Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931) was the most intensely romantic US poet of his generation. Less well known is the fact that Lindsay was also a radical critic of the white supremacy, greed, misery, brutality, ugliness and emptiness inherent in US capitalist culture. His only novel, The Golden Book - now back in print after over 80 years of shameful neglect - is a relentless dreamer's all-out assault on the stupidity and bigotry of Main Street USA. Linsay's Luciferian lyricism, incantatory and even shamanic; the carnivalesque enthusiasm and humor that he called the 'higher vaudeville'; and of course that zany, jubilant, self-contradictory mysticism that was all his own are amply evident in this radically nonconformist dram of the future. In The Golden Book, the coffee houses, movie theaters, streets and parks of Springfield in the 'Mystic Year' 2018 are the setting for a valiant struggle to transform a village dominated by shady politicians, lynch-mobs, commercialism and cocaine into a new paradise. Ron Sakolsky's superb introduction, the most detailed examination yet of Lindsay's 'Johnny Appleseed utopianism', explores The Golden Book as a radical response to the Springfield Race Riot of 1908; relates the book to the utopias of Fourier, Ruskin, Bellamy, and others; and traces Lindsay's involvement in Chicago radicalism in the 1910s, as well as his affinities with anarchism, feminism, Black liberation, the IWW, and such poet radicals as Blake, Lautreamont, the surrealists, Langston Hughes and the Beats.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Golden Book of Springfield is a super arcane, esoteric gem!! It should be required reading in every Illinois school. Lindsey attempts to do justice to his home state, by creating a futuristic Illinios filled with life and dignity. So unlike the Illinois of his time or anyone elses. Lindsey has a deep knowledge of the occult which is apparent to anyone who reads this book. The book is steeped in the occult tradition, filled with magic and mysticisim.Like ancient vibrations coming off his midwestern landscapes. Lindsey was the real deal! Artist, poet, seer! Its like an Illinois Book of the Dead. This book will leave the reader with a certain level of aboveness, for those hip/sensative enough to appreciate what Lindsey is saying.
The fact that this novel (Lindseys only) has just recently been available after almost 70 years just makes it even more special.
Unfourtunately I do not think I have even barely shown has special and unique this novel is. Its better the psychedelics!!
The fact that this novel (Lindseys only) has just recently been available after almost 70 years just makes it even more special.
Unfourtunately I do not think I have even barely shown has special and unique this novel is. Its better the psychedelics!!
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Golden Book of Springfield is a super arcane, esoteric gem!! It should be required reading in every Illinois school. Lindsey attempts to do justice to his home state, be creating a futuristic Illinios filled with life and dignity. So unlike the Illinois of his time or anyone elses. Lindsey has a deep knowledge of the occult which is apparent to anyone who reads this book. The book is steeped in the occult tradition, filled with magic and mysticisim.Like ancient vibrations coming off his midwestern landscapes. Lindsey was the real deal! Artist, poet, seer! Its like an Illinois Book of the Dead. This book will leave the reader with a certain level of aboveness, for those hip/sensative enough to appreciate what Lindsey is saying.
The fact that this novel (Lindseys only) has just recently been available after almost 70 years just makes it even more special.
Unfourtunately I do not think I have even barely shown has special and unique this novel is. Its better the psychedelics!!
The fact that this novel (Lindseys only) has just recently been available after almost 70 years just makes it even more special.
Unfourtunately I do not think I have even barely shown has special and unique this novel is. Its better the psychedelics!!
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