First of the Year: 2008

前表紙
Benj DeMott
Transaction Publishers, 2011/12/31 - 463 ページ
This is the first in a continuing series of reminders that the past informs the present as it infuses the future. As Benj DeMott notes, the aim of First of the Year is to define "the democratic imperatives and demotic tones that make our ongoing politics of culture matter." This annual publication is grounded in the needs of "dissed" people: disenfranchised, disadvantaged, disinherited, discomfited, and dismissed. But the concept has been sharpened to acknowledge that though the underdog is owed sympathy, the mad dog is owed a bullet. In short, First of the Year is very much an effort of the twenty-first century. The publication aims to be more than a launching pad for writers. It attempts to bridge the gap between radical perspectives without losing focus on the centrality of African-American culture to the national conversation. The coming together of figures like Armond White, Kate Millett, Lorenzo Thomas, Russell Jacoby, Adolph Reed, and Amiri Baraka is quite unlike what can be found in standard literary and social publications. They treat the African-American condition as a policy issue or an executive summary report--not as a touchstone for the state of the nation as a whole. The initial volume also deals extensively and seriously with the issue of humanism and terror, the nature of social movements, electoral and urban politics, and the musical trends of our time. It does so with a sense of urgency often denied in mainstream literary reviews. Issues of "standards" are addressed from the angle of African-American cultural traditions, and the mind-body problem as a matter of race not just of metaphysics. In a nutshell, this volume intends to open a new chapter in the Harlem Renaissance; or better, an American renaissance with a Harlem lilt. First of the Year is an attempt to make political arguments breathe through cultural voices. Contributors include Sheldon Wolin, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Kurt Vonnegut, Paul Berman, Charles Keil, and Philip Levine, among others, ensuring its ability to entertain.

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目次

Ghazal of Twat
229
What Salvation Must Be Like After a While
230
Part VII
239
History Gets Lost in the Matrix
240
A Mighty Wind
246
Grossmanism
255
Death by Cookie Cutter
261
Test Time vs Dreamtime
265

AN AFTERNOON WAN AGNOSTIC
53
Death from Above
54
A Fascinating Fear of Fascism
55
In My Lonely Room
58
Common Cruelty
63
World Body
64
Part II
67
Bliss
70
Before the War
73
Stop Breaking Down
74
Weapons of Criticism Criticism of Weapons
75
With Friends Like These
78
Cruelty Irony
86
He Aint Heavy Hes My Brother
89
A Palestinian Gandhi?
91
Part III
97
Back in the Day and Today
98
There Are No Accidents
101
The Politics of Patience
105
The Democratic Revolution
119
The Felt Quality of Autonomy
121
Among the Believers
125
Message from the Grassroots
128
Part IV
131
Stoptime
133
Never Grow Old
138
The City Among Us
141
The Perfect Winter
147
Triumph Over Time
148
Holes in the Argument
155
Part V
161
Majestic Alienation
164
Into Africa
166
A Politics of Experience
170
Tales from Behind the Black Curtain
181
Mandelas Eyes
185
Shout Sister Shout
188
Squeezing Out Sparks
191
Public Intellectual
197
First You Strike
199
Running Buddy
204
Part VI
211
Old Rasputin and Old Milwaukee
212
Death of Edgar Alan Poe in Baltimore Maryland
214
Da EnronRon Hey Da EnronRon
216
You Must Choose
219
The Blueprint
221
Fujiyama Mama
223
she dont like my gospel music
224
The Depths
225
Head of State
226
The University as Sweatshop
268
No SellOut
273
Part VIII
283
Real Writing
284
The Saving Right to Reprove
291
Our Man in Hollywood
295
The Soul of a Simulacrum
299
Lost and Looking
305
The Wright Stuff
314
A Winters Tale
317
Time Will Take You Out
318
Back in the Day
320
Nursing Ganesha
321
Puce
322
Man on the Run
326
Who Killed Our Little Shani
328
The God of Rough Places
330
The Hidden Face
334
Part IX
335
Skies Over America
336
Crisis of Meaning
337
Citizen JayZ
339
Waging Peace
344
The War
348
Part X
355
Asian Fantasies
358
The Ballot and the Bullet
362
Rivers of Babylon
366
Reality TV
367
Welcome to the Reality of the Desert
368
An Avuncular No
370
Snow White and the Seven Chumps
372
Into the Breach Again
376
The Root is WomeninNature
382
The Perils of Political Maternalism
384
The Way Old Friends Do
387
Reason and Revolution
393
The Truman Show
394
Refugees and Searchers Go to the Movies
396
Now Lie in It
403
Part XI
405
ALL BOY
416
Sisterhood Is Powerful
417
Four Tough Good Byes
420
Lineaments of a Promised Land
425
Expat on Main Street
429
Rainy Night in Europa
434
Geezer Music
435
Part XII
437
Contributors Notes
445
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26 ページ - What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good ? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good, seek peace, and pursue it.
26 ページ - Who is the man who desires life. And loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit, Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.
25 ページ - I was a military man for 27 years. I fought so long as there was no chance for peace. I believe there is now a chance for peace, a great chance...

著者について (2011)

Benj DeMott has written for the City Sun, the Village Voice, and various academic journals. He's edited First of the Month, along with Charles O'Brien and Armond White, since 1998. DeMott lives in New York City with his wife and son.

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