Raymond Roussel (1877-1933), an Idiot Savant Without Idiocy

Written by Colin Raff on . Posted in Books, Posts

The literary oeuvre of Raymond Roussel (1877-1933) delivers artificiality in excelsis. Roussel, who derived none of his striking creations from experience, wrote unimpeded by introspection or sentiment, unhampered by moral reflection or facile realism. A systematic approach to craft aided and tempered his fecundity, but his reverent peers–the surrealist poets–never seemed to grasp this. While
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Running Amok: Anarchy!: An Anthology of Emma Goldman’s Mother Earth

Written by None - Do not Delete on . Posted in Books, Posts

Anarchism is not exactly the specter haunting American society. Yet in recent years anarchists have become one of the nation’s best hopes of fueling national paranoia about domestic subversion. Let’s face it. Unless we have commies hiding under the bed or an Evil Empire ever-poised for and hell-bent on our destruction, we’re just not happy.
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Talking with Cynthia Eller, Author of The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory

Written by None - Do not Delete on . Posted in Books, Posts

One of the more popular accounts of prehistoric human society is that it was matriarchal: that women ruled globally, for hundreds of thousands of years, until a patriarchal revolution reversed things about 5000 years ago. Women were the heads of the households; they worshipped goddesses, or a single great goddess; men revered them and acceded
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San Francisco Bizarro Portrays the Weird City the Dotcommers Tried to Kill

Written by J.T. Leroy on . Posted in Books, Posts

Like Times Square and the East Village of yore–places that used to be homesteads of the unwanted, fucked-up creative pilgrims from everywhere else–San Francisco has had its streets paved with Disney and dotcoms in recent years. But just like Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes uncovering the old New York, there still exists the
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Oscar Reading

Written by Armond White on . Posted in Books, Posts

Movie Awards By Tom O’Neil (Perigee, 804 pages, $19.95) "Critics should not discuss the Academy Awards," one of our most venerable film critics cautioned. That they indulge Oscar babble anyway only shows their nonseriousness. Critics’ overreliance on Hollywood as the measure of artistic standards makes them no different from the rest of the media and
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Hypnotism for Sleazier Sex

Written by None - Do not Delete on . Posted in Books, Posts

Maybe you’ve had this problem before: you’re having sex ("making love") with someone other than one of your own hands, and let’s say it’s going pretty okay–you have a nice rhythm going and are reasonably sure your partner doesn’t have diseased and/or cystic genitalia–and yet you can’t help but feel disappointment at the fact you
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Science Fiction and Mystery Novelist George C. Chesbro: A Q&A

Written by Bob Riedel on . Posted in Books, Posts

I ran into George C. Chesbro–author of numerous science-fictional mystery novels starring the Manhattan-based dwarf detective Robert Frederickson (aka Mongo the Magnificent)–at last fall’s annual Paperback Expo. It turned out he had a new array of books there, too: he and his wife Robin had formed Apache Beach Publishing, recovered the rights to his hefty
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Danny Schechter’s New Falun Gong Book Is Weak

Written by David Grad on . Posted in Books, Posts

Reading Danny Schechter’s Falun Gong’s Challenge to China it’s difficult to determine whether the self-described "human rights journalist" is playing the fool or being someone’s tool. After talking to him for almost an hour and a half, I am convinced that he has managed the difficult task of doing both in equal measure. Schechter is
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Paula Kamen, Feminist in a World of Bridget Joneses

Written by Tanya Richardson on . Posted in Books, Posts

In a world full of Bridget Joneses, it’s nice to stumble across Paula Kamen. Her 1991 Feminist Fatale focused on why many young women who identify with the tenets of feminism reject the label "feminist." Her latest, Her Way: Young Women Remake the Sexual Revolution (NYU Press, $25.95, 280 pages), chronicles women’s relatively newfound sexual
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