The Life and Opinions of DJ Spinoza Book

A cycle of fast, tragic, unsettling, hilarious poems about the shortcomings of reason.

Publishers Weekly

In his long-awaited second full-length book, the playfully serious Ostashevsky (Iterature ) draws on the Jewish philosopher Spinoza to create his alter ego, who wields logic like a weapon ("On a periodic table/ he lays out his definitions/ axioms/ propositions/ like a dentist's tools before drilling a cavity"). Adversaries such as the Begriffin ("Frightful is the Begriffin and sharp are his claws/ .../ He is full of effects but do they have a cause?") counter the DJ with Ostashevsky's brand of wit, as well as the rhythms and rhymes of everything from fairy tales to hip-hop: "Let us dismiss words// in toto /as the unionized janitors of reality!" And characters such as Joseph Bédier, God, MC Squared and the Peepeesaurus offer whimsical and often dubious insight: "you're famous for your scores/ on Scholastic Aptitude Tests, but/ what good is a brain, if you're an idiot?" In meticulous de- and reconstructions of language that are at once mischievous ("The Origin of the Specious," "Myopia Is Youropia") and thought-provoking, Ostashevsky continues his slant exploration of the convergence of the poetic traditions of Eastern Europe and the U.S. (Jan.)

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