J.W. Burleson photo / Boquillas del Carmen, Coah.

PHB

My photo
Brooklin, Maine, United States
We own a 1975 GMC Sierra Grande 15 in Maine and a 1986 Chevrolet Custom Deluxe 10 in West Texas. Also a pair of 1997 Volvo 850 wagons. Average age in the fleet is 28 years--we're recycling. I've published 3 novels: THE LAW OF DREAMS (2006), THE O'BRIENS (2012), and CARRY ME (2016). Also 2 short story collections: NIGHT DRIVING(1987) and TRAVELLING LIGHT (2013). More of my literary life is at www.peterbehrens.org I was a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study for 2012-13. I'm an adjunct professor at Colorado College and in the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte. In 2015-16 I was a Fellow at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The Autoliterate office is in Car Talk Plaza in Harvard Square, 2 floors above Dewey Cheatem & Howe. SUBSCRIBE TO THE AUTOLITERATE DAILY EMAIL by hitting the button to the right.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

My Brilliant Careerism, part 7

I'm on the Canada book tour this fall; my schedule is posted here. I'm happy to sign books, and love to see old friends along the way.


Last weekend in Montreal I read/talked/signed my new novel THE O'BRIENS at Westmount Public Library, and at the last moment decided to include a slide show of family--that is, O'Brien--photographs.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Autobody & Ballroom Marfa



AUTOBODY 
CURATED BY NEVILLE WAKEFIELD
featuring the film NORTH OF SOUTH WEST OF EAST 

All events are free and open to the public.   
 _______________________________________________

(Fall is happening in Maine, with beautiful sunny days (so far). Apples have fallen, and been gathered;  breezes out on the Reach tends to NW; and we start to think of our winter home in West Texas. 
                One of the reasons we like Marfa so much is events like this one, upcoming at Ballroom Marfa. 
                Another reason we like Marfa is old trucks and the Marfa guys who work on them. Speaking of autobody, check out Hector Sanchez's work on our truck at H&M Auto in Marfa (just behind Mando's) )---PB

AutoBody, curated by Neville Wakefield, explores the mythology of the American automobile through the carcasses of an industry turned art. From Robert Frank to Richard Prince, the automobile has been the driving force of American freedom: its promise of escape provided in an image of mobility. However, as JG Ballard pronounced over 40 years ago, "the car as we know it is on the way out... for as a basically old fashioned machine, it enshrines a basically old-fashion idea: freedom." The American dream that it once represented, and freedom-the idea it once enshrined-may, like the car itself, be turning obsolete.

With a nod to those windshields that cinematized landscape, AutoBody features the newly commissioned four-channel video work, North of South West of East, by emerging artist Meredith Danluck and produced by Matthew Shattuck. Shot on location in Detroit, Michigan and Marfa, Texas, North of South West of East uses the car as an entry point, a subtle connective tissue, between the equally loaded but seemingly disparate archetypes of the Cowboy, the Rebel, the Immigrant, and the Actress. Eschewing the simplification of abstraction, the film employs the mainstays of narrative with a strong focus on temporality. Each of the four character's retention of the past, attention to present actions and future anticipation play out on separate screens simultaneously manifesting both mobility and stasis-the chronic existential crisis that is American identity.

Marfa local punk band Solid Waste and New York musician John Carpenter are featured on the film's soundtrack.

This is happening at Ballroom  Marfa in--where else--Marfa Texas.
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FRIDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER 2011 
6-8 pm: Opening reception   
with a performance by Mick Barr
8:30 pm: Community dinner at the Capri   
followed by a performance by Mariachi Las AlteƱas   

SATURDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2101
2 pm: Exhibition walkthrough with artists

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Next Novel (My Brilliant Careerism, part 6)

Finally started next novel, in a brand-new Rhodia (No 16) notebook. Three years. Starting now.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

"THE O'BRIENS" (My Brilliant Careerism, part 5)

             PB hits the Canadian road this fall with his new novel THE O'BRIENS (House of Anansi). Tour schedule is posted on the website. Hope to see you along the way.


              Six weeks now on Macleans Canada bestseller list! 
           


                                                   Eldridge Pub. Library, Sand Cove NS,  July 2011.
                                                      A library with a Loyalist section.                              
        Don't see that in Maine.
                         The O'Briens comes out in the U.S. in March 2012. (Pantheon)