Just how good is he?

Never mind the misogyny and homophobia, Eminem is a brilliant poet. As the controversial rapper heads for Britain, Giles Foden explains why he belongs in the pantheon of literary greats.

The man is in town this week, and on the Nokia message board they’re asking, „Does anyone know how to get Stan as a ringer tone?“ Which is all very postmodern and interesting, since the hit song overtly references the brave new world of telecommunications: „Dear Slim, I wrote you but you still ain’t callin‘ / I left my cell, my pager, and my home phone at the bottom . . .“

… But who is he, really? Like the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, with his quiverful of pseudonyms, like the coy Eliot of Prufrock, or Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself – „Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes)“, Eminem is a multiple, elusive experience, one that folds about itself like his near-palindromic name (from Marshall Mathers: M ’n‘ M). / Giles Foden Tuesday February 6, 2001 The Guardian