that’s a philadelphia reference for you.
i spent a lot of time while i was reading the savage detectives thinking about ca conrad.
one of the things that the savage detectives spends a lot of time on that my brother and i didn’t spend a lot of time discussing in all that time we spent is the role of poetry and poets in the world, politics in particular. belano, lima, and the other visceral realists consider themselves revolutionaries, and the novel about them feeds on the tension created by the mixture of nostalgia, disillusionment, and maybe secret hope of the speakers looking back on the movement and realizing it hadn’t amounted to what they thought it would.
i was thinking about conrad while i read it because he has the same kind of hope for poets and poetry that the visceral realists express, but he will never have their regrets. i feel corny as shit writing that, but it’s true, and i admire that about him.
a robot with a mohawk, for example
i also admire his poetry, and he came out with a new book when i was thinking about him while reading bolano, and i bought it then, and i’ve read it now, and it’s excellent. it’s called the book of frank.
imagine a novel written by the most enthusiastic person with all of the suck sucked out of it and you’ve got an idea. here is one tiny sample:
monkeys inside
frank ascend
until
his
bare
face is
covered
i don’t know if that’s representative or not. representative becomes confusing with conrad. his first book included a sincere request for a cuddle session with our last president. anyway, keep reading. it will change your brain like the knowledge, whatever your knowledge is.
p.s. — if conrad would be belano then frank sherlock would be lima. i recently read his book over here and found it excellent also, but in a way i don’t feel qualified to speak about.
p.p.s — i know this has been my least competent post ever. don’t hold it against the books. just click the links and see.
interesting mash up, i just got Frank sent on its way to me recently, excited to read it. good thoughts here.
thanks. i think you’ll dig frank. and i just found out that his book advanced elvis discourse is coming out in june from soft skull. i’ve heard him read from it, and i think it’s going to be just as good.