... and musicians whose work exemplifies the “new sensibility”: the music of John Cage, Milton Ba... more ... and musicians whose work exemplifies the “new sensibility”: the music of John Cage, Milton Babbitt, and Morton Feldman; the painting of Mark Rothko, Frank Stella, Joseph Albers, Andy Warhol, and Ellsworth Kelly; and the dance of Merce Cunningham and James Waring. ...
By 1956, British theatre was in a terrible state. The West End was dominated by a few philistine ... more By 1956, British theatre was in a terrible state. The West End was dominated by a few philistine theatre managers, cranking out emotionally repressed, middle-class plays, all set in drawing rooms with French windows, as vehicles for stars whose only talent was to wield a cigarette holder and a cocktail glass while wearing a dinner jacket. . . . Then on 8 May 1956, came the breakthrough. At the Royal Court, Look Back In Anger, John Osborne’s fiery blast against the theatre establishment burst onto the stage, radicalizing British theatre overnight. . . . A new wave of dramatists sprang up in Osborne’s wake; planting their colours on British stages, speaking for a generation who had for so long been silent, they forged a living, adult, vital theatre. [1–2]
Días. Desde una perspectiva fenomenológica, se observan las experiencias individuales reconstruye... more Días. Desde una perspectiva fenomenológica, se observan las experiencias individuales reconstruyendo sus trayectorias mediante una metodología centrada en las
Interview with Stephen Kinzer. Historian Stephen Kinzer’s 2019 book, Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Go... more Interview with Stephen Kinzer. Historian Stephen Kinzer’s 2019 book, Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control, examines the project’s eponymous, little-known mastermind: a Caltech biochemist and expert in biological warfare who was handpicked by CIA director Allen Dulles to run the covert program in 1953.
A review of Jon Savage's "1966: The Year the Decade Exploded" (Los Angeles Review of Books). It e... more A review of Jon Savage's "1966: The Year the Decade Exploded" (Los Angeles Review of Books). It examines the remarkable convergence of psychedelics and pop music at the time when LSD was still legal.
A review of recent Bowie books (Future Nostalgia and Enchanting Bowie) that examine the rock star... more A review of recent Bowie books (Future Nostalgia and Enchanting Bowie) that examine the rock star's desire to test the limits of the gendered body.
A Review of Stephen Siff's Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience (2015) f... more A Review of Stephen Siff's Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience (2015) for the Los Angeles Review of Books.
When I first began researching Timothy Leary's writings from the 1960s, I gradually realized that... more When I first began researching Timothy Leary's writings from the 1960s, I gradually realized that Leary was quite difficult to pin down. Throughout his life, Leary was keenly interested in exploring radical forms of self-transformation. It is clear that psychedelic drugs were an important part of his ongoing attempt to shape and remake his identity. I noted how multiple conflicting versions of Leary seemed to coexist within the media, the popular culture, and his biography. There was Leary, the scientist, Leary, the radical Harvard psychologist, Leary, the mystic and self-proclaimed high priest, Leary, the iconic rebel and trickster, Leary, the hippie and irresponsible advocate of LSD, and, of course, Leary, the celebrity. Leary himself was aware of all of the identities that he had cultivated and constructed throughout his life. He even referenced his own weakness for what he called "the individuality game" in an important speech he delivered for the International Congress of Applied Psychology in 1961: "[a]nd that most treacherous and tragic game of all, the individuality game. The Timothy Leary game. Ridiculous how we confuse this game, overplay it." Leary's self-critique was intended as a way of illustrating the ways in which our identity is an egotistical game that we
... and musicians whose work exemplifies the “new sensibility”: the music of John Cage, Milton Ba... more ... and musicians whose work exemplifies the “new sensibility”: the music of John Cage, Milton Babbitt, and Morton Feldman; the painting of Mark Rothko, Frank Stella, Joseph Albers, Andy Warhol, and Ellsworth Kelly; and the dance of Merce Cunningham and James Waring. ...
By 1956, British theatre was in a terrible state. The West End was dominated by a few philistine ... more By 1956, British theatre was in a terrible state. The West End was dominated by a few philistine theatre managers, cranking out emotionally repressed, middle-class plays, all set in drawing rooms with French windows, as vehicles for stars whose only talent was to wield a cigarette holder and a cocktail glass while wearing a dinner jacket. . . . Then on 8 May 1956, came the breakthrough. At the Royal Court, Look Back In Anger, John Osborne’s fiery blast against the theatre establishment burst onto the stage, radicalizing British theatre overnight. . . . A new wave of dramatists sprang up in Osborne’s wake; planting their colours on British stages, speaking for a generation who had for so long been silent, they forged a living, adult, vital theatre. [1–2]
Días. Desde una perspectiva fenomenológica, se observan las experiencias individuales reconstruye... more Días. Desde una perspectiva fenomenológica, se observan las experiencias individuales reconstruyendo sus trayectorias mediante una metodología centrada en las
Interview with Stephen Kinzer. Historian Stephen Kinzer’s 2019 book, Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Go... more Interview with Stephen Kinzer. Historian Stephen Kinzer’s 2019 book, Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control, examines the project’s eponymous, little-known mastermind: a Caltech biochemist and expert in biological warfare who was handpicked by CIA director Allen Dulles to run the covert program in 1953.
A review of Jon Savage's "1966: The Year the Decade Exploded" (Los Angeles Review of Books). It e... more A review of Jon Savage's "1966: The Year the Decade Exploded" (Los Angeles Review of Books). It examines the remarkable convergence of psychedelics and pop music at the time when LSD was still legal.
A review of recent Bowie books (Future Nostalgia and Enchanting Bowie) that examine the rock star... more A review of recent Bowie books (Future Nostalgia and Enchanting Bowie) that examine the rock star's desire to test the limits of the gendered body.
A Review of Stephen Siff's Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience (2015) f... more A Review of Stephen Siff's Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience (2015) for the Los Angeles Review of Books.
When I first began researching Timothy Leary's writings from the 1960s, I gradually realized that... more When I first began researching Timothy Leary's writings from the 1960s, I gradually realized that Leary was quite difficult to pin down. Throughout his life, Leary was keenly interested in exploring radical forms of self-transformation. It is clear that psychedelic drugs were an important part of his ongoing attempt to shape and remake his identity. I noted how multiple conflicting versions of Leary seemed to coexist within the media, the popular culture, and his biography. There was Leary, the scientist, Leary, the radical Harvard psychologist, Leary, the mystic and self-proclaimed high priest, Leary, the iconic rebel and trickster, Leary, the hippie and irresponsible advocate of LSD, and, of course, Leary, the celebrity. Leary himself was aware of all of the identities that he had cultivated and constructed throughout his life. He even referenced his own weakness for what he called "the individuality game" in an important speech he delivered for the International Congress of Applied Psychology in 1961: "[a]nd that most treacherous and tragic game of all, the individuality game. The Timothy Leary game. Ridiculous how we confuse this game, overplay it." Leary's self-critique was intended as a way of illustrating the ways in which our identity is an egotistical game that we
A review of Edward Delaney's The Acrobat. The novel dramatizes Cary Grant's LSD Psychotherapy fro... more A review of Edward Delaney's The Acrobat. The novel dramatizes Cary Grant's LSD Psychotherapy from late 1950s and early 1960s.
Uploads
Papers by James Penner