Against Everything
On Dishonest Times
Published on 13. September 2016
320 pages
978-1-78478-594-9 (ISBN)
Description
Against Everything is a thought-provoking study and essential guide to the vicissitudes of everyday life under twenty-first-century capitalism.
Mark Greif is one of the most exciting writers of his generation. In this invigorating collection, he challenges us to rethink the ordinary world and take life seriously - in short, to stay honest in dishonest times. In a series of coruscating set pieces he asks why we put ourselves through the pains of exercise, what our concerns about diet or sex does for our fundamental worth, what political identity the hipster might possess, and what happens to us when we listen to Radiohead or hip-hop.
Counter-intuitive and revelatory in his insights, Greif revels in the contradictions arising between our desires and the excuses we make to console ourselves. His work demands we have the courage to be 'against everything', to change our vantage on everyday life, find it wanting and demand something better.
Mark Greif is one of the most exciting writers of his generation. In this invigorating collection, he challenges us to rethink the ordinary world and take life seriously - in short, to stay honest in dishonest times. In a series of coruscating set pieces he asks why we put ourselves through the pains of exercise, what our concerns about diet or sex does for our fundamental worth, what political identity the hipster might possess, and what happens to us when we listen to Radiohead or hip-hop.
Counter-intuitive and revelatory in his insights, Greif revels in the contradictions arising between our desires and the excuses we make to console ourselves. His work demands we have the courage to be 'against everything', to change our vantage on everyday life, find it wanting and demand something better.
More details
Edition
Ebook UK & RoW
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Reflowable
ISBN-13
978-1-78478-594-9 (9781784785949)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
09/2017
Verso Books
€45.99
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Book
09/2016
Verso Books
€41.03
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Person
Mark Greif is a founder and Editor of the journal n+1. He lives and works in New York, where he is Associate Professor of Literary Studies at the New School. He is the highly acclaimed author of The Age of the Crisis of Man, and his criticism and journalism have appeared in publications including the London Review of Books, Guardian, Times Literary Supplement, and New Statesman.
Content
- Intro
- Halftitle Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- I
- Against Exercise
- Afternoon of the Sex Children
- On Food
- Octomom and the Market in Babies
- II
- The Concept of Experience: (The Meaning of Life, Part I)
- III
- Radiohead, or the Philosophy of Pop
- Punk: The Right Kind of Pain
- Learning to Rap
- IV
- Gut-Level Legislation, or, Redistribution: (The Meaning of Life, Part II)
- V
- The Reality of Reality Television
- WeTube
- What Was the Hipster?
- VI
- Anaesthetic Ideology: (The Meaning of Life, Part III)
- VII
- Mogadishu, Baghdad, Troy, or Heroes Without War
- Seeing Through Police
- VIII
- Thoreau Trailer Park: The Meaning of Life, Part IV
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
