@ASoulAFire @JaniceOCG #IAmTheOilOfTheEngineOfTheWorld by @jysexton & @SplitLipPress is a work of fiction that may have inspired Jared to change genres. Let’s ask! Prof. Jared Yates Sexton is live on Thurs., Jan. 13 at 8 pm ET, w/ “If America Fails?” on the TruthWorks Network YouTube channel, for our discussion on democracy in The Handmaid’s Tale & threats in current American culture.
Another work of fiction by Prof. Jared Yates Sexton is the 2016 publication of I Am The Oil Of The Engine Of The World. After this book, Sexton turns his talents to production of non-fiction, and I wonder if there’s a connection. Focusing here on the “American Disease” may have led the author to wanting to tackle our problems more forthrightly. I wonder. That certainly seems to be the nature of his most current works.
When Jared gets here, there are a few things I’d like to talk to him about, like:
- How does he see the power of fiction to inform our consciousness of the real world?
- How effective does he think The Handmaid’s Tale is at alerting us to real world threats, especially since the book was written so long ago?
- What does he see as the “American Disease” and does he see a cure?
- Is fiction an effective motivator of political resistance?
You can join in the fun. Let me know what questions you have for Jared Yates Sexton.
— LMO
WATCH Prof. Jared Yates Sexton, Associate Professor, Writing and Linguistics, Georgia Southern University-Statesboro – LIVE – Thursday, January 13, 2022, 8 pm ET, on the TruthWorks Network YouTube channel, when he joins the PREMIERE of “If America Fails?: The Coming Tyranny,” in discussion on democracy as seen in The Handmaid’s Tale and threats to America’s system.
“Narcissism. Sexism. Consumerism and technological fetishism. The cult of media and the rot of war. In his third collection of stories, Jared Yates Sexton turns his eye to the ravages of the American Disease with twenty-five of his wildest and most experimental pieces. Told in raving mad prose fit for these savage times, Sexton skewers every sacred cow in an attempt to diagnose the sickness of Now.” — Publisher
“Jared Yates Sexton has written a collection of stories that is of its time. It paints contemporary America as a flawed society, one beset by the lack of free will, intelligence, and a respect for the self, the environment, and culture at large. I Am the Oil of the Engine of the World succeeds not only because its author challenges his own aesthetics but because the book dares to examine the maladies of this contemporary era with honesty and a bit of humor; the results are, at times, unsettling but always exceptional.” — Brian Seeman, Necessary Fiction
Jared Yates Sexton is the author of three nonfiction books – The People Are Going To Rise Like The Waters Upon Your Shore: A Story of American Rage, The Man They Wanted Me to Be: Toxic Masculinity and a Crisis of Our Making, and American Rule: How A Nation Conquered the World But Failed Its People – as well as four works of fiction. He co-hosts The Muckrake Political Podcast with Nick Hauselnan, has a newsletter on Substack, live streams from YouTube, and is Associate Professor of Writing and Linguistics at Georgia Southern University-Statesboro. Sexton has gone undercover into the fascist world and documented the 2016 Presidential Election, gaining himself a national profile after a tweet on the campaign went viral. His political writing has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The New Republic, Politico, and Salon.com, and he is a strong voice warning Americans on threats to democracy. He is now working on a new book. — If America Fails: The Coming Tyranny, a TruthWorks Network Production
CONTACT US “If America Fails?: The Coming Tyranny” for access to the Zoom chatroom—L. Michelle Odom, Senior Producer
LMOdom@OurCommonGround.com or TWN@TruthWorksNetwork.com
Watch Thursdays, 8 pm ET, January 13 to April 7, 2022, on the TruthWorks Network YouTube Channel. All Are Welcome!
READ | I Am The Oil Of The Engine Of The World | by Jared Yates Sexton | Fiction| Split Lip Press | 2/23/2016
If America Fails? 