Against Happiness, by Eric G. Wilson
Just released in paperback, Eric G. Wilson’s ‘gleefully misanthropic treatise’ is a critique of self-help manuals, armchair philosophers and contemporary cults of positive thinking in general. Long overdue and coming at the right time of year Against Happiness ends up being most interesting for what it has to say about the grouping of (mostly literary) personalities that Wilson uses to illustrate his argument. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $14.95
The Red Men by Matthew De Abaitua
If you try to describe this book you sound insane, if you try to recommend it you sound tasteless. In order to avoid these pitfals you can simply state that it has all the ingredients of a ready-made cult classic: it’s set in a near-future corporate ruled dystopia, the characters are compelling but a little cartoonish (Philip K. Dick), and it is very funny and very dark. All this adds up to a novel that you will either hate and try to return to us, or which you will enthusiastically describe to your friends, who will think you are insane. Snow Books, $16.50
Milk and Melancholy by Kenneth Hayes
The lavishly produced first book publication from Prefix gallery and magazine is an illuminating history of art in the 60s and 70s, tracing an iconography of milk and splashing liquids as they appear in the paintings of Ed Ruscha, the photography of Jeff Wall, and countless other photo-conceptualists. What initially seems to be an eccentric perspective, by cutting across flimsy periodisations and demonstrating the close contact between science and art actually presents a stunning record of the way in which artworks transform the banal into the profound. Prefix, $27.50
Report on Myself by Grégoire Bouillier
If read without expecting a reprise of the surprise of The Mystery Guest, Report on Myself will reveal a rawer and more unsettling Bouillier, honing his already perfect style and leaving his fans undisappointed. Mariner, $18.95
Rimbaud: The Double Life of a Rebel, Edmund White
Rather than create his own mythical projection of Rimbaud, as so many commentators do, Edmund White leaves his own personal fascination with the subject undisguised. In many ways more direct and down to earth than one might have expected, and an entertaining work of prose in its own right. Atlas & Co, $26.50
Warhol’s Dream, by Saul Anton
Warhol’s Dream creates a fictional dialogue between Andy Warhol and Robert Smithson. Anton samples directly from Warhol’s and Smithson’s writings and interviews. The result is engaging, and both believable and surreal at the same time. JRP Ringier, $25.00
- James
Re-Make Re-Model, Becoming Roxy Music by Michael Bracewell
Bracewell’s book examines the convergence of rock’n'roll, pop art, fashion and the art-college culture of England in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Re-make/Re-model presents a fascinating look into the young lives of Bryan Ferry, Eno and the formation of Roxy Music.
Da Capo Press, $21.50
-James
Hammertown, by Peter Culley
Art critic, long time associate of the Kootenay School of Writing, and founding member of the school of ‘leisure poets’ Peter Cully’s first volume in what is now a two volume epic (with The Age of Brigs and Stratton). Named after a fictional west coast fishing village mentioned in George Perec’s Avoid, Hammertown contains technically masterful poems built equally of radically disjunctive language, densely descriptive natural imagery and a barrage of sarcastic cultural references, all sustained over longer mutations of classical pastoral form. One of Canada’s most versatile and under appreciated poets. New Star Books, 2003, $16.00
