Is Selling Out the New Keeping it Real?
I'm happy to report that I've finished a draft of a dissertation chapter, my first finished chapter, on the figure of the trendspotter. The title, for those who have been following along and might be interested, is "Is Selling Out the New Keeping it Real?: The Hermeneutics of Trendspotting in the Cultural Economy." I am fairly happy with how it turned out, although I recognize that I need to do some more work here, and in general. Most importantly, I need to get deeper into the tradition of anti-consumerist writing as well as the history and evolution of Cultural Studies. I'll be doing this, in part, by moving on to my next chapter, which will look at how the figure of the hipster fits into the history of the early Cold War. So: Adorno, Marcuse, William Whyte, etc., here I come.
Breaking my dissertation into character types is probably the best move I've made. It's allowed me to break my project into coherent and discrete chunks, while giving shape more broadly to my overarching argument--which is about the importance of character sketches and "characterological" analysis to Postwar American history and literature. My next move is going to be to begin research on the hipster as a figure and to go (in July) to the Ransom Center at UT Austin. I've heard Austin is a pretty cool city, so I'm pretty excited to go. Also, the next big chunk of research will give me some more personal time to revise my novel and to begin some new creative writing projects.
Finally, I should report that I will be going to Singapore and Jakarta for the month of June. I'll be teaching creative writing through Stanford's EPGY program. I'm super-excited about this, for any number of reasons, and I'll (with luck) be posting frequently on kitteneater, my travel-blog.
Singapore! Jakarta!
Greetings and salutations kittenfollowers; your fearless leader has returned from a long journey into the groves of academe. I won't bore you with the details, but the upshot of the last few years is that I've written a chapter of my dissertation (on trendspotting/coolhunting) and I'm going to be going to Singapore and Jakarta (see: Subject line) for the duration of June to teach creative writing to high-schoolers. It suffices to say, I'm very excited about this, not only because I now have the opportunity to put two more notches in my belt, or, if you will, stamps in the passport of my soul, or something like that, but also because I get to teach--for the first time, like, ever--creative writing to students. I've wanted to do something like this for a long time, and, depending on how my academic career goes, it may be something I will do again, so to have this chance is tremendously exciting.
I also hope to use this time to revise my nove, "Apocalypse Live," and to begin revising and writing new "Lee Stories"--a sequence of stories in which I write fictional autobiographies. I have three completed Lee Stories, and two more fully planned (but yet unwritten). I hope to enter a collection of Lee Stories into FC2's annual Sukenick prize contest. All told, I am in a very good mood. Except blog postings here during the month of June.
Is Selling Out the New Keeping it Real?
I'm happy to report that I've finished a draft of a dissertation chapter, my first finished chapter, on the figure of the trendspotter. The title, for those who have been following along and might be interested, is "Is Selling Out the New Keeping it Real?: The Hermeneutics of Trendspotting in the Cultural Economy." I am fairly happy with how it turned out, although I recognize that I need to do some more work here, and in general. Most importantly, I need to get deeper into the tradition of anti-consumerist writing as well as the history and evolution of Cultural Studies. I'll be doing this, in part, by moving on to my next chapter, which will look at how the figure of the hipster fits into the history of the early Cold War. So: Adorno, Marcuse, William Whyte, etc., here I come.
Breaking my dissertation into character types is probably the best move I've made. It's allowed me to break my project into coherent and discrete chunks, while giving shape more broadly to my overarching argument--which is about the importance of character sketches and "characterological" analysis to Postwar American history and literature. My next move is going to be to begin research on the hipster as a figure and to go (in July) to the Ransom Center at UT Austin. I've heard Austin is a pretty cool city, so I'm pretty excited to go. Also, the next big chunk of research will give me some more personal time to revise my novel and to begin some new creative writing projects.
Finally, I should report that I will be going to Singapore and Jakarta for the month of June. I'll be teaching creative writing through Stanford's EPGY program. I'm super-excited about this, for any number of reasons, and I'll (with luck) be posting frequently on kitteneater, my travel-blog.