The TPR Stream - November 2012
21.11.2012
The Best Dostoyevsky Character Alive By The Editors
Here around the TPR offices, we don’t think it gets much better than one Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky. It explains a lot of our behavioral tendencies. For instance, we smoke only the strongest of tobacco and have many gambling debts. We fall in love with bewitching Russian girls with titles who often pay those debts, but drive us mad at the same time. They’re enablers is what they are, but we love them for it. For some reason, we complain of our brandy-drinking, maudlin mess of a father, also named Fyodor, even though none of us are Russian. Sometimes, we wear cassocks and crash monasteries for months at a time. There was, of course, the time our poetry editor killed a money-lender and her half-sister with an axe. Or the time in the 19th century when our fiction editors spent four years in a Siberian prison camp for their involvement in the Petrashevsky Circle. Then again, maybe none of this happened. We drink a lot of vodka. Either way, we espied a potential addition to the TPR staff in an elderly Russian woman who—in true Dostoyevsky fashion—axe-murdered a wolf threatening her livestock.
20.11.2012
I Was There: David Foster Wallace’s Legendary Commencement Speech at Kenyon College By Jason Moore
David Foster Wallace, far considered the best writer of his generation before taking his life, delivered a commencement address at Kenyon University in 2005. It has been lauded in various publications as one of the greatest commencement address of all time. Jason Moore was in the audience. These are his recollections.
19.11.2012
To Have and Have Another: The Ernest Hemingway Cocktail Book By The Editors
TPR editorial meetings always start off with the best of intentions. In true real-life fashion, however, intentions don’t mean jack until you follow through with them. So, it’s safe to say there’s enough detritus from the last TPR editorial meeting to establish a meaningful beachhead the next time we’re thinking of visiting Normandy. We like to carry a little bit of that spirit with us every day when 5 o’clock rolls around and the work whistle blows. It’s not spirit we carry, so much as spirits specifically. But if a normal human being were to engage in the kind of drinking we enjoy during a typical editorial sesh on an everyday basis, that person would end up worse than the rummy in To Have and Have Not.
16.11.2012
Remember that time you and some of your best friends got together to play some music and became the most well-known rock band of all-time? It led one of those friends to proclaim that you guys were actually bigger than Jesus. You were on "The Ed Sullivan Show", and a phalanx of screaming teenage girls awaited you at every corner. Then, remember how Bob Dylan came up to your hotel room that one time and introduced you to something called marijuana? Remember how it ignited a period of deep spiritual introspection which at first saw you engage in copious amounts of mind-altering substances only to end up meditating in India? Nothing!?! What about the subsequent years when you put out some of the best music anybody has ever heard only to have it dissolve in the petty small-arms fire of ego and a woman named Ono? Well, surely you remember the time that you all got together on national television and tackled a scene from Shakespeare’s "A Midsummer Night’s Dream"? Still nothing? Oh, that’s right. That’s because it wasn’t you and your friends, it was the Beatles.
15.11.2012
This Week's Tragedy and the Relevance of Poetry By The Editors
If you go to enough poetry readings (and we do), you’ll know that sooner or later in the night, the exact time frame depending on the quality of the work and the amount of red wine consumed, there’s a high probability someone will start to talk about how poetry is a dying art and how it has no place in today’s society. At TPR we don’t buy into that (we just think you should go to be better poetry readings). Poetry has a place in society – it now even has its place in a Bond film, though it’s debatable if anyone apart from Dame Judi could have pulled that off. Poems may not be a daily staple of everyone’s lives, but what do we turn to when we need to speak seriously and movingly about life?
14.11.2012
This generation remains detached from war, despite its undeniable entanglement within war’s inexorable web. There are the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Let’s not forget the simmering discord across wide swaths of Africa, including Sudan, Mali, and Somalia. The world’s most discounted war—and perhaps most deadly going forward—continues in the form of the cartel war in Mexico, which, according to UN figures, tallied an official 19,396 deaths last year. And these don’t even include the wars the West is engaged in directly. Afghanistan has dragged on for eleven years now. Iraq for nine. Both of those wars have now lasted longer than Vietnam, but for an entire generation of Westerners they don’t exist. Regardless of your feelings about those wars we can agree on this: Never has a generation at war been asked so little and put the burden of service on so few.
