On Sun, 29 Nov 1998, Doug Henwood wrote:
> My experience is that these cyberreadings fizzle out. But if we're going
> for anything I'd vote for the Psychic Life of Power. I'd like to see the
> anti-pomo'sters actually confront a postie text - espeically one that
> illuminates several things many "Marxists" are not so eloquent on - why the
> masses don't rebel, how sexed our subjectivity is, and why we turn when the
> cop calls us.
I'm on a list that always has a reading going on, and they almost always work well--the exception that I've seen is the Communist Manifesto--it's a pretty conservative list. A reading of something by Northrop Frye (?) has been going on for six months--I think they are 1/2 through. They did some Shakespeare sonnets, and we're about to begin Nietszche's *Twilight of the Idols*. The cyber readings work for a couple of reasons--partially because discussing readings is the one thing we all have in common (college alum list, blush). But we also have an archon for each reading, who keeps it on track and that's helpful.
If we are serious about doing a Butler reading--hope yr in, Doug, we might want to begin with people making cases for particular texts. It might also be helpful to gauge interest--see how many people we can expect. I've read a couple of articles by Butler, and *Gender Trouble*, but would be interested in any of her other books. If yr proposing *Pyschic Life*, can you also give us a brief synopsis? And what year did it come out?
frances