Iain Sinclair

[version]

Got a copy of King of New York in the post today and was surprised to find a Sinclair piece in the accompanying booklet,

Iain Sinclair on Abel Ferrara's King of New York

In this feature from our May 2002 issue, Iain Sinclair revisits Abel Ferrara's 1990 gangster classic King of New York, starring Christopher Walken in a career-best performance as New York drug lord Frank White, out of prison and back to claim what's his.

www.bfi.org.uk

 

[john eden]

The legacy of the “white man walking” book is not great.

 

[john eden]

He can’t be blamed for that though.

 

[william_kent]

Secrets of the City

I watched this yesterday. The director of "The London Perambulator" ( the "deep topography" documentary ) takes a stroll around with Iain Sinclair, who pontificates on coffee and Empire. I liked that Sinclair reinforced a suspicion I have about Kew Gardens and covert operations. That was the highlight for me. He also mentions Van Gogh, freemasons, levellers, and some ancestor of his who'll he'll be writing a book about.

 

[...]

I think K-Punk judged Sinclair right after all.

 

[catalog]

What did he say about him?

 

[version]

He said he was a bourgeois pervert who should try walking the plank instead of London.

 

[...]

He said he was a boring man scratching around the attic, assembling irrelevancies.

 

[catalog]

another wrong k-punk opinion. i think maybe it's a takedown type comment, cos their projects shared some aspects. i do think iain sinclair has gone off the boil, he probably should have stopped after orbital. shitting on his legacy.

 

[...]

I tried to find the original post which was a bit more cogent than my summary, but I couldn't; I think it was from 2004. When I was wearily plowing through Black Apples of the Gower it did strike me that maybe he was right after all. The style has dated quite badly, even the good stuff.

 

[catalog]

i wonder if the comment about the attic is related to that specific book, rodinsky's room, where he finds the room that has been left for 10 years.

but i don't think it would be, cos that is actually a really good book, although probably rachel lichtenstein's sections are better than his, or rather the interplay is what's good.

i keep meaning to re-read orbital, maybe i should just do that. might find it's crap. has been close to 20 years since i read it.

 

[...]

It's not. I know that because the "attic" thing was my comment, attempting to convey the gist of K-Punk's attack, the details of which I can only half remember now.

has been close to 20 years since i read it.

This is really the key point and I think you might find it is crap.

 

[catalog]

i almost don't want to re-read any sinclair again precisely cos i might find it crap! some things you just have to leave and respect as things that you liked at the time. so many things that i really love, something happens at a certain point and i can't look at them anymore, they actually make my skin crawl. the love is a product of the time and place.

 

[jenks]

There is a point though isn’t there that he staked out a territory and pursued it with great vigour. Downriver, Scarlett Tracings stuff felt very exciting at the time. Yeah, others now have taken the ball and ran with it but let’s not fall into the ‘everything you once liked is now shut’ narrative. And maybe some it is cringey - I lost him round the John Clare book personally.

 

[william_kent]

I lost him round the John Clare book personally.

That was the first of his I could not complete. I still bought paperbacks of the ones that followed, and now they sit in a pile, unread, crushing Pynchon under their weight.

 

[...]

There is a point though isn’t there that he staked out a territory and pursued it with great vigour. Downriver, Scarlett Tracings stuff felt very exciting at the time. Yeah, others now have taken the ball and ran with it but let’s not fall into the ‘everything you once liked is now shut’ narrative. And maybe some it is cringey - I lost him round the John Clare book personally.

That's true, I guess what I was trying to say is that K-Punk was pointing out Sinclair's defects at the height of his popularity and influence and turned out to be largely correct in his judgement, I think anyway.

 

[catalog]

yeah i bought edge of the orison as well, in hardback as it goes, and found it pretty difficult. sold it earlier this year for a decent price as it goes, so not all lost.

somewhat strangely, i never liked downriver and white chappell. but rodinsky's room and orbital i loved. and also the tv docs he did with chris petit, i thought those were really good - the falconer, asylum etc. not the orbital film, that was disappointing.

orbital really was very inspiring though.

 

[catalog]

Also this reprint I got hold of a couple of years ago, of the kodak mantra diaries. Really brilliant. His first proper book from the early 70s.

Would recommend it to anyone. It's interesting enough as a commentary on the dialectics of liberation conference, Where's he's alternately cynical and enthusiastic, seeing beyond the curtain of ginsberg, laing and others.

But also very good cos you can see his style emerging, but it's not yet there.

And then also just some good sections about renchi and what happened to him at the end of the 60s.

Brilliant find. And got me interested in jarett kobek who republished it.

 

[jenks]

That's true, I guess what I was trying to say is that K-Punk was pointing out Sinclair's defects at the height of his popularity and influence and turned out to be largely correct in his judgement, I think anyway.

I think what was sad was how quickly he kind of got subsumed into a kind of ‘alt-history’ heritage brand - his bald head and all that.
I read his stuff he did at Swedenborg Centre not too long ago - that was good.

 

[version]

"What does he want, this man from Barnes, whatever his name is? His intention is still unclear. Is he a traveler or only a tourist? Worse, is he a psychogeographer?"