Popular music and cultural critic Greil Marcus will give a public lecture Thursday, Feb. 19, at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
In the lecture, titled 聯Prophecy in the American Voice -- John Winthrop, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. and Allen Ginsberg,聰 Marcus will address the prophetic strain in American political rhetoric.
The talk, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Old Main Chapel, is free and open to the public.
Best known for his work as a popular music critic, Marcus also has written extensively on literature, art, movies and politics.
His acclaimed books include 聯Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 聭n聮 Roll Music聰 (1975, 4th revised edition 1995), 聯Dead Elvis: A Chronicle of a Cultural Obsession聰 (1991), 聯Ranters and Crowd Pleasers: Punk in Pop Music, 1977-1992聰 (1993) and 聯Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan聮s Basement Tapes聰 (1997).
Marcus, who lives in Berkeley, Calif., also has worked as an editor, columnist and staff writer with a number of newspapers and magazines since the late 1960s, including Rolling Stone, Artforum and Village Voice. He has published articles and essays with journals such as Representations, Esquire, Threepenny Review and Der Spiegel.
In addition to his voluminous critical writing, Marcus is a highly regarded public speaker. He has never previously given a talk at CU-Boulder.
The lecture and a 3-hour seminar with Marcus for students and faculty are sponsored by the American Studies Program and the President聮s Fund for the Humanities.