OK, I'll bite!

[imomus]

During a thundery week in late July two Finns called Jenna Sutela and Paavo Lehtonen interviewed and photographed me for a new web entity called OK DO, a "socially-minded design think tank".



Our talk, entitled Dance around the subject – Momus on place and the creative process, is the lead article on the OK DO website, which launched on Friday. I'm smiling inside, but fierce black rabbit Pok is the cover star!

Comments

Laugh Tears

[jdcasten.livejournal.com]

Curious about the Lukács book in the background. I’ve been thinking about “reification” lately. I’m not sure how deluded a “class” of people can be about their “reality” (I’m also not sure the “poor will always be with us,” but I’m pretty sure someone with a drudgery of a job knows when they’re being exploited, are not usually deceived about their political interests, and can be pulled into revolution by less than a loaf of bread held just out of reach).

BTW: I’m 30 pages into “The Book of Jokes.” Although I’m a slow reader, the short chapters fly by fast; so far the dark hilarity has got me laughing quite a few times—this novel could prove a pain in the side: a bellyache from laughing, if not a heartache from crying!

My novella is available free online (as well as at Amazon.com), but I’m afraid I’d have to pay people to read it:

http://postdigitalrevelation.casten.info/PostDigitalRevelation.pdf

Re: Laugh Tears

[imomus.livejournal.com]

The Lukács book is Writer and Critic, a selection of his essays on literature from the 30s and 40s. I open it at random and read the sentence: "While working on Madame Bovary, Flaubert complained repeatedly that his novel failed to provide entertainment."

We learn later why this was so: "Flaubert confused life with the everyday existence of the ordinary bourgeois". Flaubert "complained unceasingly and passionately of the boredom, pettiness and repugnance of the bourgeois subject-matter he was forced to depict. During his work on each bourgeois novel he swore never again to occupy himself with such filth."

Re: Laugh Tears

[(Anonymous)]

Trying to figure out how this squares with Lukacs' take on Mann being the consummate bourgeois author. Something to do with Mann actually enjoying capturing such an early modern German zeitgeist?

Re: Laugh Tears

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know if I can hold down 100 pages of what does indeed look tougher than Finnegans Wake. But I am drawn to try.

Re: Laugh Tears

[jdcasten.livejournal.com]

Thanks! – Perhaps the table of contents was necessary for clarity; “Post-Digital Revelation” becomes less chaotic as it progresses—chapter 5 is probably the most accessible.

“Finnegans Wake” became more interesting for me when I started following trails of associated word constellations (via a concordance):

http://tr.im/finwakcr