Read Recently: “The Shape of Things to Come” by Greil Marcus
Title: The Shape of Things of Come: Prophecy and the American Voice
Author: Greil Marcus
Synopsis: Cultural critic Greil Marcus weaves together John Winthrop, Bill Pullman, 24 and Pere Ubu to discuss this particular point in our cultural history.
Assessment: One reads Greil Marcus to watch Greil Marcus think. His themes are often buried beneath linguistic flourishes and his connections, when looked at straight on, seem like utter nonsense. But the journey is the point here, not the arrival because the arrival is imaginary. Or put another way, do you really want to interrogate the value of why Bill Pullman’s face is a visual stand-in for the violence at the core of the American soul or are you just glad Marcus raised the question at all?
Verdict: Very artfully constructed but with little take-away. All whipped cream and no sundae. But its damn fine whipped cream (first heard about on KQED Forum).