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Henry Begler's avatar

I gotta read those Bruce Wagner books, that's a great passage. Which one do you recommend?

I had to evacuate but it looks like my apartment is going to be okay, though I can't say the same about everything a mile or so north of me. It certainly gives a new perspective on all these things that are discourse topics of the day, to suddenly be in the middle of one.

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John Pistelli's avatar

Glad to hear you're safe! The Marvel Universe is actually a good place to start, even though it features his recurring alter ego character Bud Wiggins. It does pretty much everything Bruce can do and likes to do, though it's not as long, complex, or obscene as some of the others, thus less of a commitment in case you're not a fan. ROAR: American Master is also spectacular and surprisingly moving if you're not put off by the faux-oral-history form and its eventually transcended attendant semi-silliness. If you immediately want him as his longest, most complex, and most obscene, though also transcendent, there's Dead Stars.

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Ian Mond's avatar

They really do sound amazing. If I review them here I promise not to use the words late stage capitalism, patriarchy or anthropocene.

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Henry Begler's avatar

Those all sound brilliant, I am salivating at the thought and can't wait for your longer piece on him!

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Derek Neal's avatar

The footnote of imagined reviews is too good. Here’s hoping some of them actually review it so we can compare

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John Pistelli's avatar

Thank you!

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Jan 12
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John Pistelli's avatar

It depends on what writers, genres, or periods you're already interested in, but the episodes on the poets are good introductions because I mostly read the poems out loud and they don't require prior reading. I like the ones on Pound and Stevens among more recent episodes.

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