Three Uses of the Knife
David Mamet
(Methuen, £12.99)
Mamet, a master of snappy, brutal dialogue, is a prose writer of lapidary concision. Topics in this collection of three essays "On the Nature and Purpose of Drama" range from chat about the weather to baseball, the Information Age and the structure of myth. But does a gifted dramatist necessarily hold true opinions about drama? Let's see. Mamet claims early on that the purpose of art is not to "enlighten" but to "delight", with which one might guardedly concur. Near the end, however, he states: "The cleansing lesson of the drama is, at its highest, the worthlessness of reason." Well, that might be the "cleansing" lesson of some drama - if being rational really makes you feel dirty - but of "the drama" in general? Probably not. Like many screenwriters, Mamet regards Aristotle's descriptions of Athenian tragedy with superstitious awe. The most illuminating opinion might be this one: "I think Brecht is a great playwright. I think his theoretical writing is somewhat problematic." Yep: you too.
Culture of Fear
Frank Furedi
(Continuum, £14.99)
This man certainly doesn't think reason is filth; if only, he laments, we had more of it. Then we (Anglo-American culture) wouldn't be so stressed by meaningless health scares. Furedi shows that, just as we are objectively safer and healthier than ever before, so we are more alarmed by the "theoretical risks" that purportedly attach to the MMR vaccine, mobile phones, long-haul air travel, genetically modified food and so on. The idea that one can take charge of one's own life now elicits knowing sniggers; "the new role models are those who can suffer" (Elizabeth Wurtzel ahoy). A provocative final chapter takes issue with our shiny new consumer-activist politics for its alleged cynical elitism. "It is worth noting that the sensitivity of ministers to consumer lobbying stands in sharp contrast to the relative failure of more traditional interest groups like trade unions to win concessions from the government," Furedi notes, all innocence.
Ain't It Cool?: Kicking Hollywood's Butt
Harry Knowles
(Boxtree, £12.99)
Harry Knowles is the man behind www.aintitcoolnews.com, a source of Tinseltown gossip and film previews. This book combines ho-hum analyses of the film industry ("entertainment journalism serves the studios, and not the other way around" - you don't say?) with pops at soft targets such as Joe Eszterhas. There is not enough of the website's wit, and too much navel-gazing narrative about how little ol' (actually big ol') college-dropout movie-geek Harry set up his little website and eventually got named in a list of the "Top 100 Most Powerful People in Hollywood". Turning websites into books is the latest wheeze dreamed up by the evil geniuses of publishing, but don't let them fool you. Online, for now at least, it's still free.