13.11.2012
What’s Beef? Inside the Literary Feud of Salman Rushdie and John Le Carré By The Editors
What’s Beef? It’s a question the immortal Biggie Smalls asks in a track on his legendary LP "Ready to Die". No, it’s not just for dinner. Beef, to be brief, is when two people (or entities) hold an active grudge against each other. Symptoms of beef include sustained resentment and a public disregard for the opposite party. You might recognize beef in its various public manifestations, as in "The USA and USSR beefed for many years before finally squashing it in the late ‘80s" or "Elton John kept his beef with Madonna alive and well when he referred to the songstress as a 'fairground stripper'". Beefs can end in different ways. In the case of the beef between Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur, both men ended up as victims of homicide. Thankfully, the beef between two literary luminaries did not share the same result, although murder was a very real possibility for one of the men involved.
12.11.2012
New Boxing Photo Book Offers Compelling Reasons Not to Quit Your Day Job By The Editors
At TPR we’ve always said that you could turn any boxer’s life into a novel. Yes, the metaphors are obvious but they're also natural. The plot points are made for you. And what’s more climactic then our protagonist walking down the aisle towards the ring and their one last shot at redemption. Whether he (or she) succeeds or not, there’s great opportunity to show a character undergo great transformations under life’s hardships, and not only is an emotional or spiritual way. Specifically, parts of their faces get rearranged to other places. Imagine waking up tomorrow and going to bed with your nose in a different place. That changes a man(or a woman).
09.11.2012
Because It's 5 O'clock Somewhere: Bill Murray Reads Poetry to Construction Workers By The Editors
There are poetry readings, and then there's Bill Murray reading poetry. The latter is the reason Because It's 5 O'clock Somewhere exists. What's more, it's Murray reading poetry to an assemblage of nonplussed construction workers on break during the building of the Poets House(not a typo). While they don't seem to impressed with the poetry, it's another wonderful Bill Murray moment to add to the collection of so many wonderful Murray moments.
08.11.2012
Things That Make You Wish You Were Still a Child: The Bill Murray Coloring Book By The Editors
Ah, children. At TPR, we don’t trust them. To all those having babies, here’s a heads up. You’re breeding your own replacement. TPR will now make a prediction for the future: We will die and the children will replace us. We know, we know, it’s quite controversial. Have you been around a seven or eight year old lately? They’re frighteningly smart and witty. And their computer skills are relatively on par with our own. This younger generation is just smarter and more plugged in than we were. This is why TPR thinks the future will be in good hands after us. For instance, if in our time as children there was such a thing as a Bill Murray coloring book, we’re pretty sure our generation would’ve at least solved famine and war.
07.11.2012
A Study in Narrative: The Election, the Media, and the Vindication of Nate Silver By The Editors
We love a good narrative here at TPR. Narratives give us reason to believe that time is real and coalesces in tangible moments known as beginning, middle, and end. Whether it’s books, movies, or story-telling in general, a well-crafted narrative is something to appreciate and enjoy. Not all narratives are created equally, however (we’re looking at you Hunger Games). Especially in the case of news organizations promulgating the preconceived narrative of a toss-up election by ignoring data that explicitly states the opposite, while at the same time buttering up viewers for a ratings feast only made possible by the very preconceived narrative that those news organizations themselves created. No, we don’t find that particular narrative to be equal to The Idiot. And we doubt Nate Silver does either. Who is Nate Silver? If you don’t know his name, know it now. Outside of the candidates themselves, he was the single most important figure of the 2012 American Presidential Election.
06.11.2012
Too Cold for Poetry: TPR Looks Back at the Inauguration of Barack Obama By Shaan Joshi
As America goes to vote today (if you live in the States, go vote one way or another…seriously) we are reminded that certain days have more impact than others. These days do no stand as islands separate from the rest of quotidianness, but are rooted in past and future. Today is no different. TPR was on the ground in Washington four years ago on a day that is intrinsically tied to the fates of the current hour. We forget now that the cloud of cynicism that seems to linger over all things in this generation (we get it you’re ironic and can’t commit to anything) broke for one brief month in January of 2009. Even ardent detractors (then and now) of President Obama would attest to that sense of optimism. What happened to that optimism and the reason for its disappearance is up for debate. At no point, however, was it higher than on the morning of January 20th, 2009, when the nation turned its eye to the National Mall and the inauguration of a young president.
