Zeitgeist Films

Paul Goodman’s seminal book has been out of print for a while—only after scouring Amazon and Abe’s Books was I able to find a used paperback 6 months ago that didn’t break the bank. After opening Jonathan Lee’s documentary Paul Goodman Changed My Life, the Film Forum carried several copies of the book for sale as well. Still, it was shocking at how impossible it was to find this writing that had been so incredibly influential, and was now so resonant, especially with growing momentum behind Occupy Wall Street (a movement Goodman would’ve loved). 

But scour no more, friends: Growing Up Absurd will soon be available as an e-book, so you can carry the deft wit and insight of the 20th century polymath in your pocket! The e-book will be available December 13th (a mere 8 days away), but a print edition will also be available in June 2012. (When thumping the book on a table for emphasis during an impassioned reading, I thiiink it’d be better to have the actual print copy, but a shattering iPad could be a dramatic effect.) 

Published in 1960, Goodman wrote about disaffected youth not as a problem but a symptom of the widespread corruption of the larger culture…not at all something that rings familiar today, right?

Wikipedia just blew our minds reminding us that the book is featured in the last scene of Richard Linklater’s film, Slacker, with a group tossing the book (and their camera) around. Look: 

Here’s full info from the New York Review of Books: 

http://www.nybooks.com/books/imprints/classics/growing-up-absurd/