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n+1 Issue 32: Bad Faith
We are all op-ed writers now. The Age of ICE. Something fishy about Smolensk. Something funny about bad atrocity writing. Notes on Trap. Notes on Hito Steyerl. Fiction by Lucinda Rosenfeld and Laurie Stone. Drama from David Levine.
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63 books132 followersn+1 is a print journal of politics, literature, and culture, published originally twice a year and now three times a year.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 27, 2019
subscribing to n+1 is one of the best decisions i’ve ever made
January 4, 2019
Another great issue – I guess n+1 is pretty consistent! Highlights include Greg Afinogenov's Society as Checkpoint, Jesse McCarthy's incredible Notes on Trap, Anna Altman on the incredible Forensic Architecture, Rachel Ossip on Hito Steyrel's Duty Free Art, David Levine's strange art-sci-fi story, and as always, the Hamrah reviews.
April 3, 2019
A nice return to form, more or less, though Issue 33 has already demonstrated that it was short-lived.
So, to the contents:
The New Reading Environment (N/A!): "To be a reader is to suffer." Well, the way you guys do it! Hah, cheap shot sorry. Yes, op-eds are awful, and seem to constitute an ever-larger share of the news. But how is this one helping?
Society As Checkpoint (sort-of-N/A): Yes, I too read the news. All a bit obvious, dontcha think?
Bad Atrocity Writing (sort-of-N/A): Somebody finally gets it! Yes, how you write something has as much importance as the content it delivers, often more. Exactly the sort of article that turned me on to n+1 in the first place, back in the mid-single-digit days.
Notes on Trap (sort-of-N/A): "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture" aside, I'm just not interested in whatever hyperspecific sub-sub-subgenre of music you're trying to champion, no matter how much you claim it was predicted by Miles Davis or embodies the philosophy of Charlie Parker. Its moment will have passed before I've even started reading the article.
Sicky Puppy (N/A!): Oh yay, another story about being a fuckup in the East Village. It does turn around a bit towards the end, though - perhaps not all that believably, but at least demonstrating some awareness of character development.
Something Fishy about Smolensk(p. 1): OK, look: you can beat me over the head with lifeless paragraphs on Polish history, or you can talk about your road trip in Russia to see a decade-old crash site. Please don't do both. In fact, if you do anything, take that last page or two covering the ride with the Russian cabbie and spin that into a short story or a novel or really anything but a half-hearted travel essay. That bit of interaction had promise.
Homecomings (p. 1): Um, I don't care? I don't care that your dad died, I don't care about his life in London, I don't care that you're gay, I don't care about your trip to India to deal with the death. And this did nothing to make me care. I do accept as fact that it happened, though.
Three Stories(p.1, p.2, p.1): 1) Yawn, 2) Snore, 3) Jesus fucking Christ. Stop just writing down everything that comes into your head once the Adderall's kicked in.
Some of the People, All of the Time (p. 1): Once in awhile, n+1 becomes a parody of itself, and this is one of those times. Was this the result of a bet? "I can incorporate Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Craigslist, Dale Carnegie, Elias Cannetti, the Baader-Meinhoff group, Marathon Man, and the Carnegie Deli!" My, aren't you erudite or well-rounded or poly-knowledgeal-hedral or whatever the fuck. Next.
Review: On Recent Film (p. 4): Alright, the film reviews! It used to be that these, Politics, and The Intellectual Situation were the only articles I was sure to enjoy. Unfortunately the last two got less open and inquisitive and more reinforcing of a pre-established worldview, so now it's just the reviews. All good, though I suspect the reviewer had not read the book for Ready Player One (I did, and did not like it, and refuse to see the film), and therefore ascribes to Speilberg many faults that really arose from Ernest Cline.
Review: On Forensic Architecture (N/A, so far): I stopped reading at "Weizman likes to talk about architecture and the built environment as a kind of 'slow violence'". I don't gratify this sort of psuedointellectual sensationalism with my attention.
Review: On After Picketty (N/A!): Admittedly, I have not gotten very far in Picketty's tome, and thanks to this review I don't have to attempt a wade through the collection of follow-up essays. I might still, though, as this did whet my appetite. "What good is free enterprise if the growth it delivers no longer means rising wages and greater equality?" Precisely. There are no easy answers, are there?
