Transitional Tuesday: Happy Days

Oh, Samuel Beckett. You're obviously having a great time. Or you've finally lost it. But don't worry, Steve Jobs will soon appropriate an evil-looking picture of you for his ad campaigns! Doesn't that make you feel good? I know that's what you've been waiting for all this time. And you look great.With the hair, sort of like the best anime villain ever. (Make it happen, Internet.)

Note: I'm aware that this poster wasn't made in the Jobs era. But I still blame Jobs.

Falling (Happy) Man

Hey, Don Delillo. You're looking very happy in this picture. And I think the descriptor "very happy" is relative, because usually you look like an upset and drug-addicted Robert Redford. Why is that, Don? Is it your post-9/11 epic "Underworld" that's getting you down? Or have you reread "Point Omega"? That's really depressing, Don. Try not to do that. Try not to reread your own stuff.

Happiness and Civilization

Why is Foucault smiling? Probably because he never knows when the guards are watching him. Or maybe because he has perfect teeth. I know he hates being called postmodern, but we're here to help him come to terms with it. The first step is admitting that you sometimes reject binary opposition, Michel!

YouTube bonus : The best song ever written about Foucault and Antarctic exploration. Thank you for the flowers and the book by Derrida.

Belated Modernist Friday: Heroes

Cheer up, James Joyce! You've just had another crippling eye operation and are snorting cocaine to recuperate, but look on the bright side: you've written and published THE seminal work of modernist literature...even though you had to self-publish because most potential publishers thought your book was smut. OK, let's think about something else. You're daughter inherited your genius! Isn't that great? Oh shit...she's going to spend the rest of her life in insane asylums, isn't she? And it's kind of partly your fault; but then again you didn't have much of a father yourself, did you? Let's not open that can of worms, you fearful Jesuit. Umm...hmm...well here's some good news! Finnegan's Wake is just months away from being finished, you live in beautiful Paris and Ernest Hemingway wants to take you on a safari! Isn't that all so exciting? Oh damn; I forgot. You're going to be completely blind by the time you finish Wake, so the beautiful Parisian panorama/the safari will be rather insulting to bring up, won't they? What with you not being able to see anything that's going on? Well here's something you cannot contest: you look really cool with that eye patch. You look like a complete badass. You look so cool that all these suburban kids who have known no real pain in their lives are imitating you right now.
Oh...shit. I guess that's kind of a bad thing, right? I'm really sorry I brought that up.

I'm sorry you feel so sad, James Joyce. Rest assured, though: you'll always be my hero. And David Bowie's.

Modernist Friday: Don't Call My Name, Alejandro Sawa

Today is Modernist Friday, and who better to represent than that Light of Bohemia himself, Mr. Alejandro Sawa? Here, he looks surprisingly content and well-groomed, despite the abject misery of most of his life. It's hard to tell, but I think I see a little smile underneath the beard. And the bow tie is actually made entirely out of the finest win.

Zenobia is to be classified among happy cities

Italo Calvino is one happy postmodernist. So today, we have not one, but three images of Italo being really, really happy. Here we have just the classic smile.

Later, Italo Calvino becomes a jolly, wacky sitcom neighbbor!



Finally, sometimes Italo's happiness is just plain terrifying. But we love him anyway.

Lost in the Funhouse

Three things to know about John Barth:

1. He is indeed a fucking hipster. Look at the picture.
2. He is the friendliest-looking of all living postmodernists (but not the whitest - that would be William Gaddis)
3. He wrote a book called Giles Goat Boy

Rainbow Transmissions from the Satellite Heart

William Vollmann is a cheery guy. The only book I've read by him is "Rainbow Stories," and I was enchanted by his faithful descriptions of the skinheads he made friends with. He enjoys going dancing, watching the sunset on the beach and getting caught in the rain. He's looking for a relationship that will help him de-stress after a long and tiring day of befriending skinheads.

Since it and the world began

Today's happy postmodernist, our first ever, is Macedonio Fernández. You can argue about whether or not he's truly postmodern, but you can't argue with the twinkle in his eye!