{"id":3502,"date":"2023-05-01T18:22:42","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T22:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ouleft.org\/?page_id=3502"},"modified":"2024-01-15T14:03:29","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T19:03:29","slug":"english-and-literature","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ouleft.org\/?page_id=3502","title":{"rendered":"English and Literature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Here we&#8217;ll feature classic and working-class literature&#8211;and Marxist critiques of both. We&#8217;ll also encourage new writers and poets with creative writing workshops, reviews, and other projects and forums.<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Who was Dashiell Hammett? One-Hour Video Discussion of the Maltese Falcon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ouleft.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3503\" width=\"148\" height=\"225\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>DukeReads: Michael Malone on Dashiell Hammett&#8217;s<em> &#8216;The Maltese Falcon.&#8217; <\/em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AJ7m2QMmE1k\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Access Here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cpusa.org\/article\/dashiell-hammett-from-pinkerton-spy-to-proletarian-writer\/\">Dashiell Hammett: from Pinkerton spy to proletarian writer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"align\":\"left\"} --><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/crimereads.com\/activist-noir-26-radical-crime-novels\/\">RADICAL NOIR: 26 ACTIVIST CRIME NOVELS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/s26162.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/A1KOUPIFVwL-191x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"157\" height=\"247\" \/>Revolutionaries, Agitators, and Organizers in Crime Fiction<\/strong> Some subject matters and historical settings naturally lend themselves to radical politics. Crime fiction has often had sympathy and respect for the down-and-out and oppressed. Suppose <em>noir<\/em> is when obsession and belief turn to action when inertia is disrupted. In that case, it should be no surprise that the actions of revolutionaries, organizers, and activists drive many a plot.<strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/crimereads.com\/activist-noir-26-radical-crime-novels\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Access Here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"align\":\"left\",\"linkDestination\":\"custom\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230306033308\/http:\/\/photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1266630290l\/738894.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230306033308im_\/http:\/\/photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1266630290l\/738894.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"131\" height=\"198\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><strong>Eight Tragedies of Shakespeare: A Marxist Study<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Book Study: In this companion volume to <em>Shakespeare: Poet and Citizen<\/em> Kiernan sets out to rescue Shakespearean studies from the increasingly solipsistic terrain of literary criticism, focusing instead on historical location to understand Shakespeare&#8217;s writing. (Karl Marx himself was a great fan of Shakespeare, as summarized <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.counterfire.org\/articles\/analysis\/18300-marx-s-shakespeare\">HERE <\/a><\/strong>in an article).\u00a0 <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/738894.Eight_Tragedies_of_Shakespeare\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Access Here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"align\":\"left\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230306033308im_\/http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-WPSKDjWJC9M\/TaDoYvZI3_I\/AAAAAAAAAJE\/xXyJmoCarnA\/s1600\/This%252520wont%252520cover%252520lo%252520rez%255B1%255D.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"134\" height=\"207\" \/><\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Lennie Moss Mysteries: Tales of a Modern Working-Class Hero<\/strong> <strong>Tim Sheard&#8217;s<\/strong> hero is a union shop steward as a modern Ms. Marple. The author provides realistic details of hospital routine and budget-cutting politics. Other bonuses are polished prose and elements of warmth and humor. Strongly recommended for most mystery collections. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timsheard.com\/LennyMossNovels.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Access Here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><br clear=\"none\" \/><br clear=\"none\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230306033308im_\/https:\/\/encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTZulhVRR_0zYM9jns9fgMOCv8ln8thTJTtW5XJQ2tHlcT4yIXyBA&amp;s\" alt=\"\" width=\"355\" height=\"123\" \/><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"align\":\"left\"} --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Adventure of English <\/strong>Eight 50-minute video episodes covering the birth of the English language as a hybrid to its globalization. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/topdocumentaryfilms.com\/adventure-of-english\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Access Here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"align\":\"left\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230306033308im_\/https:\/\/encrypted-tbn3.google.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSUDuzO1xK2K87DPDuzom4wWgFKQOZGvmXHacicjqBRsxkEP-RU\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maya Angelou on Life and Literature<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>50-minute interview in five parts. Armstrong Williams interviews writer and poet Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou is considered one of the greatest voices of contemporary literature. Angelou talks about what it was like growing up. You will be surprised at the shocking trials Maya Angelou had when she was younger. She gives great insight into how she became the Maya Angelou of the contemporary Renaissance.<strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wK5WsmoQPZE\">Access Here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"align\":\"left\",\"linkDestination\":\"custom\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230306033308\/https:\/\/encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ9iIsAkf-HHZqJKRujpW2yG04K40W1NyQn3g&amp;usqp=CAU\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230306033308im_\/https:\/\/encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ9iIsAkf-HHZqJKRujpW2yG04K40W1NyQn3g&amp;usqp=CAU\" alt=\"\" width=\"158\" height=\"158\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><strong>THE HANDMAID&#8217;S TALE<\/strong>\u00a0 Author Margaret Atwood discusses her dystopian classic and being a consultant on the hit <em>Hulu<\/em> series based on it. Atwood reflects on using fiction and essays to warn about authoritarianism, climate change, and other dangers. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/GeFCRHBK_-k\">HER<\/a><\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/GeFCRHBK_-k\">E<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"align\":\"left\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230306033308im_\/http:\/\/files.shroomery.org\/files\/07-44\/387795443-Kerouac_with_road_behind.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"236\" height=\"154\" \/><\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230306033308\/https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3LLpNKo09Xk\">KEROUAC READING<\/a><\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3LLpNKo09Xk\"> FROM ON THE ROAD. And interviewed by Steve Allen in this rare video from the late 1950s.<\/a><\/strong> Kerouac wrote <em>On the Road <\/em>in three very short weeks in 1951. But then it took six years for the book, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ontheroad.org\/\">famously written on a long scroll<\/a>, to reach the reading public in 1957. Shortly after its publication, critics were at least quick to recognize what the book meant. One<em> New York Times<\/em> reviewer <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/books\/97\/09\/07\/home\/kerouac-roadglowing.html\">called it<\/a> \u201cthe most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as <em>beat<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagomag.com\/arts-culture\/opinion-nelson-algren-is-a-writer-for-our-times\/\"><strong>Nelson Algren Is a Writer for Our Times. <\/strong><\/a>The author\u2019s stories feel more relevant today than perhaps ever before. Shaped by his days riding trains during the Great Depression, and who persisted in writing about the\u00a0<em>noir<\/em> worlds of drug addicts, prostitutes, and thieves even during the more prosperous years of post-World War II America. he was \u201cThe bard of the stumblebum,\u201d mocked critic Leslie Fielder. \u201cThe Last of the Proletarian Writers.\u201d But he persists for a couple of reasons. First, writers love writing about Algren because Algren was a writer\u2019s writer, never allowing money, love, status, or comfort to distract him from pursuing his art.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/WkNp56UZax4\"><strong>Allen Ginsberg reads &#8220;Howl,&#8221; (Big Table Chicago Reading, 1959)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/shakespeare-uncovered\/education\/war-and-leadership-in-shakespeare%E2%80%99s-henry-v-lesson-plan\/war-and-leadership-in-shakespeare%E2%80%99s-henry-v-video-segments\/\"><strong>Shakespeare for Today: War and Leadership in Henry V.<\/strong><\/a> Four PBS videos with a teaching and study guide for introducing the Bard to today&#8217;s youth.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theweeklyansible.tumblr.com\/post\/20777236577\/50-sci-fi-fantasy-works-every-socialist-should-read\"><strong>50 Sci-Fi &amp; Fantasy Works Every Socialist Should Read<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"align\":\"left\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230306033308im_\/http:\/\/25.media.tumblr.com\/avatar_6f5ad1ff0f7b_128.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Reposted from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fantasticmetropolis.com\/i\/50socialist\/full\/\">Fantastic Metropolis<\/a> by author China Mieville: &#8220;This is not a list of the \u201cbest\u201d fantasy or SF. There are huge numbers of superb works not on the list. Those below are chosen not just because of their quality\u2014which though mostly good, is variable\u2014but because the politics they embed (deliberately or not) are particularly interesting to socialists. Of course, other works\u2014by the same or other writers\u2014could have been chosen: disagreement and alternative suggestions are welcomed. I change my own mind hour to hour on this anyway&#8230;&#8221;\u00a0 ALSO: &#8216;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenorthstar.info\/?p=11735\"><strong>Reds in Space<\/strong>&#8216;,<\/a> a listing of radical sci-fi in a North Star post.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here we&#8217;ll feature classic and working-class literature&#8211;and Marxist critiques of both. We&#8217;ll also encourage new writers and poets with creative writing workshops, reviews, and other projects and forums. Who was Dashiell Hammett? One-Hour Video Discussion of the Maltese Falcon DukeReads: Michael Malone on Dashiell Hammett&#8217;s &#8216;The Maltese Falcon.&#8217; Access Here Dashiell Hammett: from Pinkerton spy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3253,"menu_order":-5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3502","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ouleft.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ouleft.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ouleft.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ouleft.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ouleft.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3502"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/ouleft.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4588,"href":"https:\/\/ouleft.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3502\/revisions\/4588"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ouleft.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ouleft.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}