Review: On Hito Steyerl (p. 1): Psst! There's a thing called a "hex editor". One of them and a copy of the file format specification (does Wotsit's still exist?), and you can actually modify these files knowingly, not randomly. Oh, that artist you got super-into in grad (sorry, art) school? Yeah, nothing special. There's one of them comes along every week or so, and they never seem to talk sense or to go away.
And that's about it. Gotta slog through the rest of 33 as I think there's a new one out. It is turning out to be quite a letdown after the ray of hope that was 32.
So, to the contents:
The New Reading Environment (N/A!): "To be a reader is to suffer." Well, the way you guys do it! Hah, cheap shot sorry. Yes, op-eds are awful, and seem to constitute an ever-larger share of the news. But how is this one helping?
Society As Checkpoint (sort-of-N/A): Yes, I too read the news. All a bit obvious, dontcha think?
Bad Atrocity Writing (sort-of-N/A): Somebody finally gets it! Yes, how you write something has as much importance as the content it delivers, often more. Exactly the sort of article that turned me on to n+1 in the first place, back in the mid-single-digit days.
Notes on Trap (sort-of-N/A): "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture" aside, I'm just not interested in whatever hyperspecific sub-sub-subgenre of music you're trying to champion, no matter how much you claim it was predicted by Miles Davis or embodies the philosophy of Charlie Parker. Its moment will have passed before I've even started reading the article.
Sicky Puppy (N/A!): Oh yay, another story about being a fuckup in the East Village. It does turn around a bit towards the end, though - perhaps not all that believably, but at least demonstrating some awareness of character development.
Something Fishy about Smolensk(p. 1): OK, look: you can beat me over the head with lifeless paragraphs on Polish history, or you can talk about your road trip in Russia to see a decade-old crash site. Please don't do both. In fact, if you do anything, take that last page or two covering the ride with the Russian cabbie and spin that into a short story or a novel or really anything but a half-hearted travel essay. That bit of interaction had promise.
Homecomings (p. 1): Um, I don't care? I don't care that your dad died, I don't care about his life in London, I don't care that you're gay, I don't care about your trip to India to deal with the death. And this did nothing to make me care. I do accept as fact that it happened, though.
Three Stories(p.1, p.2, p.1): 1) Yawn, 2) Snore, 3) Jesus fucking Christ. Stop just writing down everything that comes into your head once the Adderall's kicked in.
Some of the People, All of the Time (p. 1): Once in awhile, n+1 becomes a parody of itself, and this is one of those times. Was this the result of a bet? "I can incorporate Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Craigslist, Dale Carnegie, Elias Cannetti, the Baader-Meinhoff group, Marathon Man, and the Carnegie Deli!" My, aren't you erudite or well-rounded or poly-knowledgeal-hedral or whatever the fuck. Next.
Review: On Recent Film (p. 4): Alright, the film reviews! It used to be that these, Politics, and The Intellectual Situation were the only articles I was sure to enjoy. Unfortunately the last two got less open and inquisitive and more reinforcing of a pre-established worldview, so now it's just the reviews. All good, though I suspect the reviewer had not read the book for Ready Player One (I did, and did not like it, and refuse to see the film), and therefore ascribes to Speilberg many faults that really arose from Ernest Cline.
Review: On Forensic Architecture (N/A, so far): I stopped reading at "Weizman likes to talk about architecture and the built environment as a kind of 'slow violence'". I don't gratify this sort of psuedointellectual sensationalism with my attention.
Review: On After Picketty (N/A!): Admittedly, I have not gotten very far in Picketty's tome, and thanks to this review I don't have to attempt a wade through the collection of follow-up essays. I might still, though, as this did whet my appetite. "What good is free enterprise if the growth it delivers no longer means rising wages and greater equality?" Precisely. There are no easy answers, are there?
Review: On Hito Steyerl (p. 1): Psst! There's a thing called a "hex editor". One of them and a copy of the file format specification (does Wotsit's still exist?), and you can actually modify these files knowingly, not randomly. Oh, that artist you got super-into in grad (sorry, art) school? Yeah, nothing special. There's one of them comes along every week or so, and they never seem to talk sense or to go away.
And that's about it. Gotta slog through the rest of 33 as I think there's a new one out. It is turning out to be quite a letdown after the ray of hope that was 32.
October 24, 2021
Article on trap music superb
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews