[contextly_auto_sidebar] ONE of my favorite writers in any genre is the USC humanities professor Leo Braudy, justly celebrated for his Frenzy of Renown, a history of fame going back to Alexander the Great. Braudy writes widely on literature, film, ancient civilizations. the question of America, the overlap of culture and politics, and all kinds of subjects that interest me. He's insightful, … [Read more...]
“Best Books of the Last 20 Years,” and the Canon
[contextly_auto_sidebar] It sounds like a great idea, or at least a revealing one: Assemble a list of the most important books of the last two decades, in any genre, from poetry to the novel. Find accomplished writers in a variety or genres — Rebecca Solnit, Jonathan Lethem, Roxane Gay, Ann Padgett, Patti Smith, and so on — and ask them for their favorites since 1997. “The end of December is a … [Read more...]
Octavia Butler’s Los Angeles
[contextly_auto_sidebar] THE posthumous rise of the science-fiction writer Octavia Butler, who died in 2006 and spent most of her life in and around Pasadena, CA, has been fascinating to watch. I've been interested in Butler since I moved out here and began to hear of her work, in the late '90s, and love one of her story collections. But I don't know her life of output in great detail. So … [Read more...]
Lit Crawl L.A./ North Hollywood
[contextly_auto_sidebar] THE other night I ventured out to Los Angeles's North Hollywood neighborhood for the latest installment of Lit Crawl L.A. This annual night out has been going since 2013, but for various reasons I've missed it every time, even though NoHo is one of my favorite L.A. 'hoods. The idea of Lit Crawl is to arrange readings, conversations, rants, and various kinds of … [Read more...]
Arrested Development
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="RyUBLjwg2HD6V10HfzwzlBlMyZ8BZLTK"] IS our culture stuck in childhood or adolescence? Are we disregarding the depths or pleasures of maturity? CultureCrash's guest columnist weighs in. "Arrested Development" By Lawrence Christon The late, great acting coach Stella Adler was holding a master class on Jean Anouilh’s “Waltz of the Toreadors,” a play in which a … [Read more...]
“How the 1 Percent Always Wins”: Interview
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="TzbKntNFyZcSQHgIrdjr9IhXNfnnrZ7q"] A timely and engaging new book by the labor historian Steve Fraser, The Age of Acquiescence, contrasts the way Americans responded to the first Gilded Age -- with protests, class rhetoric, even violence -- to the situation today, where movements like Occupy come and go and populist energy is directed not against capital but … [Read more...]
“Love Songs: A Hidden History”
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="jmgPWNAcri7qqzMjI9cU8cSfZfom5qHL"] INTERESTED in songs about love and sex going back to ancient fertility rites, through the medieval troubadours and the German art song and into the age of "Tangled Up in Blue," Ziggy Stardust, and bedroom R&B? Then you may want to get your hands on Ted Gioia's new secret history, Love Songs, just out on Oxford University … [Read more...]
The Madness of Kelly Link
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="EiHxpVihevRrdyMUqFrfFwSxjluukyi5"] I'VE long been an admirer of the genre-mashing short story writer Kelly Link, who infuses the literary story with horror and fairy tales; she co-runs an eclectic small publisher near Northampton, Mass. as well. Today Link is in the New York Times Book Review with a By the Book interview in which she talks about her favorite authors … [Read more...]
Culture Crash on the Road
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="I6HdN5b3gj1Ofnif6g564Xjc8xXJLg7S"] For the last two weeks my book and I have been on the East Coast barnstorming for artists's rights, the middle class, an honest discussion about digital technology and other subjects. It's been a blast, I am still reasonably healthy, and I look forward to returning home to California later... today. Thanks to everyone I've met … [Read more...]
The Costs of Disruption
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Xw8ARjhG6mdZqCIxpK59cJwcBfxfFyJo"] WHAT happens when we tear up the past, replace people with bots and culture with content? Those are some of the question on the mind of former New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier in his piece "Among the Disrupted." He begins this way: Amid the bacchanal of disruption, let us pause to honor the disrupted. The streets of … [Read more...]