Product Description
Literary Nonfiction. Poetry History & Criticism. Memoir. Divided into two parts, ROBIN BLASER consists of two essays by people who knew Blaser intimately, as a lifelong friend, a mentor and intellectual influence. In part one, award-winning author Stan Persky offers a cohesive guide to reading Robin Blaser's poetry and the ways in which Blaser's work was "an attempted rescue or defense of poetry." In part two, Brian Fawcett discusses how Blaser inspired and guided him in his formative years as a writer at the newly-opened Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. From the authors' recollections, we are given a glimpse into the personal and professional relationships that developed between Persky, Fawcett, Robin Blaser, Jack Spicer, and many of the other poets associated with the "San Francisco renaissance" and the New American Poetry. At once a memoir and a reader, ROBIN BLASER is also an illustrated account of the remarkable life of the poet, with dozens of previously unpublished photographs included. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a great take on Robin Blaser
This is a very welcome book on Robin Blaser. I loved Stan Persky's essay, very much from the heart. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

In search of tawdry sex in the new Berlin
This is an unusual book - a travelogue of Eastern Europe from the perspective of a middle-aged gay tourist looking for boys. I suppose I should have guessed what I was getting into on the basis of the cover illustration. The fact that the longest chapter is titled "Boyopolis/Berlin" is another tipoff.

Stan Persky tells us a lot about himself - in fact, too much. He is a fiftysomething philosophy professor who grew up in Chicago and now lives in Vancouver, Canada. He is a non-practicing Jew who has participated in protests against Israel. And when Stan hits a new city such as Berlin, he spends his time in "pederast bars" (a phrase used in the book) to look for boys. Some readers will find this titillating and others not, but you have been warned.

My greatest disappointment about this book is that Stan Persky tells us too little about Berlin itself, beyond the gay-cruising circuit. His Berlin tales of boy-hunting could just as easily be set in any large city. Berlin, which is the focus of the book, is one of the world's most interesting cities, but I felt I learned very little about it. On the other hand, the chapters covering other cities give the reader more of a flavor of local politics, culture, and history. Berlin, Budapest, Sofia, Vilnius, and Tirana receive the greatest coverage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Slow book about fast changing region!
I was dissapointed after being tantalized by the title.I fully expected much more anecdotal evidence that a gay lifestyle exists in Eastern Europe...instead it reinforced the sterotype of a bleak and gray people.Which is not true, Eastern Europe is fascinating and quite gay.Maybe someone will do this subject justice next time around ... Read more

Product Description
Buddy's is a gay bar in Vancouver's West End that opened in the spring of 1982 and closed in the summer of 1988.It was the starting point for this unusually frank and engaging portrait of gay life and gay culture in the late eighties.Shifting effortlessly between autobiography, fiction, and criticism, Buddy's is in turn shocking, erotic, witty, and moving, a study of life in a time of plague. ... Read more