Read This
The latest in Canadian small press
Non-fiction
The Empire of Mind: Digital Piracy and the Anti-Capitalist Movement by Michael Strangelove (University of Toronto Press)
Michael Strangelove asks readers who doubt the influence of the marketplace on our lives to arrange a romantic dinner for two, get down on one knee and pop the question with…a toaster oven and see where it gets you.
Strangelove calls upon his areas of specialization—anthropology, economics and media studies—to place the internet at the centre of a cultural revolution, where passive media consumers are transforming into artists, writers and activists.
The Empire of Mind describes how the internet is empowering comrades, I mean users, with the tools to define how they interact with the world in a space largely outside the commercial cycle.
And Strangelove doesn’t hold much back, in between stories of making out in a canoe and how choosing your breakfast cereal is not a valid expression of personal freedom, he builds on the collected of work heavy-hitters like John Kenneth Galbraith, Mary Douglas, Umberto Eco and Naomi Klein.
Empire is a call to define your world: If they love you they will love the toaster. “In the internet age” explains Strangelove, “resistance is not futile.” —Kelly McCarthy-Maine
Poetry
American Standard/Canada Dry by Stephen Cain (Coach House Books)
A third poetry book by Stephen Cain, American Standard/Canada Dry interrogates language itself, and infiltrates and challenges our national identities and borders.
In a rapid-fire staccato featuring war politics, video games, Viagra spam and Canuck history, the book is spattered with references, puns and constraints both formal and informal. Even Eddie Shack skates past, donuts in glove. Critical of US policy, media portrayal of its military, as well as pop culture, consumerism and racism, Cain’s collection ranges from opaque to incisive, and more than a few stops in between.
The book explores the poetics of US/Canada divisiveness and intersection, but often strays into territories more removed—which offer some of the most compelling work. The strongest works for me were in “The Viagra Monologues” (did I mention the puns?), with lines like, “Dimple chipmunk laxative rerouted.”
Overall, this is a challenging collection—dense, allusive, non-linear—but it rewards effort and interaction. Reading the “Notes” first may assist in locating your point of view, to navigate your trans-port-age along these borders, where you may find “anger at the sight of your flag entwined with mine.” —Jennifer LoveGrove
