The Punk Art of Failure: The Mekons and Ideology

The Punk Art of Failure

- Halberstam on Trainspotting: a "classic punk novel… about failure, disappointment, addiction and violence” full of "moments of punk negativity that point, in their own snarling way, to the implicit politics of failure” (90).

- She's not really down with Trainspotting, ultimately, because it's still “far too hetero-masculine in its simple reversals of masculine authority” (92) for the scope of her project.

- BUT, the connection she makes brings up what I see as the deep theoretical link between her description of "the queer art of failure" and the project of punk rock.

- Both are invested in resistance through aesthetic and economic failure.

- But then, what's the deal with punk rock?

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