{"product_id":"the-theory-of-the-loser-class-9781552451687","title":"The Theory of the Loser Class","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the early nineties, Beck sang 'I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me?' and changed everything. Suddenly, it wasn't so bad to be a nerd or an oddball; loser chic had begun.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTen years later, after all the computer nerds have had the last laugh, Jon Paul Fiorentino turns to Thorstein Veblen's seminal social science text from 1899, \u003ci\u003eThe Theory of the Leisure Class\u003c\/i\u003e. Veblen's book introduced to our culture the terms 'conspicuous consumption' and 'nouveau riche'; it identified a new demographic, the leisure class, and demarcated its position in culture. \u003ci\u003eThe Theory of the Loser Class\u003c\/i\u003e, then, is an art manifesto for the aesthetics and ethics of loser culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf the Anthony Michael Hall character in \u003ci\u003eThe Breakfast Club\u003c\/i\u003e wrote poems (and, deep down, you know that he did), they’d probably read a lot like \u003ci\u003eThe Theory of the Loser Class\u003c\/i\u003e. Drawing on texts ranging from Thorstein Veblen’s groundbreaking \u003ci\u003eThe Theory of the Leisure Class\u003c\/i\u003e to \u003ci\u003eStar Wars\u003c\/i\u003e (the nerd Bible) for inspiration, this carefully crafted suite of poems documents the tribulations and insecurities of everyone’s inner geek. Fiorentino maps the psychic territory of abjection across the shopworn spaces of suburban Winnipeg, where a landscape of aging strip malls, burned-out houses and living rooms littered with video-game consoles serves as a mirror to the inner states of urban ennui among the socially inept and the culturally vexed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy turns compassionate, funny and filled with selfloathing, \u003ci\u003eThe Theory of the Loser Class\u003c\/i\u003e is never without the possibility of redemption; ‘And if a loser falls,’ says the narrator of ‘Right in the Spine,’ ‘I feel it.’ \u003ci\u003eThe Theory of the Loser Class\u003c\/i\u003e is the perfect soundtrack for the alienated and the hopeless.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Jon Paul Fiorentino","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48308075167995,"sku":"9781552451687","price":13.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0779\/3917\/9771\/files\/9781552451687.jpg?v=1772484724","url":"https:\/\/indiepubs.com\/products\/the-theory-of-the-loser-class-9781552451687","provider":"IndiePubs","version":"1.0","type":"link"}