Robin D.G. Kelley's Thelonious Monk

The first book that I read this year is Robin D.G. Kelley's Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original. Given that music criticism is a mixed bag, it's hard not to appreciate a well-acclaimed historian taking on the biography of a  complex man so often portrayed as simple, naive, and childlike. Kelley's aim is to dispel precisely that story, first found in William Gottlieb's profile published in Down Beat in September 1947 and popularized through the efforts of Lorraine Lion's press release that accompanied his first record from Blue Note.

Kelley shows how Monk was repeatedly frustrated by this myth, which would re-emerge at difficult moments in his career, especially when he was looking for a consistent gig or seeking the re-establishment of his cabaret card. But Kelley goes beyond that, showing definitively that Monk was, in fact, a busy and worldly man, concerned about keeping family and friends afloat, and conscious of how the struggle of black jazz musicians was so often a microcosm of the larger civil rights struggle. While he's not as bombastic as Frank Kofsky (but he did write the Introduction to the latest edition of Aimé Césaire's Discourse on Colonialism), Kelley alerts us to the signposts of this struggle along the way, from local riots in Monk's neighborhood in Harlem to irruption of the mass movements fighting the Jim Crow south.

However, I'm sure you're wondering by now about Thelonious Sphere Monk himself. He was a busy guy; even with long stretches without a stable job, he managed to keep playing all the time. Other reviewers have complained  with some merit about the way Kelley details tour after tour, show after show, but there is a purpose to the prose: to show just how hard working Monk was-- because, of course, jazz is above all about the music. He never forgets, though, that Monk was also a family man, and eventually (and tragically) a man who was overcome by mental and physical ailments (which he discusses without romanticizing). Kelley  says that the book took fourteen years to write, and the effort paid off. Thelonious Monk is a definitive and illuminating look at a musician so often portrayed as a mystery.

Wu Ming Presents Thomas Muntzer: "Sermon to the Princes"

(Verso, 2010)

In this installment of Verso's "Revolutions" series, Italian author collective Wu Ming introduces a selection of writings by radical reformation figure Thomas Muntzer. Muntzer was a prototypical communist who lead a disastrous peasant war in the Holy Roman Empire in 1525 before being caught, tortured and brutally executed. His theology was radical in that it located the heart of revelation not in scripture, but in the personal relationship of the abjected spirit to God. Muntzer is probably most famous for Lefties for being the subject of Engels's classic study "The Peasant War in Germany" - where, it should be noted, Engels rides roughshod over the theological aspects of Muntzer's movement and paints him as a crafty political figure using religious rhetoric to push his agenda forward. Certainly there is much politicking to be found in his writings - Cf the scathing attacks on Luther - but reading him I'm not convinced that the theological and political elements can be so easily separated.

In their introduction Wu Ming touch upon what I believe is the main point of interest in the survival of the Muntzer story: specifically, his mythologization by the Left. I would have liked a more in-depth discussion of how venerating his spectacular defeat is symptomatic of a more general and highly regrettable Leftist trend, specifically wallowing in images of martyrdom (one aspect of what a friend of mine has termed "riot porn"). Nonetheless, Wu Ming do a good job of situating the Muntzer myth with reference to Genoa in 2001, and this lends itself to the kind of discussion I'm referring to.

Ultimately this book makes for good reading on a variety of levels, political, historical and theological being the most obvious. But even if all you get out of it is the experience of a religious figure publically calling his doctrinal opponents "donkey cunts" and "scrotums" and so on, this is in my opinion no small joy.

Muslims and Terrorism

The Algerian resistance once justified attacking French colonialist civilians as a tactical response to the French occupational forces superior military advantages. In the French film "Battle of Algiers" a discussion between a caught Algerian resistance fighter and French journalist goes as follows:

Journalist: "M. Ben M'Hidi, don't you think it's a bit cowardly to use women's baskets and handbags to carry explosive devices that kill so many innocent people?"

Ben M'Hidi: "And doesn't it seem to you even more cowardly to drop napalm bombs on defenseless villages, so that there are a thousand times more innocent victims? Of course, if we had your airplanes it would be a lot easier for us. Give us your bombers, and you can have our baskets."

These acts of terror were articulated juxtaposed to the French occupation's show of force (French military terrorism).

