and objective list of towering authors (i.e. a lot of people would easily switch out Lish for, say, John Ashbery, etc., or perhaps Diane Williams for J.M. Coetzee or Cynthia Ozick or John Barth): this therefore is more those who I feel towering among my own mind, in my history, but who also clearly have made their mark across the world at large. Feel free to comment and let me know all of those I left out, or make your own list, etc.

David Markson
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William Gass
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Massive People / 415 Comments
September 6th, 2009 / 5:12 pm

David Byrne’s Instructional Insides

Web Hype / 4 Comments
September 6th, 2009 / 2:42 pm

What U Readin’ 4?

bored

Ok, not to start the same argument all over again, but certain comments got me really wondering: if you think a book that meets or surpasses what Ulysses did for its time is not being created during our time, why the fuck are you writing? Better yet, why the fuck are you reading? To make the daisy chain just a little bit longer? Sure, maybe you think Ulysses as a book is actually boring (read: work) (haha), and the next book object that would do what it did now would likely look nothing like it (which is, I think, another misconstruing of my point: of course it wouldn’t! otherwise it wouldn’t be new…), but for my money if you are so dead in the water over the prospect of innovation (read: ingenuity, fun), and honestly believe that people out there (outside yourself) aren’t writing in such ways, I have no idea what business you have near printed matter, much less discussing it in a public forum. There are enough people to stir the swill. But really, though: why?

Addendum to this question (prodded by Q’s from Christian): Are you an amibitious reader? Why/why not? How?

Behind the Scenes / 109 Comments
September 6th, 2009 / 11:20 am

Thug Motivation 104

How to have a good time

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How not to Interview a Boss

Random / 8 Comments
September 5th, 2009 / 8:46 pm

Coldfront mag gets exclusive snapshot of Farrah Field

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Hah! John Deming wishes. No, but seriously. Ken L. Walker has a mini-interview at Coldfront with the author of Rising, in which celebrity sex tapes for some reason don’t figure at all. Subjects which are discussed include: growing up in the Air Force, listening to Fleet Foxes, and writing after personal tragedy.

We moved to Louisiana from Sicily when I was in seventh grade and my dad retired there. I remember not having any friends at all until I perfected my “y’all”. So, I’m southern in an untypical way; my family refers to me as “The Yankee” and they think it’s funny that I wear a scarf.

Random / Comments Off on Coldfront mag gets exclusive snapshot of Farrah Field
September 5th, 2009 / 4:49 pm

Two more good ways to blow a bunch of money: Criterion is running a 40% off Essential Art House sale & Dalkey Archive just announced their incredible slew of forthcoming fall and winter 09/10 books. Shit.

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