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Scott Timberg on Creative Destruction

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Einstein vs. Picasso

October 23, 2009 by Scott Timberg

ONE of my favorite pieces of my own, one that sent me on a real intellectual journey, explored the similarities between albert einstein's breakthroughs in physics and the ferment in modernist art and literature. the artist einstein is usually likened to is cubist-era pablo picasso. these two unconventional bohemians were engaged in what scholar arthur. i. miller calls "the same problem," as … [Read more...]

Nordic Noir Finally Arrives

October 22, 2009 by Scott Timberg

SOME called 1991 – a decade and a half after the rumbles in London – “the year punk broke.” If so, 2009 is shaping up as the year Nordic Noir finally arrived. Stieg Larsson – a Trotskyist sci-fi fan now, inconveniently, dead – is the movement’s Nirvana, and “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” a mystery novel with Nordic Noir’s coolest heroine ever, his “Nevermind.” The book’s recent sequel, “The … [Read more...]

Eight Decades of Ursula K. Le Guin

October 21, 2009 by Scott Timberg

TODAY one of the most innovative and intriguing writers in the english language marks her 80th birthday. there aren't many novelists who i enjoy as much today as i did when i was in elementary school; ursula le guin is one of them. here is the recent LA Times piece i wrote on her after visiting her in portland and re-immersing myself in her body of work and the debates around it. she was a very … [Read more...]

Newspaper Layoffs and "The Disposable American"

October 20, 2009 by Scott Timberg

IN 2007, a mean-spirited robber baron bought an important american media company with money that wasnt his, in a deal that no responsible anti-trust division would have permitted. over the next two years, hundreds of journalists were laid off from the LA Times and other newspapers. in october, i became one of them. departing with me were the deeply talented writer lynell george, the best editor … [Read more...]

Steve Erickson’s West Coast Dreams

October 19, 2009 by Scott Timberg

THE recent release of "a new literary history of america," has gotten me thinking again about longtime LA writer steve erickson. this fascinating volume, edited by greil marcus and werner sollors, includes a brilliantly counter-intuitive essay by erickson, which manages to wrap thomas jefferson and john adams around the songs of stephen foster. (he was born on the day in 1826 on which those two … [Read more...]

Lydia Millet vs. Domestic Realism

October 15, 2009 by Scott Timberg

ONE of the key impulses of my generation -- what we used to call generation x -- has been the move away from old-school psychological realism into fiction's "borderlands." that's michael chabon's term, and he's generally talking about the wild frontier between literary fiction and fantasy, pulp crime, sci-fi, lovecraftian horror and comics. but lydia millet is less interested in those fan-boy … [Read more...]

Maurice Sendak and "Where the Wild Things Are"

October 11, 2009 by Scott Timberg

ONE of the fascinating things about literature -- especially popular literature -- is the way it tracks the contours of the society that produces it. which is a fancy way of saying, maurice sendak books like "where the wild things are" not only reflected those churnings in american culture in the late 50s/early 60s, it helped produce what we learned to call "the 60s."sendak, of course, is in the … [Read more...]

Happy Birthday to Dune’s Frank Herbert

October 8, 2009 by Scott Timberg

TODAY is would have been the 89th birthday of frank herbert, the west coast science fiction writer and journalist, best known for "dune," who died in 1986.when "dune" won the best sci-fi novel poll on my blog -- defeating heinlein's "stranger in a strange land," gibson's "neuromancer," and others -- i wrote a bit about the book, which you can find here. i recently reread herbert's novel and found … [Read more...]

Greil Marcus and Five Centuries of the U.S. of A.

October 5, 2009 by Scott Timberg

WHAT do thomas jefferson, linda lovelace, and pentecostalism all have in common? oh, probably a lot of things. but at the very least, they're all part of a huge new book called "a new literary history of america," which has just dropped on harvard university press. no anthology is perfect, but this one is full of fascinating stuff.HERE is my new LATimes piece.part of what makes the volume … [Read more...]

Joe Pernice, Songwriter vs. Novelist

September 21, 2009 by Scott Timberg

ANYONE who follows indie rock closely knows that songwriter joe pernice isnt kidding when he says, "coming up with melodies is a pretty easy thing for me to do. it doesnt take a lot to get me to do it." songs like "penthouse in the woods," from '90s alt-country band the scud mountain boys, and "crestfallen," by chamber pop band the pernice brothers, have a melodic perfection that sounds … [Read more...]

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Scott Timberg

I'm a longtime culture writer and editor based in Los Angeles; my book "CULTURE CRASH: The Killing of the Creative Class" came out in 2015. My stories have appeared in The New York Times, Salon and Los Angeles magazine, and I was an LA Times staff writer for six years. I'm also an enthusiastic if middling jazz and indie-rock guitarist. (Photo by Sara Scribner) Read More…

Culture Crash, the Book

My book came out in 2015, and won the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award. The New Yorker called it "a quietly radical rethinking of the very nature of art in modern life"

I urge you to buy it at your favorite independent bookstore or order it from Portland's Powell's.

Culture Crash

Here is some information on my book, which Yale University Press published in 2015. (Buy it from Powell's, here.) Some advance praise: With coolness and equanimity, Scott Timberg tells what in less-skilled hands could have been an overwrought horror story: the end of culture as we have known … [Read More...]

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