Recently Muslim extremists have been attacking Christian communities in lands such as Egypt and Nigeria. The Egyptian Coptic Christians predate the expansion of Islam and are a minority living within Islamic majority Egypt. The suicide bombings against this old community have not the slightest justification even based on the Algerian model. Algerians were natives fighting foreign invaders, in Egypt this attack is simply a hate crime of a grotesque magnitude. Other countries where this is happening can also be cited. These Muslim terrorists are inspiring Islamophobia throughout the world. It should be kept in mind that there are many Muslims who condemn these acts of violence. This clip is just one example.

The New Year

What have we got in the way of resolutions? I'm a minimalist, so I've only got two. First, I will submit at least one book review for publication this year in an academic journal. When I counted up our reviews from last year, I realized just how many I had written for The Notes Taken. What's one more this year? Second, I will complete, with the Hegel reading group, The Phenomenology of Spirit by the end of April.

Otherwise, it seems like everything else is a list of deadlines, some self-imposed. At the moment my time is scheduled around the paper I'm working on about Marx and Rancière. I've been writing about Rancière for the past few days, and have to start on Marx's Capital (Vol. 1) on Wednesday to stay on track. Although this makes it sound like a chore, I have to say that I've been having a lot of fun writing this paper. In a way, it has been very useful for self-clarification regarding problems like 'what do I talk about when I say "capital?"' 'what can Harvey's concept of 'accumulation by dispossession' contribute to this discussion?' and 'how does Rancière contribute to thinking struggles against capital?' 

Quick look back at last year also revealed that my spare time is being spent as it was last year: reading about, and listening to, jazz, although this year I'm reading Robin D.G. Kelley's Theolonious Monk, whereas last year, I was reading reviews about it.

Happy New Year: 1980's Soviet Commercials

It is now 2011. I thought it would be great to reflect on how much has changed in the world during the past several decades. This post of 1980's Soviet Commercials might seem to be random, but I think they are quite apropos. In the 1980s who could have predicted the fall of the Soviet Union or the global advances in technology to be made? Nothing is permanent and nothing can be predictable in a precise way. As I observe the military might of the US, the destructive momentum of large scale capitalism, environmental dangers, the so-called war on terror,the rise of global war and insurgencies along with all that is still beautiful and good, I'm reminded that everything is finite.

2010 in Reviews

Over 2010, we managed to post 51 book reviews, and of them six were books published in 2010. Which is a small number I suppose; I have that many books from 2010 on my current reading list.  Just off the top of my head, I can think of Medhi Belhaj Kacem's Inesthétique et mimèsis, Rancière's Dissensus, David Harvey's The Enigma of Capital, the Verso edition of Thomas Muntzer's Sermon to the Princes, William Gibson's Zero History, and Adam Levin's The Instructions. Nevertheless, if you missed these posts, I recommend checking them out.

Cindy Milstein, Anarchism and its Aspirations (AK Press)

by Matt McLennan

Milstein, as Matt writes, "has situated contemporary anarchism in a proud historical continuum that puts it at the forefront of anti-capitalist struggle; she has also condensed a number of complex ideas into an easily understandable argument that dodges the anachronistic, frankly antiquated pitfalls of the bulk of anarchist literature. I am willing to entertain the idea that her book is a contender for the best contemporary anarchist primer out there."

Slavoj Žižek, Living in the End Times (Verso)

by Matt McLennan

This review has been responsible for quite a bit of our blog's traffic, so if you missed it, now is the time to check it out. Matt writes: "If I had to rate Žižek's latest offering as an elementary school teacher would rate his pupil, I would say that Living in the End Times must apply itself; it should "straighten up and fly right", "spend more time on philosophy 1102 and less time on cultural gossip 1101", etc. In short: this is a mess of a book, but it could very well have been a major philosophical statement on our times. It contains some great ideas and instances of ideology critique in action, but these are scattered almost as if at random in the course of its ungainly 402 pages."

Gideon Levy, The Punishment of Gaza (Verso)

by Devin Z. Shaw

'"Words," Gideon Levy writes, in The Punishment of Gaza (Verso, 2010), "do not kill; but words can ease the work of killing." Any number of misnomers and euphemisms can make the casualties of war less shocking, can turn the collective punishment of an entire population into a 'just war' against Hamas, can make the temporary cessation of state belligerence into a 'humanitarian' cease-fire.'

