Humor, it is said in mystical Hebrew texts, is the highest form of spiritual communication. American poet and journalist Andrei Codrescu is employing this higher principle to write some of the most wry, penetrating, and creative cultural critiques of our time. His NPR commentaries, his poetry, and his novels are all elegant reflections of a soul in search of broader horizons, and with liberating delight he transgresses the borders and boundaries of language, culture, and religion. In this presentation, Codrescu reads from his recent collection of poems, It Was Today, accompanied by his own famously humorous and occasionally biting commentary. He ranges effortlessly between describing his childhood as a Jewish boy growing up in the alienated silence of Stalinist Romania and reading a poem chronicling his arrival in New York in 1966, dressed entirely in black and partying with anarchistic glee on the rooftop of the Chelsea Hotel. Dipping and diving between history and poetry, Codrescu communicates the sense that past, present, and future occur all at once, woven by memory and mind into the mysterious and miraculous fabric called Life. We are pleased to present Andrei Codrescu in this special feature, consisting of the complete audio—as well as two video—selections from his evening reading.
BIO
Andrei Codrescu is a poet, novelist, essayist, and teacher who has written numerous books including Wakefield (Algonquin, 2004) and It Was Today (Coffee House, 2003). He is also a regular commentator on National Public Radio and has written and starred in the Peabody Award-winning documentary movie, Road Scholar. He is a MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he edits Exquisite Corpse: A Journal of Letters & Life.
