Honestly, I haven't cared about Douglas Copeland's writing since Microserfs (which is one of my favourite books, btw) though I will admit I haven't read J-Pod. His art, on the other hand, amuses me and makes me think. In Hey Nostradamus! there is a photo of one of Copeland's art installations called Tropical Birds (2003) which basically illustrates the disarray in the cafeteria following the Columbine High School Massacre. It's called Tropical Birds because of the "birdsong" created by all the cell phones and pagers "chirping" in the backpacks strewn around the cafeteria. Very haunting.
This little video clip, commissioned by Randomhouse.ca according to the small print, made me want to find out more about The Gum Thief and/or Glove Pond.
As it turns out, Glove Pond is the novel within the novel The Gum Thief, Copeland's latest. Glove Pond is written by a bitter would-be novelist who is stuck working at Staples. I shall have to read this book as I do have a soft-spot for that kind of metafiction.
05 December 2007
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2 comments:
Well, I wouldn't rush right out. I thought The Gum Thief was pretty awful -- it read like a second-rate Coupland impersonator...
Oh, bummer. Well, truth be told I was going to wait until it showed up here at the library; we seem to purchase most of his books.
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