05.11.2012
Remember When We Used to Write Letters: Kurt Vonnegut Writes to His Wife By The Editors
Kurt Vonnegut is one of our favorites. They used to tell a story around Indiana (where Vonnegut and one of our editors just happens to be from) about a commencement speech Vonnegut gave at Indianapolis’ Butler University. Mid-speech a plane flew overhead. Vonnegut paused and looked up at the plane. He then looked back at the audience. “You know,” he said pointing towards the sky. “Those people up in that plane are probably flying from New York to Los Angeles. They’re looking down here thinking this is nothing but a fly-over state.” The index finger rescinded and in its place was a new finger. A middle finger. “All I have to say to that is fuck you!” That was Kurt Vonnegut. He didn’t care if you were 26,000 feet above him. He was going to tell you how he felt.
02.11.2012
Because It's 5 O'clock Somewhere: The Literary Criticism of Louis C.K. By The Editors
Ah, the literary critic. He who is known for his ability to regard is now little regarded. How did it happen? Maybe it started when William Styron penned the mission statement for a new kind of literary review with the following words: “The Paris Review hopes to emphasize creative work—fiction and poetry—not to the exclusion of criticism, but with the aim in mind of merely removing criticism from the dominating place it holds in most literary magazines and putting it pretty much where it belongs, i.e., somewhere near the back of the book.” This is when the review became a place not just to criticize culture, but a place to create culture. Of course, critics have always had their, ahem, critics. Nabokov once (correctly) pointed out that good readers don’t read “for the academic purpose of indulging in generalizations”. Right on Mr. Nabokov, but it does give our dear professors something to do with all their free time. So as literary criticism drags itself into a new century, maybe it’s time for a new kind of literary criticism. Maybe, it’s time for Louis C.K.
01.11.2012
Here’s the thing about your grandparents. They’re great but can’t resist telling you how great things used to be. Whenever they tell you how great things were back in their day, you can now roll your eyes (which you probably already do) and say the following: “Really, Grandpa? How about casual racism and books?” One (casual racism) was widely prevalent during your grandparent’s time and still kind of is. The other (books) was widely prevalent during your grandparent’s time and still kind of is…or so we thought. According to a new study, teens and 30-somethings read the most, which leaves us with one question. Hey olds, how much gardening and post-retirement sex is there to do before you pick up a book?
22.11.2012
Ah, Thanksgiving, one of those many confusing American holidays the rest of the world doesn’t celebrate but probably will in fifteen years due to the miracles of cultural hegemony (hey, it happened with Halloween). With that in mind, Let TPR guide you through what to expect when inevitability rasps on your door. Thanksgiving is a monument to excess and, in that way, carries forth the grandest American tradition of all—eating entirely too much and washing it down with 42 oz. of sugary soda drink. It’s enough to make any Native American bemoan the ancestral decisions that led to such a holiday. That, and Reservations. It’s all in good fun, though. There’s a healthy slathering of American football and the biggest family gathering this side of Christmas. One uncle usually drinks far too much and at some point in the night yells, “I told you Obamer is a Kenyan.” His nephew rolls his eyes, slips out the back door, and engages in his own version of a Thanksgiving Day roast. Then, there’s the other uncle (hey it’s a big family) who takes over turkey duty and keeps everybody laughing whilst his wife pours out one too many Egg Noggs. In steps F. Scott Fitzgerald, a man as American and convivial as, well, Thanksgiving.
23.11.2012
It is the Friday after Thanksgiving. Many of you are turkey-concussed and currently suffer from a tryptophane hangover. You look warily at the fridge, knowing the forbidden treasures it holds as you ask yourself, “How much is too much?” Even more of you don’t care. For you, it’s Friday and that’s beautiful enough. What the entirety of you do care about is all things literary. In the interests of that, let us join the two previously mentioned population segments in one cause and let that cause be the stage. TPR wishes to bring you a play for Thanksgiving as done by one Wednesday Addams in 1993’s Addams Family Values. You don’t have to know anything about Thanksgiving to appreciate the stagecraft. Trust us, it’s great. Watch it. At the very least you’ll pick up this sage advice for your next dinner party: “Remember, these savages are our guests.”
