RADAR Book Club with Alan Kaufman's "Drunken Angel"
- When
- Thu Mar 15, 2012
- Where
- Viracocha
- Time
- 7:30 pm
- Cost
- $10
- Tags
- Literary Arts, Author Appearances
Description
Book of the Month: DRUNKEN ANGEL by Alan Kaufmanwith special guests Ricky Lee + Richard Mongor Precedent
ABOUT ALAN KAUFMAN:
ALAN KAUFMAN's novel Matches was published by Little, Brown and Company in the Fall of 2005. David Mamet has called Matches "an extraordinary war novel," and Dave Eggers has written that "there is more passion here then you see in twenty other books combined." Kaufman's critically-acclaimed memoir, Jew Boy (Fromm/Farrar, Straus and Giroux), has appeared in three editions, hardcover and paperback, in the United States and Great Britain. He is the award-winning editor of several anthologies, the most recent of which, The Outlaw Bible of American Literature, was recently reviewed on the cover of the New York Times Book Review. There are two more volumes in Kaufman's Outlaw anthology series: The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry and The Outlaw Bible of American Essays. He has taught in the graduate and undergraduate schools of the Academy of Art University and in writing workshops in San Francisco. His work has appeared in Salon, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Partisan Review and The San Francisco Examiner. Kaufman has been widely anthologized, most recently in Nothing Makes You Free: Writings From Descendents of Holocaust Survivors (WW Norton). Kaufman is a member of PEN American Center. Kaufman's papers and manuscripts are on deposit in the Special Collections Library of the University of Delaware and he is profiled in the Europa Biographical Reference Series.
ABOUT DRUNKEN ANGEL:
Son of a French Holocaust survivor, Alan Kaufman drank to fill the huge hole in his heart, wrecking himself and everyone in his path. In Drunken Angel, the poet and critically acclaimed writer recounts with unvarnished honesty the story of the alcoholism that took him to the brink of death, the PTSD that drove him to the edge of madness, and the love that brought him back. With his estranged daughter as inspiration and two unforgettable mentors for support, Kaufman got into recovery at age 37, taking full responsibility for nearly destroying himself, his work and so many loved ones along the way. Kaufman minces no words as he looks back on a life pickled in self-pity, self-loathing and guilt, delivering a lacerating, cautionary tale of a life wasted and reclaimed.
In league with the handful of gut-wrenching, life-changing, and enduring books about the tortures of addiction, Drunken Angel probes the consciousness of an addict to expose the true horror of alcoholism. Alan Kaufman’s searing memoir is a surreal reading experience full of stylistic acrobatics that speak to the genius of a writer nearly lost.
IN CONVERSATION: Alan Kaufman + Michelle Tea
ABOUT RICKY LEE + RICHARD MONGOR PRECEDENT:
Ricky Lee has held many types of jobs by day and by night has pursued her interests in the art and the absurd. She has directed video shorts and exhibited mixed media work in the Bay Area. She has been a singer and bass player in the infamous band Ghostcat; she has rapped with rappers, and read poetry with poets. She is included in the publications, Without a Net, and Pills, Thrills, Chills and Heartache. She currently resides in West Oakland.
Richard Mongor Precedent has been a resident of the Bay Area since 1993. He has performed in various underground punk bands while working in food service, retail, construction, as a messenger or at warehouse jobs. He currently lives in Oakland and is working toward a degree in Library Science. He likes to draw tanks and skulls. Somnambulist’s Carnival, with Ricky Lee, is his first foray into print media.
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