Marx's Das Kapital For Beginners Reviewed on ExpressMilwaukee.com

At first glance, the review by David Luhrssen for Marx’s Das Kapital For Beginners seemingly finds fault with the For Beginners series as a whole. However, as the reader continues to read on only praise for the book and the series can be found. Luhrssen writes, “For Beginners is anything but dumbed down and more of a selection of key quotes with exegesis.” To read Luhrssen’s review of Marx’s Das Kapital For Beginners, visit http://bit.ly/Jm7KCY.

The Harlem Renaissance and Poetry

The Harlem Renaissance was a movement much bigger than a single neighborhood in New York City. Though strongly associated with the African-American economic power of Harlem, the Harlem Renaissance was a widespread explosion of creativity among African-American artists, writers and musicians in the 1920’s and 1930’s, some of whom also had commercial success in mainstream culture.

Probably the best known Harlem poet was Langston Hughes, who was influenced by previous poets like Paul Lawrence Dunbar. Langston Hughes brought modernist ideas of using contemporary imagery and language to his personal and powerful poetry. One of his most well-known poems “I, too Sing America” seemed to be a direct response to Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing” which emphasizes Whitman’s attitude toward America, which is part of his ideal of human life. The American people have based its faith on the creativeness of labor, which Whitman glorifies in this poem. In “I, too Sing America” Langston Hughes addresses the issue of black rights. Hughes hopes for a better tomorrow white American’s will see how beautiful his people are and appreciate them.

The legacy of the Harlem Renaissance opened doors and deeply influenced the generations of African American writers and poets that followed more noticeably in the emergence of Hip-Hop.

To learn more about modernist poems and the influence of the Harlem Renaissance on poetry check out Poetry For Beginners! 

The Crisis of Capitalism

The faith in the global economy has been on shaky ground after Greece defaulted to a credit rating of “C”, the lowest level possible. The Eurozone, in turn, is positioned to fall back into another recession and even possible collapse should Greece decide to leave the union.  The effects would be catastrophic to say the least.  But how did we get here? How detrimental is our economic system? And was this foreshadowed by Karl Marx? Does Capitalism really have the tendency to self-destruct? Whether capitalism will self-destruct or not, we all can admit that it is in a state of emergency.

The source, however, can be traced back to the 1970’s when the excessive power of labor in relation to capital controlled the market. Through President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher, labor had to be “disciplined” and much of the means of production were sent offshore to countries such as India, China, and Brazil. By the 1980’s, capital markets had all the access to the world labor supply thus the blame was switched from excessive power of unions and labor to the excessive power of capital which became the new problem. To mitigate the excessive power of capital in the market, the practice of wage repression was put into place. Wages then became stagnant and national income level steadily decline over the next decade.

The decline in wages affected the purchasing power of the consumer thus sparking a gradual decline of supply and demand on overall goods. This problem was alleviated by pumping up the credit economy via credit cards and loans to a large consumer market, creating a large debt economy in the process.  Housing and credit markets tripled their debts over the past 30 years causing bubbles and crashes in its wake.

So as you can see, capitalism doesn’t necessarily solve its own issues, but rather moves them around from one market to another. You’ve heard in reports how the US economy is bouncing back, while in the meantime Greece defaulted. This is a perfect example of how the capitalist style in place today has been working for the past 30 years.

Karl Marx, who has studied capitalism for much of his life, observed that capitalism cannot abide by a limit. Rather, capitalism eventually destroys itself as it exploits more and more people until everyone has been reduced to worker status. The development of capitalism inevitably leads to its downfall. However, the system of exploitations does not disappear by itself. It is destroyed only as the result of the revolutionary struggle and the victory of the public.

And such a movement is happening across the financially devastated Greece and Socialist parties are regaining support after the default. So was Karl Marx correct? Only time will tell.

To learn more about Karl Marx’s theory be sure to check out Marx's Das Kapital For Beginners releasing May 29^th 2012.

Hip Hop and Poetry

One of the most important and maybe controversial things that happened to poetry in the twentieth century was the rise of Hip-Hop. Although Hip-Hop is a completely modern form, in some ways, it returns poetry to the old practice of oral tradition. Rappers employ all the techniques that poets do- with an emphases on rhyme and rhythm, and they are using the techniques as the way ancient poets have. In doing so, it helps the rapper and the audiences remember and recite what they are saying.

What makes rap controversial in the poetry world is whether to call it a poetic form. Hip-Hop straddles a line between song and spoken word. It developed alongside, but completely outside, modern trends in poetry. Yet you can read lyrics the same way you read poetry, applying the same critical eye, looking for the same techniques like imagery and allusion. Looking at lyrics, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who could defend the idea that Hip-Hop isn’t poetry. Some of the most interesting and complex poetry written today, especially in terms of meter, rhyme, alliteration, allusion and cultural reference, is going on in Hip- Hop. If you haven’t read any lyrics recently here are a few to start with:

Nas – “New York State of Mind”

KRS-One – “Higher Level”

Pete Rock C.L. Smooth – “They Reminisce Over You”

Tupac – “Dear Mama”

To learn more about poetic forms check out Poetry For Beginners.