Marta Harnecker, Latin America and Twenty-First Century Socialism: Inventing to Avoid Mistakes (Monthly Review, v. 62, n. 3)

by Devin Z. Shaw

"The electoral capture of governmental power by the left across large parts of Latin America has not followed the revolutionary path of state seizure of 20th century socialism, and thus, as Harnecker argues, requires different metrics. First, 21st century socialism, of course, must learn from the mistakes of the 20th century version. And second, it must also learn from the diversification of the movements instead relying on the model of working class struggle to the exclusion of peasants, indigenous people, women, and others. Finally, it must focus on creating new forms of local and protagonistic democracy to decentralize state power."

Ivan E. Coyote, Missed Her (Arsenal Pulp Press)

by Matt McLennan

Matt writes: "Despite its brevity, folksiness and humour, however, the book is not what I would call "light". I don't usually get weepy-eyed over prose, and those who follow me on this site will know that I have plenty of shit to cry over, knee-deep as I usually am in Cormac McCarthy and Yukio Mishima novels. Coyote's book is an exception to my usual reading experience. Though less "literary" in certain respects, I found much of it deeply moving and had to dab the corners of the ol' eyes now and then. She hits her targets, bang-on."

John Brandon, Citrus County (McSweeney's)

by Devin Z. Shaw

"If you're having trouble imagining what people do in that location [Citrus County], you're not alone. So do the protagonists. Which is where Brandon excels as a storyteller. He introduces you to the characters, lets them interact a bit, sets up an unlikely and troubling scenario from which it is difficult  to extract the narrative, and then...makes the reader wait. [...] On the long winding road to the finale, Citrus County is an intricate picture of small obsessions and quotidian detail, leaving the reader wondering how everyday life could be so enigmatically intriguing."

Holiday Reading, Part 2

Presents unwrapped, getting prepared for dinner, and I'm still chuckling to myself about a passage that I read yesterday from David Harvey's The New Imperialism. Discussing the rise of the 'Washington Consensus' and the rapid dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc, he writes:

to top it all, the end of the Cold War suddenly removed a long-standing threat to the terrain of global capital accumulation. The collective bourgeoisie had indeed inherited the earth. Fukuyama prophesied that the end of history was at hand. It seemed, for a brief moment that Lenin was wrong and that Kautsky might be right-- an ultra-imperialism based on a 'peaceful' collaboration between all major capitalist powers (now symbolized by the grouping known as the G7, expanded to the G8 to incorporate Russia, albeit under the hegemony of US leadership) was possible...

We all know how well that peace turned out.

Holiday Reading

While most everybody is acclimating to holiday mode, I'm working on my presentation for the Society for Social and Political Philosophy's Roundtable on Marx's Capital (see here), at the end of February, though for which they want an advance draft in January. That still seems very possible, despite having to create course outlines for two courses starting in January. I'm also catching up on some light reading, including:

• Ernst Bloch, The Spirit of Utopia, (here) since I'm reading the early Walter Benjamin these days.
• Jacques Rancière, Short Voyages to the Land of the People. (here) Do I need a reason?
• Harry Cleaver, Reading Capital Politically, (here) because he's the keynote for the conference.
• Michael Löwy, The War of the Gods, (Verso) brushing up on Liberation Theology, probably again because I'm reading the early Benjamin.
• And since it seems like the season, I might try to get to one of a few xmas presents: Verso's Revolutions! series edition of Thomas Muntzer's Sermon to the Princes, or, if I feel more ambitious, Henri Lefebvre's Critique of Everyday Life.

Quick Update: if the whole thing falls apart for some reason, I'll probably just push the books I haven't started off to next year and read William Gibson's Zero History.

The Late George Carlin On America and Social Stratification

The late comedian George Carlin died in June 2008. Carlin was funny but also very political in his content. In his interviews he pulled no punches. Actually, one could argue that he gave punches in his interviews and debates. On mainstream media he even used the "C" word: class. May he rest in peace. May we all get some peace.

North American Sartre Society CFP Reminder

Just a reminder: you've got all weekend to work on an abstract for the NASS conference in Montréal, April 27-29, 2011. They're due December 20th.