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“Out of The Way: Later Essays” by Colin MacInnes (Martin Brian & O’Keeffe Ltd.) 1979
After a dental surgery in Pasadena, I found myself in a used bookstore, trying to forget what I went through. I came upon a book of essays by London-orientated writer Colin MacInnes. He wrote "Absolute Beginners," which captured the modern London of the 1950s. One of the first books regarding youth as a culture on its own and the racial interactions that took place on the streets of London. A truly remarkable novel, and now I found "Out of the Way, a collection of articles he wrote for various English publications.
MacInnes is an impressive figure because he wrote about race issues and being an incredible observer of those eras' political, art, and pop world. He was born in 1914 and died in 1976. His father, James Campbell McInnes, was a classical singer, and his mother, Angela Thirkell, was a novelist. MacInnes was very much a professional essayist who wrote about British politics, colonialism, crime/law, sexuality (he was an out bi-sexual), the visual arts, and the cancer that eventually killed him. He also observed the difference between high and low art and recognized that they came from the same pool. MacInnes also realizes that there is not a massive difference between the 'Coppers' and criminals. He breaks down the jail system and what happens when one gets arrested.
Wrongly, the book is out-of-print. It needs to be reprinted as well as the entire Colin MacInnes bibliography. Not a major writer, but an important one in that he was in the right place and time. Also, the fact that he wrote about teenagers and youth when he was way in his mid-40s. The outsider approach (due to age) gave his books a superior reflection with a small distance.
I identify with Luc Sante's writings because we seem to share an interest in urban street history and its culture and music, films, French crime books & literature. He's a superb essayist with very sharp intelligence, and I love how he approaches his subject matters by making it personal. Born in 1954, he was born in Belgium and moved to the United States. His sensitivity is that he's very much aware that he lives in a duo-cultural existence. He's both an American and a European. Through his writing, I get the impression that he feels like an alien in a different world. Sante approaches to culture as buying a nice winter coat in the cold. The very essence of music, art, and literature is deadly important to him.
"Maybe The People Would Be The Times" is a compilation of Luc's writings from the 21st-century. It includes essays on music, cultural history, writers (great article on Richard Stark), Punk Rock & Reggae, and life in Manhattan during the 1970s. The book's title came from an Arthur Lee song, "Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale," a classic tune from Love's "Forever Changes" album. I can tell that Sante wrote poetry due to his dense but straight forward prose, but not a wasted word in these essays. Reading some of the chapters in this book is like a physical presence in one's conscious. I can feel Georges Simenon, Patti Smith, Ricard Stark, and others in this volume as if they are sitting across from me.
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| ISBN: 978-68137-361-4 |
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