Dude Lit Review Series

As I power down the last stretch of dissertation-writing, I’ve been looking for some light, bedtime reading to escort me into the Sandman’s land. After a failed experiment with letters and interviews by Argentine Marxist Ernesto Laclau, I moved to the more familiar and simple territory of comix and punk rock memoir.

FINDING: these dudes (comix geeks and punk memoirists) are totally hung up—if in a variety of ways—with gender and their masculinity.

I guess the more disturbing question is why I turn to this literature to unwind: is it because dude lit is easy reading by virtue of the simplistic nature of dudes being dudes, or is it that my simplest self is a dude?

No pussyfooting “a little bit of both” answers will be accepted during this coming manly fortnight of dude reviews!

The Idea Behind This Blog

is for me to stay up on things outside of my narrow academic interests, though obviously those obsessions color my 'outside' interests. The second impetus behind NWN is to keep me writing about things--books, movies, food, and so on--in a less footnoted, academic manner. The third goal is just to keep a record of what I'm up to, for when I'm old and forget everything.