false 5093432 1 Poet and post-punk heroine Eileen Myles has always operated in the art, writing, and queer performance scenes as a kind of observant <i>flaneur.</i> Like Baudelaire's gentleman stroller, Myles travels the city—wandering on garbage-strewn New York streets in the heat of summer, drifting though the antiseptic malls of La Jolla, and riding in the van with Sister Spit—seeing it with a poet's eye for detail and with the consciousness that writing about art and culture has always been a social gesture. Culled by the poet from twenty years of art writing, the essays in <i>The Importance of Being Iceland</i> make a lush document of her—and our—lives in these contemporary crowds.<br /> <br /> Framed by Myles's account of her travels in Iceland, these essays posit <i>inbetweenness</i> as the most vital position from which to perceive culture as a whole, and a fluidity in national identity as the best model for writing and thinking about art and culture. The essays include fresh takes on Thoreau's Cape Cod walk, working class speech, James Schulyer and Björk, queer Russia and Robert Smithson; how-tos on writing an avant-garde poem and driving a battered Japanese car that resembles a menopausal body; and opinions on such widely ranging subjects as filmmaker Sadie Benning, actor Daniel Day-Lewis, Ted Berrigan's <i>Sonnets,</i> and flossing. 5160174 28 2 2009 The Importance of Being Iceland: Travel Essays on Art (Semiotext(e) / Active Agents) total:20|5:14|4:2|3:1|2:3|1:0| 20 87 96 5 0 0 false false Thu Oct 08 23:44:44 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 23:52:24 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 08:13:32 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 08:16:10 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 15 13:18:12 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 15 13:19:41 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Sep 03 16:15:46 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 03 16:15:46 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Tue Oct 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 06:56:16 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 20:44:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Nov 25 10:03:16 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 25 10:03:16 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Nov 20 07:56:30 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 20 07:56:30 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 19 18:24:24 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 12:03:28 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 18 09:41:34 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 09:41:34 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 18 09:30:44 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 09:30:44 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 18 09:04:59 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 09:04:59 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 16 18:43:02 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 18:43:02 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 16 09:50:52 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 09:51:01 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 15 14:58:58 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 15 14:59:02 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 15 07:04:53 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 15 07:04:53 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Nov 14 14:33:24 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 14 14:33:24 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Nov 13 19:23:56 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 13 19:23:56 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Mon Nov 09 12:12:10 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 09 12:11:50 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 09 12:14:09 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Fri Sep 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Nov 06 11:11:48 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 06 11:11:48 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 05 19:27:50 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 19:27:50 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=5093432