Bøger udgivet af CITY LIGHTS

Gnostics have always sought to "know" rather than to accept dogma and doctrine, often to their peril. This inquiry into Gnosticism examines the character, history, and beliefs of a brave and vigorous spiritual quest that originated in the ancient Near East and continues into the present day.Lawrence Durrell writes, "This is a strange and original essay, more a work of literature than of scholarship, though its documentation is impeccable. It is as convincing a reconstruction of the way the Gnostics lived and thought as D.H. Lawrence's intuitive recreation of the vanished Etruscans."

A collection of columns, reviews, introductions, interviews, and previously uncollected stories revealing the method behind the madness and critical acumen of Charles Bukowski.

“Ah,” said Hassan, “I don’t believe in the world. There’s another world where life is different."These are stories of that world. The word m’hashish (equivalent in Moghrebi of “behashished” or “full of hashish”) is used not only in a literal sense, but also figuratively, to describe a person whose behavior seems irrational or unexpected. The tales here deal with some of the possible results, desirable and questionable, of being in that state.Mohammed Mrabet was born in Tangier in 1936. Since meeting in the early 1960's, Paul Bowles has taped and translated numerous strange legends and lively stories recounted by Mrabet: Love with a Few Hairs (novel), The Lemon (novel), The Boy Who Set Fire (stories), Harmless Poisons, Blameless Sins (stories), The Beach Café & Look & Move On (autobiography) and The Big Mirror (novella). After moving back to Tangier after living in New York for four years, Mrabet resumed his role as a fisherman and began painting. He continues to paint while living in the Souani area of Tangier.

"Get the Money!" was Ted Berrigan's mantra for the paid writing gigs he took on in support of his career as a poet. This long-awaited collection of his essential prose-written between 1960 and his early death in 1983-draws upon the many essays, reviews, introductions, and other texts he produced for hire, as well as material from his journals, travelogues, and assorted, unclassifiable creative texts. Get the Money! documents Berrigan's innovative poetics and techniques, as well as the creative milieu around the East Village New York's Poetry Project for which he served as both nurturer and catalyst. Highlights include his journals from the '60s, depicting his early poetic discoveries and bohemian activities in New York; the previously unpublished "Some Notes About 'C, '" an account of his mimeo magazine that serves as a de facto memoir of the early days of the second-generation New York School; a moving and prescient obituary, "Frank O'Hara Dead at 40"; book "reviews" consisting of poems entirely collaged from lines in the book; insightful art reviews of friends and collaborators like Joe Brainard, George Schneeman, and Jane Freilicher; and his notorious "Interviews" with John Cage and John Ashbery, both of which were completely fabricated. Get the Money! provides a view into the development of Berrigan's aesthetics in real time, as he captures the heady excitement of the era and champions the poets and artists he loves"--

Satirical essays by a countercultural icon about the moral obscenity of contemporary politics, culture, and comedy.

San Franciscans portray the unvarnished life of the city not seen in postcards and travelogues.

Tales of Jewish life in Berlin at the precarious moment between world wars.

Maintaining political, intellectual, and ethical hope in the heart of the world's most powerful nation.

Stories of spiritual longing and romantic illusion, or vice-versa, in the holy rubble of Los Angeles.

Bittersweet tales about the loss of hope.

Drawn from the essence of Latin soul and free jazz, rich evocations of the author's ancestral roots.

Fiction. Latino/Latina Studies. Translated by Cola Franzen and Dick Cluster, these renegade stories by Cuban writer Antonio Jose Ponte are set in Cuba during the hard times following the collapse of the Soviet Union. People go to work only to find that their jobs no longer exist. They joke and tell stories from the past, live aimlessly, uncertain about what the future holds. While living in this state of suspension, Ponte's dynamic characters create their own startling worlds. Ponte raises unease to an art, stripping Cuban spirituality to the bone. His work is so quiet that one can begin to hear the real dynamics, usually just of of reach -- Elizabeth Hanly, Partisan Review.

Landscapes of War: From Sarajevo to Chechnya is an incisive examination of the tensions that exist between the West and Islamic societies of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. These essays, originating in Goytisolo's travels in the late 1990s, provide rich historical analysis and moving first-person reportage of life in four explosive war-zones: Sarajevo, Algeria, the West Bank and Gaza, and Chechnya. From the 17th century to the Gulf War, the West has regarded Islam as the enemy on the doorstep, and this book elucidates how relations between Islam and the West continue to be shaped in a climate of ideological, political and cultural confrontation.Goytisolo examines the fratricidal frenzy in Algeria and the war waged by French police against North African migrants in France, and he describes a besieged Sarajevo transformed into a concentration camp surrounded by barbed wire. He contemplates the despair and poverty of Palestinian youth living in the Occupied Territories and details the brutality of the Russian war in the Caucasus. Whether reporting on the fate of the Bosnians after the break up of the former Yugoslavia or analyzing the growing appeal of fundamentalisms—Islamic, Jewish and Russian Orthodox—Goytisolo displays the same blend of intelligence, vision, and warm fellow-feeling that has made him one the most imposing literary figures of our time.Many of these succinct and eloquent essays first appeared in Spain's leading newspaper El Pais, and English translations were published in the Times Literary Supplement (London).Juan Goytisolo was born in Barcelona in 1931. In 1993 he was awarded the Nelly Sachs Prize for his literary achievement and contribution to world culture. His translated works include a two volume autobiography, Forbidden Territory and Realms of Strife; the trilogy Marks of Identity, Count Julian and Juan the Landless; and the essays, Saracen Chronicles. Other works by him and published by City Lights Publishers include The Marx Family Saga, published in 1999, and A Cock-Eyed Comedy, published in 2005.Peter Bush is Director of the British Center for Literary Translation and translated Juan Goytisolo's The Marx Family Saga, which was awarded the Premio Valle-Inclan.