Ultra-Talk

What makes a cultural phenomenon truly great? For starters, says David Kirby, it must have been embraced repeatedly over time by both the elite and the general public. In Ultra-Talk Kirby looks at a number of "king-sized cultural monuments," revealing at the same time his eclectic critical interest in topics as varied as auto racing, Dante, folk music, food, Leonardo da Vinci, films, poetry, religion, striptease, television, and the internet. Book jacket.

David Kirby is Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English at Florida State University. He is the author of many books of poetry and criticism, including The Ha-Ha, My Twentieth Century, and What Is a Book? (Georgia). His poems, reviews, and essays have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Southern Review, Paris Review, and other publications.