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Better Together
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Over the course of 16 previously published essays, ranging from extensive literary analyses to relatively brief reviews, poet and critic Kirby (The Ha-Ha) explores subjects as diverse as Walt Whitman, NASCAR and stripping, utilizing his extensive literary knowledge throughout. Kirby's general thesis is that the best art is art that's appreciated by both the elite and the general public over a long period of time, and in his academic essays about Shakespeare and Whitman, he demonstrates this bridging with an effortless combination of anecdote and quotation. Kirby's travels also play a significant role, particularly his journeys through Italy, which are warmly, if sometimes a bit tediously, recounted in "Looking for Leonardo" and "I Shot a Man in Corleone." Kirby's interaction with pop culture subjects is less assured than with high culture ones—his Johnny Cash insights, for example, seem anemic next to his bravado interweaving of Emily Dickinson and Bernini's Saint Teresa. In most places, however, Kirby's understanding of such a wide range of subjects greatly enhances his literary analysis, as in his piece about striptease, which bemoans the devolution of erotic dancing from an art form to pornography. No matter the subject, Kirby's goal is to find connections—between the past and the present, the artistic and the mundane—and, for the most part, that goal is soundly achieved. (Mar. 25)
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Product Description
In Ultra-Talk, David Kirby poses a simple question: What makes a cultural phenomenon truly great? Exploring a wide variety of "king-sized cultural monuments," Kirby argues that one qualification for greatness is that a phenomenon be embraced by both the elite and the general public. Further, he argues, it must be embraced repeatedly over time.
Kirby turns his critical eye to subjects that have been studied and written about, sought after avidly, discussed passionately, and even resisted vigorously around the world. Auto racing, Dante, folk music, food, Leonardo da Vinci, films, poetry, religion, striptease, television, and the internet are just some of the topics he examines. In Rome, heads of state kneel before Bernini's statue of Saint Teresa in ecstasy, says Kirby, and so do people who can't read. And everyone watches TV.
Ultra-Talk pays homage to the work of two towering writers and critics. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Giacomo Leopardi both stated that a book was valid only if it had been accepted by both an intellectual elite and a vast public. Kirby would have added a second requirement: that the book's--or cultural monument's--popularity must have traction over time. By standing on the shoulders of Goethe and Leopardi, Kirby offers a way to read, see, and savor a post-theoretical worldview that everybody can share.
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