A few weeks ago, to commemorate Independence Day, Anis Shivani, who started a minor shit storm in comment fields across the internet with his very funny list of the most overrated writers in America, released his list of 20 books on independent presses you should know about, which includes my friend Matthew Henriksen’s debut from [...]
More ...Archive for the ‘Criticism’ Category
Hayes Carll at Slim’s, May 14, 2011
May 18, 2011
1:53 pm
Criticism, Field Reports, Music, Reviews
Filed under:"rugged individualism", america, beatnik shit, country music, hayes carll
On stage at Slim’s in San Francisco last Saturday night, Hayes Carll sounded like the real thing, a bona fide Texas troubadour in the tradition of Steve Earle or Carll’s idol, Ray Wylie Hubbard. Obviously enjoying himself–more so as the free drinks arrived–Carll inhabited a stage persona somewhere between that of the drunken poet in his [...]
More ...Not That You’re Reading This Anyway…
May 16, 2011
3:52 pm
Criticism, Field Reports, The Program Era
Filed under:"cat" litter, "rugged individualism", america, bullshitting, can it be taught?, creative writing industry
For a long time, I’ve wanted to blog about some of the unpleasant truths about graduate education in general and about my experience at a state school in a major West Coast city in particular. Aside from the fact I think an MFA is of dubious value as an artistic degree–I had to get one [...]
More ...Rednecks in Indieland: With ‘Go-Go Boots,’ the Drive-by Truckers–a great American band–return to form
Mar 03, 2011
9:08 pm
Filed under:"copperhead road", "rugged individualism", "sweet home alabama", drive-by truckers, eddie hinton, lynyrd skynyrd, mike cooley, patterson hood, randy newman, rednecks, shonna tucker, steve earle, the south
Perhaps Andre Dubus was right when he called New Hampshire the most redneck state north of the Mason-Dixon line because I’ve always heard my teenage years in Alabaman-cum-Athens, Georgian band the Drive-by Truckers’ hard luck narratives. Then again, high school in America being the experience it is, most of us who are of a certain [...]
More ...Name Anis Shivani’s “15 Most Underrated Writers” before he does
Aug 12, 2010
6:28 pm
Filed under:anis shivani, mohsin hamid, the reluctant fundamentalist
That Shivani article about the 15 Most Overrated Contemporary American Writers set off a stir across the blogosphere as well as here at The Skeptician, but it’s not the end of the debate. For an encore he plans on publishing at The Huffington Post his list of underrated American writers. Rather than wait and see [...]
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