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From the Introduction by Brian Fawcett<.P>

"A first clue to how this book is going to work lies in the book s title: Topic Sentence. In the title story, written in 1970, Persky took on the two questions that dog every artist in the post-modern: What is the subject matter, and how can it be articulated? Since both questions are unanswerable, Persky twists them: How am I supposed to isolate the subject matter from the myriad of things in which it is lodged, and how do I elude the distortions of conventional exposition and its self-serving selectivity? How do I make what I write as alive and dynamic as the things I write about?

"...The book has three slightly cryptically-named sections: Before, During, and After. They do not mean beginning, middle and end. Instead, they mark, without having discrete boundaries, the three stages Persky has traversed to become a writer: self-articulation, ideology and dissidence; sexuality; and the still-in-progress open field that lies beyond commissioned intentions and self. Persky began as a poet, morphed into a fine political writer, then wrote about homosexuality, and now is a writer prepared to examine every and anything with a fully deployed sensibility that includes his political and sexual commitments and passions without being governed or limited by either or by anything else. The problem with this sort of explanation is that it makes it appear to be linear, and that s not how Stan Persky s mind or this book operates."

Customer Reviews (1)

A cup filled with pencils
I bow down to Stan Persky in general, and my admiration for his work both in poetry and in prose has been a constant in my reading life for twenty years or so.TOPIC SENTENCE is just the sort of book I wanted from him: a big book, capacious, wide-ranging, with an assortment of intellectual pursuits tempered, always tempered, by the inimitable personality.Which I can't really explain except to describe it as Socratic and humorous.The book seems like it's been cobbled together from articles written here, there and everywhere, but the throughline as they call it in writers programs is often about the education of one man and by extension the ways in which we ourselves are invited to learn, by the culture, by the politics, and by the raw materials of nature and life that are handed to us.

He is always at the center, and charmingly so, the "topic sentence" of his own life.His memory for the strange circumstances attending it is strong, vivid, always filled with sensual detail and the ring of the truth.I don't know where Persky would be without it!History has left its track in his back, but I find that the more you read from Topic Sentence the stronger your wonderment will be, for like the old saying goes, he brings history right up into the present moment in a way few educators can seem to manage.His account, for example, of the life and trials of Oscar Wilde ("Feasting with Oscar"), takes the very long view.We are with him as he manages to pry out of hiding the real story behind Wilde's double life, his pingponging back between classes that was at heart the real "trouble" that got him into gaol.We learn that Wilde was seriously in love with Bosie, while Bosie was too much of a child, or too selfish a lad, to give Wilde back what he got.We learm how Wilde got trapped by his own pride (and by his nascent politics) into bringing the disastrous suit that pretty much ended his charmed life.But then what we don't expect is that P{ersky takes all this "historical" material and brings it still quick and panting right into our present situation, like one of Burroughs' Wild Boys tossing a still beating heart onto the campfire of the guerrilla tribes halfway up the Atlas Mountains."Not so much to propose a political agenda as to understand where we are," he writes.It is a Wilde, and a GLBT struggle, transformed by Marxian theories of the Law of Uneven Development. ... Read more

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In a volume inspired by Czeslaw Milosz, Stan Persky appropriates the format of the alphabet book as a springboard for musings both personal and philosophical.

The Short Version -- which, at 300-plus pages is the author’s longest book -- is a literal ABC: Persky covers only topics that begin with those three letters, though he can’t resist tweaking the format to include such subjects as Richard Rorty ("Contingency") and Jack Spicer ("After Lorca"). Subjects range from his travels across Eastern Europe and Asia, to reflections on writers of today. Unafraid to topple sacred cows or singlehandedly resuscitate those in undeserved obscurity, the author provides a road map to a public intellectual’s mind. Persky’s cosmopolitan perspective encompasses Woody Allen’s films, Roland Barthes’s theories of identity, and Italo Calvino’s creation of Mr Palomar. Along the way he covers such matters as the art of teaching as practiced by Persky, his foray into northern British Columbia, and memories of long-ago Gestalt sessions with David Berg.

Eccentric, engaging, and ultimately inspiring, Persky’s alphabet pushes the boundaries of creative nonfiction and the conventions of autobiography. This is uniquely compelling reading courtesy of one of the country’s best minds. ... Read more

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In On Kiddie Porn, political commentator StanPersky and John Dixon, former policy aide to Justice Minister KimCampbell, follow the course of Robin Sharpe's challenge of Canada'skiddie porn law as it makes its way through the various levels ofhearings and appeals that have ended up with a Supreme Court of Canadaverdict. Persky and Dixon recount the story of Robin Sharpe, as wellas other cases which put the issue on the country's front pages, andlook at the behind-the-scenes political horse-trading that forged thecontroversial statute. A nuanced discussion of the various andsometimes contradictory values that must find a balance in our law, OnKiddie Porn is also a fascinating look at the way Canada's laws aredrafted in parliament, and tested in the courts.

Stan Perskyteaches philosophy at Capilano College in North Vancouver. A columnistfor the Vancouver Sun, he is the author of a dozen books, includingAutobiography of a Tattoo, Buddy's, and Then We Take Berlin.

JohnDixon was senior advisor to Justice Minister Kim Campbell from1991-93, immediately prior to the passing of Canada's embattled childpornography law under Campbell's successor Pierre Blais. The author ofCatastrophic Rights: Experimental Drugs and AIDS, he lives on one ofBC's Gulf Islands and teaches in the philosophy department at CapilanoCollege in North Vancouver. ... Read more

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Brian Fawcett's first book of essays since 1991's Unusual Circumstances, Interesting Times, Local Matters tries to come to grips with a system behind what everyone calls "globalization", and to isolate some of its less publicized effects.A collection of thoughtful, irreverent, deliberately personal essays, Local Matters is a polemic against brand-borne viruses, a love letter to one man's Toronto neighbourhood, and a road map to a better world.Many of the essays are developed from earlier versions published on dooneyscafe.com, the internet news service Fawcett runs with Stan Persky. ... Read more

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stories/essays on the pursuit of homosexual desire ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

another fine collection of essays from the author of Buddy's
Persky is a very underrated writer in Canada. Partially, this is due to his chosen writing form--essays (although he began as a poet). Essay writing is still considered a dry, academic form in North America but Persky draws upon the more pleasurable personal/philosophical essay tradition of Montaigne and Roland Barthes. He is very open and insightful about his homosexual desires, but it would be a shame if his readership was limited to only those who share his sexual preference(s). Here's hoping that he begins to receive the wider attention he deserves and that he helps revive the essay tradition in North America.

Take Me There!
A fascinating hybrid of a philosophical meditation on love and a diary of Berlin summers, Persky's book breaks so many rules to thrilling effect that he should be enshrined as Chief Literary Outlaw. Persky is so fearless ininvestigating the basis for his feelings about his work, his obsession witha young rent-boy in Berlin and his friends that he virtually dares thereader to become exasperated with his waffling about reaching any prematureconclusions. The miracle of his writing (and thought process) is that hekeeps us fully engaged in his conversation with himself until exasperationturns into affection and complicity. Persky's love of teaching (he is aprofessor of philosophy in Vancouver, BC) is clear here both explicitly (hetalks about his concern for his students at length) and implicitly (theentire book becomes an example of a unique teaching style). Persky, who isproudly over 60, takes pains to make sure we know that his own libido isexuberantly healthy (bravo!). If he had anything to do with approving thefabulous cover art for the book, he certainly insured that the libido ofevery reader will be sent into overdrive every time the eye catches thecover. ... Read more