Poetry. "Reading travel literature—not to mention postcards or emails from your friends—will never be the same after reading Ara Shirinyan's hilarious and sardonic YOUR COUNTRY IS GREAT: AFGHANISTAN-GUYANA. Proceeding alphabetically and hence giving equal time to nations as diverse as Belarus and Belgium, Cameroon and Canada, and splicing found text to produce capsule descriptions of one 'great' place to visit after another, Shirinyan exposes the fault lines of contemporary geopolitics with much wit and aplomb"—Marjorie Perloff. "Ara Shirinyan gives us an early glimpse at the deadening effects of globalization on language. Collapsing the space between the 'real world' and the World Wide Web, this book calls into question: What is local? What is national? What is multicultural? Instead of accepting current notions of language as a medium of differentiation, Shirinyan persuasively demonstrates its leveling quality, demolishing meaning into a puddle of platitudes. In a time when everything is great, yet nothing is great, you can almost hear Andy Warhol—the king of blandness and neutrality—saying, 'Gee, this book is great.'"—Kenneth Goldsmith

Your Country Is Great: Afghanistan-Guyana

Literature & Fiction

Shirinyan, Ara

Poetry

Futurepoem Books

Poetry. "At globalizing his art, Ara Shirinyan beats Walt Disney hands down. In this dazzling debut, Shirinyan takes post-conceptual poetics to new borders beyond the scope of US pop culture and media, and into the purloined hills and desserts of any language as English, as fodder for reframing: 'vulgar ideas, cultural purity, nation, etc.' This is a terrain where 'striktly confidentially' gulags share the global stage with a long list of Soviet poet blurbs. In the end, Shirinyan reminds us: "You have an interest in history. You cannot miss Syria. Syria has monuments.' Indeed, Syria is in the World, and so is Ara Shirinyan...welcome aboard!"--Rob Fitterman.

Syria Is in the World

Palm Press

Poetry. "While office supply products and tropical fish might at first thought seem to have nothing to do with one another, once side by side they reveal the interconnections between global acquisitions, multinational capital, and environmental destruction"--Juliana Spahr. Shirinyan's previous books include SYRIA IS IN THE WORLD and YOUR COUNTRY IS GREAT, both available from SPD.

Handsome Fish Offices

Insert Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Shirinyan, Ara. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Shirinyan, Ara

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Shirinyan, Ara. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Your Country Is Great: Afghanistan-Guyana

Syria Is in the World

Handsome Fish Offices