26.11.2012
Edgar Allen Poe as Done by a Japanese Manga Magazine Dripping in Acid By The Editors
The Monday blues have rolled around again, and what better way to embrace the dull and weary than to some Edgar Allen Poe today. Go for some Annabel Lee or The Fall of the House of Usher. The man was cross-talented. He could write poetry and fiction at all-time levels, and still manage to work at newspapers and be a drunk at the same time. Not only that, he was quite adept at marrying his underage cousins as well. What can we say? He was quite the talent. He’s very inspiring not just to writers and/or pedophiles, but to those working across a wide variety of fields. You could argue Tim Burton’s whole aesthetic comes from the paints originally formulated on Poe’s pallet. Something about his work just lends itself so well to the visual. One place this is clearly evident is in the great art inspired by Poe’s work in the 60s Japanese manga Weekly Shōnen Magazine. The pieces are simultaneously gorgeous and hallucinogenic.
27.11.2012
This Is Sci-fi, Russian Style By Anne Brechin
This November has been a notable literary month in Russia, where they’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch. The account may have been fictionalised but Solzhenitsyn himself had firsthand experience of life in Stalin’s Gulag, where he was imprisoned for eight years. Published with the express permission of Khrushchev at the height of de-Stalinisation, it was the first time that conditions in the Soviet labour camps had been publically acknowledged. The Nobel Prize committee mentioned the work specifically when awarding Solzhenitsyn the prize for literature in 1970.
28.11.2012
Ten Facts You Didn't Know About Shakespeare By Shaan Joshi
It’s hard to determine how much another human being actually knows. We’re all the lead actors of our own Broadway production, or to put it as Bukowski did when so eloquently described his own egocentric position, “I’m the hero of my own shit.” It makes it hard to see others when we’re so often lost in the glare of our own spotlight. It is because of this we judge people at a relative value that correlates within our inflated intellectualism. With that now clearly stated in the public record dear reader, forgive us for the presumption made in the above title. Polymath or not, now presented for your enjoyment are ten facts concerning the one and only William Shakespeare.
29.11.2012
Kafka Was A Vegetarian and Did Not Drive A Prius By The Editors
They like their meat in the Czech Republic. We mean, really like it. You’re probably thinking, I like meat too and so does my country. We’re sure you do and we’re also quite certain your country meets the profile of a carnivore. Most do. After all, as Homer Simpson says, “If we’re not meant to eat meat, why does it taste so good?” But we’re telling you, it’s just different over here. Every country likes sex, but the French just like it a little more. So it goes with the Czechs and meat. There is something here called Pork Knee, which it is exactly what it sounds like but it is not what you envision. This is 1500g of meat stacked from the plate to the bottom of the average male’s chin. That means a majority of the human population wouldn’t be able to see over the mound of meat placed before them. Even in America, where a dedicated amount of the citizenry regularly imbibes something called the Big Gulp, that qualifies as a large portion. So, it may come as somewhat of a shock that arguably the biggest personage in recent Bohemian history was a vegetarian.
30.11.2012
Because It's 5 O'clock Somewhere: Tom Waits Tells a Story By The Editors
The birth of the written story is rooted in oral traditions, from stories passed down from family to family and generation to generation until it seemingly coalesced around that union of pages known as Gilgamesh. We can split hairs, and speak about the esoteric evolution of form within different isolated cultures, and what actually constitutes a novel or short story, but it is routinely agreed upon that Gilgamesh is the first story (of which we humans are aware) that was placed down in print. Even though one may derive from the oral traditions of Iraq and the other Africa, it is in this way the written word shares its roots with folk and blues music. What's forgotten is that nearly all of the music we know and love today is steeped in the same kind of oral tradition that begat Gilgamesh. No oral tradition, no hymns, no blues, no rock & roll, no Beatles or Zeppelin or any of it. It's that simple. It's also what makes storytelling so beautiful in whatever it form it finds. It is the simple and (hopefully) elegant communication between two or more human beings. When one of those human beings is Tom Waits, it’s even more beautiful. We can think of no better person to act as a conduit of the great oral traditions than the bluesman they used to call Cotton.
