{"product_id":"my-1980s-other-essays-9780374533779","title":"My 1980s \u0026 Other Essays","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWayne Koestenbaum returns with a zesty and hyper-literate collection of personal and critical essays \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eon the 1980s, including essays on major cultural figures such as Andy Warhol and Brigitte Bardot.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWayne Koestenbaum has been described as an impossible lovechild from a late-night, drunken three-way between Joan Didion, Roland Barthes, and Susan Sontag (\u003ci\u003eBidoun\u003c\/i\u003e). In \u003ci\u003eMy 1980s and Other Essays\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection of extravagant range and style, he rises to the challenge of that improbable description. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eMy 1980s and Other Essays\u003c\/i\u003e opens with a series of manifestos--or, perhaps more appropriately, a series of impassioned disclosures, intellectual and personal. It then proceeds to wrestle with a series of major cultural figures, the author's own lodestars and lodestones: literary (John Ashbery, Roberto Bola o, James Schuyler), artistic (Diane Arbus, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol), and simply iconic (Brigitte Bardot, Cary Grant, Lana Turner). And then there is the personal--the voice, the style, the flair--that is unquestionably Koestenbaum. It amounts to a kind of intellectual autobiography that culminates in a string of passionate calls to creativity; arguments in favor of detail and nuance, and attention; a defense of pleasure, hunger, and desire in culture and experience. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eKoestenbaum is perched on the cusp of being a true public intellectual--his venues are more mainstream than academic, his style is eye-catching, his prose unfailingly witty and passionate, his interests profoundly wide-ranging and popular. \u003ci\u003eMy 1980s\u003c\/i\u003e should be the book that pushes Koestenbaum off that cusp and truly into the public eye.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Fsg Originals\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/13\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780374533779\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.54lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.46h x 5.10w x 0.89d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/01\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/01\/2013 pg. 108\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Wayne Koestenbaum","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42530998681781,"sku":"9780374533779","price":21.25,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_31cf724e-94cb-475d-8137-f762b2de8a59.jpg?v=1669734874","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/my-1980s-other-essays-9780374533779","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}