Tosh Berman on Ian Penman's "Fassbinder Thousands of Mirrors," Semiotext(e) 2023

 

Tosh Berman on Ian Penman's "Fassbinder Thousands of Mirrors," Semiotext(e) 2023

The Complete Fear of Kathy Acker by Jack Skelley

 

Tosh on Jack Skelley's "The Complete Fear of Kathy Acker"

"Roussel Returns" by Mark von Schlegell (Semitext[e])

I pretty much purchase anything that has the name "Raymond Roussel" on its cover. Which means, I read everything that is possible on this fantastic French writer. For me, Roussel is very much the ground zero of avant-garde culture, which is ironic, because Roussel pretty much wanted the mass audience, and by no means did he see his work as being a difficult read. The fact that he didn't have the masses, but instead had every significant avant-garde artist, poet, and writer as fans, well, at least he had emotional backing.

If you dig deep enough in one's favorite literary bookstore or library, you can find books on Roussel in English. What is there not to like about him? He was rich, and he spent his fortune in producing his books as well as doing a big budget theater piece based on his masterpiece "Impressions of Africa." He had a limo/automobile in the 1900s that was probably the first limo, or at least a car where he didn't have to leave to go to the bathroom. He wore his suits once, and then never again. The ultimate dandy in a country (France) full of dandies. But his real brilliance is his writings. Word-play, amazing non-plotting, yet spectacular images of new machines, and even newer locations. One can think of him as an early pioneer of science fiction narrative. Mark von Schlegell wrote a beautiful and fascinating essay on Roussel, where he states the importance of Roussel's work in line with Jules Verne and Edgar Allen Poe. The thing with Roussel, in many ways, he predicted the Internet, and the method of artists who had their fortune, produce work for the consumer.

Schlegell makes interesting sight into the world of Roussel, and how one shouldn't only look at him as a man of wealth (which he was of course) but also as a worker, who could work anywhere in the world. He built his car which is a combination of a mobile home as well as a workspace where he can do his writing anywhere in the world, with the help of a large ship as well. Him being mobile gave him the ability to see the world, but the real travel was always in his head and within the boundaries of his imagination.

A superb chapbook published by Semiotext[e] and well-worth the journey in locating this Roussel-appreciation. Here's the website to purchase "Roussel Returns": http://www.semiotextes.com/shop/rouss...

"The Undiscoverable Reading" an essay by Tony Duvert

ISBN 978-1-58435-135-1 Semiotext[e]

"The Undiscoverable Reading" an essay by Tony Duvert (Translated by Bruce Benderson) with drawings by  Eli Langer (Semiotext[e])

Tony Duvert is a very hard sale. Due to the fact that he has an interest in pedophilia and criticized modern child-rearing. In the 70s, due to the sexual moral times of that era, he could get his work published, but since the 1980s he was pretty much ignored by the mainstream press and even from the Underground.  Which is a shame, because Duvert is a very interesting writer and thinker.  Semiotext[e] the brilliant press are the only one's that are publishing his work, and the booklet I have just read, "The Undisoverable Reading" is hard-to-find.  It's a 40 page chapbook, with no bind, but I read it twice, because I found it to be difficult and enticing at the same time.   In this essay, Duvert writes about the nature of literature and how reader's perceive literature - both as someone who may write books, as well as its readers.  The reader in a sense, meets the author.  He starts off writing about an ad selling classic literature to a normal family, and gives a funny picture of that type of ad- and then he goes into the advertisement of a company selling a service in 'how to write,' and gives a picture there of a young girl about to start her novel or some sort of creative writing.  From there, he digs into the deeper world of why people read, but also the nature of avant-garde literature when it mixes with the mainstream world of books.   The writing is very dense and one has to concentrate - but as I said, I was compelled to read it twice in a row - and each read was enjoyable experience.   This work was part of the Semiotext[e] box set that was sold at the Whitney.  I think the whole collection is sold out, but I think for sure, worth the trouble to locate this box of chapbooks.   As a brand, you can pretty much trust the Semiotext[e] publishing house to always, or at the very least, put out interesting titles.  

- Tosh Berman

"Cruising the Movies: A Sexual Guide to Oldies on TV" BY Boyd McDonald (Introduction by William E. Jones)

ISBN: 978-1584351719  Semiotext(e) Active Agents

Without a doubt, Boyd McDonald was the best film reviewer ever. The thing is he wrote for a gay mag, and mostly on films he watched on TV late at night. He also had a zine in the 1980s that focused on homosexual sex "Straight to Hell." The brilliance of McDonald is that on a physical level he's very much part of an underground "gay" world, when there used to be one. Now, everyone is getting married and becoming taxpayers - but alas, there was a life that was lived in the shadows, and McDonald, a superb writer, captures that series of shadows that were shown on TV - mostly films from the 1930s to the 50s. The beauty of his work is that he mostly focuses on the actor's cock size or butt. But that is just the platform or foundation of his serious observations - here he marks the queer world where females act out certain passions, while men react to them. Or is it the other way around? "Cruising the Movies" touches on a lot of fascinating subjects - the nature of old films being shown on TV, before the world of VHS recording - in a way it is almost a coded, often secret, transmission from Hollywood to a gay man's sensibility. William E. Jones wrote a beautiful and insightful introduction.

- Tosh Berman

"ATTA" By Jarett Kobek

Semiotext(e) 978-1-58435-106-1

In the end I think Jarett Kobek's "Atta" is the only book one really needs to read regarding September 11.  It's a tragic and sad tale.   Atta was one of the key figures who was the "soldier" or "Terrorist" who flew the plane into one of the towers on that clear September day.  Which I hope by the way, over time, that date becomes just a date and not a memory of the incident, that opened up Pandora's Box of 21st Century tragedies - Iraq War, etc and etc.

Atta, by all means a close-minded fellow, is repulsed and fascinated by American culture.  For me, the most interesting part of this narrative is his thoughts on Walt Disney and one of his films.  He saw it with his fellow thugs, and was totally repulsed by what he saw on the screen.  When they started to have articles in the media about Atta, I remember the Disney fixation and how that sort of became a focus of sorts.  Kobek did an excellent job in getting into Atta's head, especially his thoughts on architecture as well as popular media and the Urban Landscape, both his home in Egypt as well as in the U.S./Europe.     It's amazing how suspenseful the book is, especially we know the narrative already.  This handsomely designed little book is an important work, yet depressing.  But one has to go through the pain (at times) to get to a truth of some sort.   Essential book!