Of note
'Pataphysics: A Useless Guide
Andrew Hugill
MIT Press: just published
“’Pataphysics: A Useless Guide is a richly informative critical overview of the wide-ranging influence of (and influences on) ’pataphysics, from Groucho to Deleuze, OuLiPo, Borges, Bõk, Situationisism, SciFi, Raymond Roussel, and a wildly creative crew of fellow travelers, diviners, alchemists, and literary and theatrical pioneers. Andrew Hugill’s encyclopedic tribute shows how, for more than a century, Alfred Jarry’s precocious mind theater has remained exhilaratingly exceptional and exceptionally exhilarating.”
Petition:
Reconsider the plan to empty the Berlin Gemäldegalerie of Old Masters
This meshugana plan looks like it may happen: a private 20th century collection may end up putting in storage some of the greatest European painting form the 13th through the 18th century. It one of those Occupy Museum moments where the needs of rich donors trumps even the authority of canonical works. This is surreal.
CUNY Follies
Joel Kuszai has alerted me to this disturbing development at CUNY: at Queensborough Community College, the English dept. refused to lower the quality of comp classes for their multilingual students. CUNY admin responded with extreme reprisals against the English dept., threatening mass firings. See the PSC response. The reduction in course hours for comp classes, opposed by the English dept. faculty, was done to conform to "Pathways" -- "CUNY’s new austerity-inspired General Education framework" <> (On the Pathways dispute, see Inside Higher Ed.) PSC is the Professional Staff Congress -- the union that represents the 25,000 + faculty and staff at the City University of New York (CUNY).
The Danny Snelson Archive Experience
It turns out the complete Alcheringa and Seccession was just the start. Now available: the complete Chain. And coming up Claude Royet-Journoud's ZUK and Susan Bee and Mira Schor's M/E/A/N/I/N/G. Read all about it.
Arkadii Dragomoschenko
Douglas Messerli has made available a PDF of Xenia ($5.00) (Sun & Moon Classics, 160pp., 1994), translated by Lyn Hejinian and Elena Balashova, part of his digital books collection "On Net," which, among many other items, offers a free PDF of Dark City. Below is by Stan Mir's photo of CA Conrad, Arkadii Dragomoshchenko, Charles Bernstein, Stan Mir, Jack Krick, Ryan Eckes, Debrah Morkun, & Carolina Maugeri. Thanks to Jack and CA for alerting me to this photo of Stan's, originally posted here. My home away from home: Bridgewater's Pub at Philadelphia's Penn Station.