First published this essay—a transcript of a talk on 9/11 and American intellectuals that Marcus gave at a synagogue in California—in the spring of 2002. Marcus wasn’t in First’s corner in the magazine’s early years. (He was put off by the harsh review in our second issue of his book on The Basement Tapes.) But Charles O’Brien’s rage at the “Vichy Left” in his post-9/11 essay “The War” spoke to Marcus. He bows to O’Brien’s polemic in “Nothing New Under the Sun” (and takes in a post-9/11 point made by First‘s Fredric Smoler as well), yet his own piece isn’t delimited by 9/11’s aftermath. It’s a kind of case statement for anyone who wants to know what distinguishes intellectuals from typical academics, hacks or other purveyors of the given. There’s been a link to “Nothing New Under the Sun” on the right column of First‘s homepage for years. It won’t be coming down any time soon. B.D.
Greil Marcus
The Fascist International and Its Fellow Travelers
Greil Marcus responds below to queries from Justyne Dillingham who asked Marcus to comment on (1) the motive behind Putin’s interference in the American election and (2) the “line” of certain leftists–writing in “publications like The Nation and The Intercept as well as mainstream outlets like The London Review of Books”—who claim Russia-gate is “a hoax made up by the intelligence agencies and pushed by Democrats to excuse their failure to win last November.”
Hegemonic Tic
From an academic conference at Yale: We’re used to Donald Trump punctuating his pronouncements with a quick “OK?” as if to simultaneously block any disagreement and reassure himself that he’s right.
The Manchurian Candidate
The final item in Greil Marcus’s last Real Life Rock column (originally posted at Pitchfork.com) has taken on a new urgency in the light of Trump’s pick for Secretary of State and the leaked CIA “assessment” confirming “Russia intervened in the 2016 election for the purpose of helping Donald Trump win the presidency.”
Primary Wisdom
The author recently answered queries about Trump and the Democrats.
Anti-Fascist Art Class
The author gave this commencement address at the School of Visual Arts on 19 May 2013.
I’m not here today to offer advice or even encouragement. I’m here to talk about art and audience, about art and the people it reaches—and what happens when it does.
Nothing New Under the Sun
I came here tonight to talk about the response of American intellectuals to the events of September 11—and I use the neutral, meaningless term “events” to start off right where any intellectual response begins, with an attempt to name what took place, or to avoid naming it.