Portable Altamont

Brian Joseph Davis

ISBN 10: 1552451615 / ISBN 13: 9781552451618

Published by Coach House Books, CA, 2001

About this Item

Deliciously wicked satires about local and international celebrities, the poems in Portable Altamont evince an irrepressible grasp of the zeitgeist, its machinations and manipulations, its possibilities and puerility. Who other than artist and raconteur Brian Joseph Davis could have imagined Margaret Atwood as a human beatbox, Jessica Simpson applying for arts grants or the Swedish Chef reciting T. S. Eliot? Davis uses every literary form available to revel in and rearrange pop culture. Even the index turns into a short story about Luke Perry's descent into a shadowy underworld of Parisian intellectuals and terrorists. A word of warning: this book is a complete and utter fiction. Philip Roth is not David Lee Roth's brother. Reese Witherspoon is not a Communist cell leader, and Don Knotts has never been a New Age guru. The stuff about Nicole Richie, however, is absolutely true. Portable Altamont is that rare book that is both incendiary and compulsively readable. Get to it before the lawyers do!

Seller Inventory # LU-9781552451618

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Portable Altamont
• Publisher: Coach House Books, CA
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1552451615
• ISBN 13: 9781552451618
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 113 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Deliciously wicked satires about local and international celebrities, the poems in Portable Altamont evince an irrepressible grasp of the zeitgeist, its machinations and manipulations, its possibilities and puerility. Who other than artist and raconteur Brian Joseph Davis could have imagined Margaret Atwood as a human beatbox, Jessica Simpson applying for arts grants or the Swedish Chef reciting T. S. Eliot? Davis uses every literary form available to revel in and rearrange pop culture. Even the index turns into a short story about Luke Perry’s descent into a shadowy underworld of Parisian intellectuals and terrorists.

A word of warning: this book is a complete and utter fiction. Philip Roth is not David Lee Roth’s brother. Reese Witherspoon is not a Communist cell leader, and Don Knotts has never been a New Age guru. The stuff about Nicole Richie, however, is absolutely true.

Portable Altamont is that rare book that is both incendiary and compulsively readable. Get to it before the lawyers do!

About the Author

Brian Joseph Davis is an award-winning video artist; his punk recording of philosopher Theodor Adorno's writings led the New Yorker's Alex Ross to call him a genius. The UK's Frieze magazine recently declared his work 'serious hilarity... joyous and thoughtful.' Check out his website at www.brianjosephdavis.com