LA Review of Books

Richard Hell's "Godlike"

Richard Hell joins Kate Wolf to speak about the reissue of his novel, "Godlike." Originally published in 2005, "Godlike" transposes the relationship of the 19th century poets Arthur Rimabaud and Paul Verlaine to 1970s New York. Told from the hospital room of poet Paul Vaughn, the story centers on his meeting of a wily and charismatic 16-year-old punk named R.T. Wode decades earlier. Their attraction is instant, and it becomes a kind obsession for Paul that is as clarifying and creatively fruitful as it is deluding. The novel is steeped in the poetry of the New York School and captures the scene around St. Mark's Church that Hell came to know when he was just a teenager himself. An anti-nostalgic remembrance, the book reflects on aging, death, belief, and the power of the word to transform the detritus of the everyday into something holy and lasting.

Kristin Ross's "The Politics and Poetics of Everyday Life"

In this week's episode from the archives, Eric Newman and Kate Wolf speak to the author Kristin Ross about her book, "The Politics and Poetics of Everyday Life," a collection of essays that examine how everyday life emerges as a vantage point for understanding and transforming our social world. The book represents three decades of Ross’s writing about the everyday in French political, social, and cultural theory and history, including the commune form and current autonomous zones in France, the romance and memory of the May 1968 protests, and the present predicaments both faced and created by the Macron government. Featuring a long interview with the pioneering philosopher Henri Lefebvre, the book also invokes the work of Fredric Jameson, Jacques Ranciere, Emile Zola, and many others, to explore the intersections of political transformation and cultural representation as resources for thinking opposition and liberation in the present.

Hamza Walker’s Monuments and Senga Nengudi’s Populated Air

A double header show on sculpture, public art, communal space, and gaps and omissions in American history. First, Kate Wolf speaks to Hamza Walker, co-curator of “Monuments,” an exhibition currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles and The Brick. The show presents a series of decommissioned Confederate monuments from cities across the US alongside contemporary pieces by Karon Davis, Stan Douglas, Kara Walker, Julie Dash and more. Next, Kate is joined by legendary artist Senga Nengudi to discuss a new career-spanning book of her work, “Populated Air.” Published in conjunction with Nengudi’s exhibition at Dia Beacon, the book charts the many forms of her practice, including performance, sculpture, dance, and poetry. Nengudi talks about collaboration and her role in the Studio Z collective; being someone who relishes in “thinking” things rather than “making” them; organizing a performance under an LA freeway; and following her own intuition. She is joined by the curator of the Dia exhibition, Matilde Guidelli-Guidi.

Lauren Rothery's "Television"

Medaya Ocher is joined by writer Lauren Rothery to discuss her novel "Television," which follows an aging movie star named Verity, his on and off lover Helen, and Phoebe a screenwriter and filmmaker. One day, on a whim, Verity decides to hold a lottery, giving away his earnings from a massive superhero movie to one lucky filmgoer. Rothery discusses the relationship between failure and success, the current state of Hollywood and why she thinks television is a good metaphor for romance.

Caroline Fraser's "Murderland"

Kate Wolf and Eric Newman speak with Caroline Fraser about her new book, "Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers." Taking an ecological approach to true crime, the book explores how decades of industrial pollution from large smelting plants in the Pacific Northwest may have shaped the social and environmental conditions that coincided with an unusually high number of serial killers in the region during the 1970s and 1980s, including Ted Bundy, Randall Woodfield, and others. Fraser discusses how she came to draw connections between environmental contamination and these terrifying killers, while also considering the wider human costs of unchecked corporate power and deregulation on vulnerable communities.