Lacanians Rejoice! For it is Jacques Lacan’s 111th Birthday!

Jacques Lacan has been regarded as one of the most significant and influential psychoanalysts since Sigmund Freud.  Lacan always claimed that he was developing and formalizing ideas that Freud had worked on in the period from 1893 – 1938.  Freud founded a new discipline and treatment: psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis has two closely related aspects: clinical work and academic work. Clinical work is carried out with patients who suffer from a wide range of problems, including phobias, obsessions, impotence, anxiety, and hallucinations. The psychoanalyst uses only words in his treatment rather than medicine or physical treatments. Academic Psychoanalysis aims to study mental life in general and includes studies of literature and the social sciences.

Psychoanalysts are mainly divided into two groups respectively:  those influenced by Lacan’s work and those more or less loyal to the ideas of Ego Psychology and the International Psycho-Analytic Association.  Lacan’s ideas are mostly followed in France, Spain, Italy, and South America. While those who follow the International Psycho-Analytic Association are predominantly in North America and England, where Lacan’s influence has been felt the least.

While a close revision of Lacan’s theories demands a study of logic, science, literature and other disciplines, his ideas were mainly inspired above all by his clinical experiences with his clients. Though some claim his theories are overly intellectual, it is an attempt to grasp and make sense by what he as witnessed during his clinicals.

To learn more about Jacques Lacan check out Lacan For Beginners!

The Power of the Poem

The power of poetry should never be taken for granted. Simple lines of words strung together have the power to alter ones thought and the world. In the words of Robert Frost, “A complete poem is one where an emotion finds the thought and the thought finds the words.”

Perhaps the most famous poem in American history and one that sparked revolution all across the world since its conception is the “Declaration of Independence.” Sadly enough, many Americans are unaware that the scripture was meant to be read out-loud. As copies of the declaration circulated through the colonies, towns and cities alike gathered to hear the oration. Accompanying the poetic words were the shouts, huzzas and cheerful firing of muskets while emblems of the old regime were torn down.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That all men are created equal,

That they are endowed by their Creator

With certain inalienable rights;

That among these are life, liberty

And the pursuit of happiness.

The sentence is inscribed in an iambic pentameter, the rhythmic pairing of ten syllables for each line into five pairs, and is undoubtedly the most powerful line of poetry ever written. The words and rhythms in proud and defiant tones, presented a statement boldly marking the beginning of the end for monarchs and czars alike who claimed they possessed the “divine right” to rule over their citizens. This sentence will also brought about the end of slavery in the United States and its message is still as powerful today as it was over 200 years ago.

The Declaration deserves a second look this month and I encourage our readers to recite the passages aloud and feel the true meaning behind our Declaration of Independence.

To learn more about the different methods of poetry check Poetry For Beginners!

The Poet of Poets

April brings us National Poetry Month and we’ll kick it off with an examination of Shakespeare’s collection of sonnets.

                                            

Shakespeare’s sonnets are perhaps the most recognized poems in the literary world. The collection deals with themes such as: love, beauty, morality and time, all which contain the very essence of the English Renaissance.  But it is difficult to provide commentary for all 154 sonnets that bare the name of Shakespeare. Every commentary is the interpretation of the author who wrote them, thus replacing the application of our very own critical thinking.

These are what people usually talk about when they talk about Shakespeare’s sonnets: 154 finely wrought poems, perhaps composed at various points in the 1590’s. Some of them are hailed as among the finest poems in English literature. The sonnets are categorized into two groups: sonnets number 1-126 seem to be addressed to a young man, a friend of the poet, while sonnets number 127-154 feature poems directed to a darkly featured woman, addressed as the poet’s difficult lover which have come to be known as “the dark lady”. However all the poems with the exception of number 126, which is 12 lines long, follow a fourteen-line pattern, with a distinct rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg.

Some have speculated that these two categories are a sort of poetic autobiography of Shakespeare. The theory is interesting enough, and some of the sonnets certainly do seem likely to be rooted in personal experience, but few if any direct conclusions about the facts of Shakespeare’s life can be drawn from the sonnets.

Whether or not they reflect real-life personal entanglements, these varied poems are dense and powerful, demanding and breath taking. Unlike the plays, they are designed to be read rather than enacted; unlike the longer narrative poems, they tend to bring readers back for an infinite amount of reading. No short summary could do each sonnet justice. Take your time reading each one carefully. Let your emotion guide you through each passage which I’m sure you will find at least one. Read them to your loved ones throughout this month. Follow your interpretation. Heck that’s what poetry is all about!

To learn more about Shakespeare and his sonnets read Shakespeare For Beginners!