I Can Say Interpellation by Stephen Cain

by Stephen Cain

Poetry. Art by Clelia Scala. Weary of saccharine stories and tired themes when reading poetry for children? Angered at seeing your children indoctrinated into adhering to patriarchy, neoliberal capitalism, and general compliance with authority each time they open a book of verse? I CAN SAY INTERPELLATION remedies these problems by reconfiguring some of the best-known children's rhymes for political purpose. Taking French theorist Guy Debord's idea of detournement (a deflection or divergence of existing visual images and mass media), and applying it to children's poetry, experimental poet Stephen Cain redeploys the rhymes and images of well-known juvenile poems against their dominant messages. The result is a new poetic landscape where the Fox in Socks becomes Marx on a Box, where Goodnight Moon is a meditation on possible nuclear annihilation, and "The Owl and the Pussycat" features debates on the importance of preemptive military strikes to U.S. foreign policy."

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published May 30, 2011

Reviews

[Jessica Bebenek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the concept of this book (and the collages are so fantastic), but I found the poetry clunky at times. Occasionally I could see how it might work to jar the reader with this sort of subject matter, but mainly things just didn't feel quite right.
Still, this book has a great concept, looks beautiful, and made me chuckle.
('The Very Hungry Capitalist' is my favourite!)

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a lot of fun - a left-wing take on a lot of children's stories e.g. The very hungry capitalist, all clear sky (to alligator pie), hopped on pot (as opposed to hop on pop) and more. Good fun for the family leading to good discussions in political theory.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I did. Found it a bit clunky at times. The illustrations are charmingly nihilistic, however.