Memory Glyphs
As one of the more existentially burdensome professions, poets tend to lead short lives. Of the three, all of whom were born in the late ‘50s or early ‘60s, only Andriescu has made it past the age of forty; he continues to write and teach British and American literature at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in IaÅŸi. As such, I would say he’s the only one of the three writing under the shadow of much of the postmodern discourse that arrived much later in Eastern Europe than it did in the West. This is not always successful; one occasionally gets the feeling that Andriescu is employing pomo gimmickry for no other reason than to mark his work with a sign of contemporaneity (such as throwing in e-mail templates.) Andriescu is at his best when he simply lets himself go and allows for a direct transmission of thought across the pages; the poem ‘Ultima Thule’ is a prime example of this.
A review by Travis Jeppesen.
Addicted to the Twenty-First Century
Even starting out as a novelist in the mid nineties, his books bristled with logos and brandnames; and he’s in his element at a time when consumer technology is accelerating at an almost science-fiction pace. The novels are an alphabet soup of IPod, GPS, blog, vlog, ADD, YouTube, IKEA, BBDO. Characters speak in terms of old advertisements and TV shows and viral emails. With these continuous television and corporate reference points Coupland is ahead of his time. Think of how much of our conversation is recycled: imitations of old movie stars, radio-ad jingles, catchphrases from Simpsons and Peep Show…
Max Dunbar on Douglas Coupland‘s Generation A.
New Life
Owen Hatherley on BBC4’s Synth Britannia series, worth reading in full: Whoever chose the locations and archive footage for Synth Britannia, a fine BBC documentary on the UK synthpop moment, either really knows their stuff, or has been lurking round here. In the first few minutes there’s Thamesmead, Hyde Park/Park Hill in Sheffield, Hulme Crescents, […]
ampere’s and
Today’s quick lit [& alt.cult] links from around the web: The Rumpus interview Alasdair Gray & “Chris [de Burgh] mocked my unfortunate surname and then reminded me in no uncertain terms of his wonderful career, house, wife, children, etc. And my lack of. I still cry myself to sleep when I remember his cruel words.” […]