Foto CC by Oblivious Dude

Der Amerikaner Chuck Klosterman lehrt an der Leipziger Universität Populärkultur des 20. Jahrhunderts. Das dies Balsam für die von trockenen Lehrplänen gequälten Studentenseelen sein muss, kann sich jeder Mensch denken, der schon einmal den wachen Geist während eines Schnarchseminars simulieren musste. Mr. Klosterman gewann jedenfalls für sein Lehrangebot so viele Interessenten, dass er sich schleunigst ein Auswahlkriterium für die künftigen Teilnehmer ausdenken musste. Ein Essay sollte es sein und das Thema Who do you consider the most interesting twentieth-century American – not necessarily the most historically important, but the individual you find most personally compelling? Hier mein persönliches Best of der herrlichen Ergebnisse:

* Michael Jackson had more essays written about him than anyone else, which didn’t shock me. What did surprise me was how sympathetically he is viewed: The general consensus seems to be that Jackson is an eccentric, philanthropic genius whose nation has turned against him, possibly due to racist motives. However, they do assume he’s a child molester. Europeans are open-minded in unorthodox ways. […]
* Kurt Cobain was not selected by anyone. Dave Grohl, however, was. Cobain was also referenced – somewhat negatively – in a paper focused on Taylor Hanson. […]
* There was a female student who selected Jared Leto. I must admit – I did not see this one coming. He is perceived as a triple threat of acting, music, and environmental awareness (apparently, his tour bus runs on vegetable oil). Another girl selected Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, although part of her argument may have been that Thomas was born on a German military base in 1972. […]
* Someone selected Ryan Adams. This made me happy for two reasons. The first is that I suspect Adams is something of an underrated semi-genius, and I like the fact that he’s more appreciated in places where nobody cares whether or not Paul Westerberg hates him. The other reason is that I think there’s probably a 98 percent likelihood that Ryan Adams will read this sentence, put down the magazine, walk over to his four-track, and immediately write a psychedelic country song titled “Hey Little Leipzig Girl (I’m Glad You Dug Those Whiskeytown Bootlegs),” which I will be able to listen to on the Internet forty minutes from right now.
* Perhaps the most provocative essay argued for a tie between Ernest Hemingway and O. J. Simpson. The author’s point seemed to be that Hemingway was “not the typical American,” but that Simpson sort of was.

Klostermans gesamten Artikel und seine Erkenntnisse aus dem kleinen Versuch, einen most interesting twentieth-century American zu finden, bekommt ihr hier.