{"product_id":"l-vis-lives-patricia-smith-9781608461516","title":"L-vis Lives!: Racemusic Poems","description":"FROM THE POET the \u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e calls \"the new voice of Chicago,\" comes \u003ci\u003eL-vis Lives!\u003c\/i\u003e, a bold new collection of poetry and prose exploring the collision of race, art, and appropriation in American culture. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eL-vis is an imagined persona, a representation of artists who have used and misused Black music. Like so many others who gained fame and fortune from their sampling, L-vis is as much a sincere artist as he is a thief. In Kevin Coval's poems, L-vis' story is equal parts forgotten history, autobiography, and re-imaginings. We see shades of Elvis Presley, the Beastie Boys, and Eminem, and meet some of history's more obscure \"whiteboy\" heroes and anti-heroes: legendary breakdancers, political activists, and music impresarios.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eA story of both artistic theft and radical invention, \u003ci\u003eL-vis Lives!\u003c\/i\u003e is a poetic novella on all of the possibilities and problems of \"post-racial\" American culture--where Black art is still at times only fully accepted in a white face, and every once in a while an \"L-vis\" comes along to step in to the void. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003ei am a hero\u003cbr\u003e to most. the great hope\u003cbr\u003e of something other.\u003cbr\u003e a complex back-story.\u003cbr\u003e something other than\u003cbr\u003e the business of my father.\u003cbr\u003e bland's antonym.\u003cbr\u003e jim crow's black sheep.\u003cbr\u003e the forgotten son\u003cbr\u003e left to rise in the darkness\u003cbr\u003e among the dis\u003cbr\u003e carded in the wild\u003cbr\u003e of working class, single\u003cbr\u003e mother hoods. a hero\u003cbr\u003e who transcends\u003cbr\u003e who translates the dis\u003cbr\u003e satisfactions of the plains;\u003cbr\u003e kids of kurt cobain, \u003cbr\u003e method man amphetamine, \u003cbr\u003e the odd Iowan who digs dirt\u003cbr\u003e and lights beyond the pig yard, \u003cbr\u003e spits nebraskan argot, \u003cbr\u003e hero to the heart\u003cbr\u003e land, middle brow(n) america \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Patricia Smith, Kevin Coval\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1608461513\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781608461516\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Haymarket Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/04\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 120\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.36lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.99h x 6.98w x 0.36d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/15\/2011 pg. 12","brand":"Patricia Smith","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44057065226495,"sku":"9781608461516","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_56123e84-769e-4eff-b7b9-a69b23172e9d.jpg?v=1685044828","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/l-vis-lives-patricia-smith-9781608461516","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}