I Need a Beer

One I take umbrage to the assumption that I don't get Leyner.  It is easy to get the shallow end of the wading pool.  Second to call something post modern simply because he attempts to cross genres and plays with a self-reflecting stream of pop culture references does not make it post-modern. On one level, see "All that is Solid Melts into Air", it is easy to argue that the post-modern does not exist, but instead is simply another manifestation of modernism's constant need to destroy what it builds, simply to build something new to destroy . Secondly, if one claims something to be post-modern then reading it through a post modern lens (See Derrida and Irigary) should open the piece up rather than cause it to collapse into self indulgent bilge. Thirdly, yes, it could be generational or perhaps I've had twenty years longer reading at the level I've been reading at to identify when something is just puerile and pretentious. And finally, I am not sure one can say our proclivities are transparent, if one looks at the range and variation not just from member to member of RFB, but on the individual shifts in books choices over the last three years, one would see a vast variety of literary styles. Also knowing what I read on my own (contemporary avant-garde poetry and poetics, post-modern (yes) lit-crit, and philosophy) and the kinds of books Carl reads, at least looking at his good reads list (Christian Ethics), we have done a fairly decent job of not over-burdening the group with our personal obsessions. Yes, I wish you were coming to the Gingerman as well Sunday, so you could explain just what it is you like about Leyner.  I found Tetherballs to be worse than The Quiet Girl, because I COULD follow Leyner.