Real jazz and Real people

Following Steven Sherman’s essay on the politics of rap last month, Robert Greenwood looks at the mythology of jazz, arguing we should value it for its life-affirming aesthetic qualities rather than spurious ‘authenticity’. In this week’s other essay, Rob Weatherill takes an in depth look at Slavoj Žižek’s Violence, considering the idea that humanity is essentially violent, not because we are like animals, but precisely to the extent that we are civilised (and ethical). Meanwhile, Hamish Todd reviews a film about a woman and her dog.

5 June 2009