I’m a longtime admirer of the music Matthew Robert Cooper has made, whether it’s as Eluvium or under his own name — or one of several other aliases and projects that have added to his impressive discography over the years. Eluvium’s new album (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality represents something of a shift for Cooper, who was dealing with health issues that involved changing the way he wrote. I spoke with Cooper about the literary influences underlying this new album, his thoughts on music and technology, and what he’s been reading lately.
Weekend Bites: John Domini, Ahmet Altan’s Memoir, Valeria Luiselli, M. Randal O’Wain Interviewed, and More
In our weekend reading: interviews with John Domini and Matana Roberts, where Stephen King and T.S. Eliot converge, and more.
Afternoon Bites: T.S. Eliot and Hipsters, Robert Sheckley and “Black Mirror,” Kathy Acker, Tournament of Books Shortlist, and More
Notes on T.S. Eliot and hipsters, some recommended reading from Robert Sheckley, a beer identity crisis, news of Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey’s new comic, and more.
One Year in a “Modernist Mosaic”: Kevin Jackson’s “Constellation of Genius” Reviewed
Constellation of Genius: 1922: Modernism Year One by Kevin Jackson Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 544 p. Ezra Pound, that wild artist, muse, and patron of genius, referred to to 1922 as Year One of a new age. He felt so convinced of this idea that he began to date his letters “p s U” – post scriptum Ulysses. That post-war year saw the publishing of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and James Joyce’s Ulysses, among other jewels of modernist art, so a […]
Weekend Bites: Shitty Woody Allen Films, Jennifer Egan Interviewed, T.S. Eliot’s Cats and More
Woody Allen likes the shitty Woody Allen films. Jennifer Egan interviewed at The Rumpus. Wilson, by Daniel Clowes, is reviewed. Tolstoy and the Mormons. 20 writers to watch. T.S. Eliot and Cats. Secrets of Hitchcock’s Psycho.
Elias Canetti: When Memoirs Mattered
Thanks to books like Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue, these have been dark days for the memoir. But seriously,they aren’t these totally evil wastes of pages just because Trig’s mommy wanted to show off the pictures of the wolves she shot out of a helicopter. Elias Canetti wrote four volumes of his memoirs, and New Directions releases the final one today, Party in the Blitz. In it, the Bulgarian-born, Nobel Prize winner writes about his time spent living in exile in […]
Bites: Philip Marlowe, Kevin Sampsell Picks, “Literary Hipsters”, Titus Andronicus on The Awl, and More
An essay on Raymond Chandler’s iconic character, Philip Marlowe. (Thanks 3:AM Magazine) Kevin Sampsell picks 9 of the best books from indie publishers. “Literary hipsters” Blake Butler, Tao Lin, Stephen Elliott, and Miranda July’s favorite books of the year. One of those “literary hipsters” wants you to donate his book. T.S. Eliot wrote a letter. The Awl meets Titus Andronicus.