Gus Blaisdell Collected

Back Cover

“Reader, you are in for a treat. Gus Blaisdell was a deep thinker, relentless, funny and fearless in his pursuit of the unnamable. Now his writings are gathered together with photographs and commentary from other writers and philosophers so it’s as if we’re listening to him over coffee at the Frontier. This is a special book which conjures up the spirit of its subject so completely that the sounds of his voice and his laughter are vivid in my memory.” —LESLIE MARMON SILKO, author of Almanac of the Dead “We hear people talking all the time about Renaissance men. Gus Blaisdell was a Restoration rake, a creature of coffeehouses, bookstores, flaring arguments and happy reconciliations, crazy women and crazier experimentation. This book is a wonderful survey of his enthusiasms and complaints—and a fond memorial of his gift to New Mexico, and Albuquerque particularly. Gus was the absolute, undeniable, real thing. One of the few.” —DAVE HICKEY, author of Air Guitar: Essays on Art & Democracy “Gus Blaisdell was a man of extraordinary perception. His writings are those of a firstrate talent and intelligence.” —N. SCOTT MOMADAY, author of The Way to Rainy Mountain “Imet Gus when I was in high school. Whether he knew it or not, he was one of the most important influences in my life. The combination of cutting wit and daunting intelligence he brought to every conversation was mind-blowing. He showed me that humor had the power to cut through all layers of bullshit. Blaisdell was the truth.” —MARC MARON, author of The Jerusalem Syndrome, stand-up comic, and host of WTF podcast “Isometimes try to imagine how Gus, with his extraordinary powers of presentation, might have imitated himself. Drawing a blank just here would seem a fair sign that his inimitability was itself an attestation of his irreducible originality.” —Foreword, STANLEY CAVELL, Walter M. Cabot Professor Emeritus of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value, Harvard University LITERATURE | PHOTOGRAPHY | ART | FILM isbn 978-0-8263-4240-9 ËxHSKIMGy342409zv*:+:!:+:! University of NEW MEXICO Press unmpress.com 800-249-7737 ...