Ken Baumann

http://kenbaumann.com

I'm the author of the novels Solip, Say, Cut, Map, The Country, and The City. I've also written the nonfiction books EarthBound and Eat the Flowers. I'm currently publishing my novel A Task via Kickstarter in order to have an hourlong conversation with each of its first thousand readers. For a decade I published books through Sator Press, and for a decade I acted in film and television; now I help students at St. John's College. More info: kenbaumann.com.

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Author Spotlight / 14 Comments
October 16th, 2009 / 8:55 pm

The tools (as usual) are neutral. It’s up to us to insist that onscreen reading enhance, not replace, traditional book reading. It’s up to us to remember that the medium is not the message; that the meaning and music of the words is what matters, not the glitzy vehicle they arrive in.

from David Gerlenter, in this presentation: Does the Brain Like E-Books?

Our Marketing Plan.

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Power Quote: Roland Barthes

True, there are revolts against bourgeois ideology.  This is what one generally calls the avant-garde.  But these revolts are socially limited, they remain open to salvage.  First, because they come from a small section of the bourgeoisie itself, from a minority group of artists and intellectuals, without public other than the class which they contest, and who remain dependent on its money in order to express themselves.  Then, these revolts always get their inspiration from a very strongly made distinction between the ethically and the politically bourgeois: what the avant-garde contests is the bourgeois in art or morals–the shop-keeper, the Philistine, as in the heyday of Romanticism; but as for political contestation, there is none.*  What the avant-garde does not tolerate about the bourgeoisie is its language, not its status.  This does not necessarily mean that it approves of this status; simply, it leaves it aside.  Whatever the violence of the provocation, the nature it finally endorses is that of ‘derelict’ man, not alienated man; and derelict man is still Eternal Man.

*It is remarkable that the adversaries of the bourgeoisie on matters of ethics or aesthetics remain for the most part indifferent, or even attached, to its political determinations.  Conversely, its political adversaries neglect to issue a basic condemnation of its representations: they often go so far as to share them.  This diversity of attacks benefits the bourgeoisie, it allows it to camouflage its name.  For the bourgeoisie should be understood only as synthesis of its determinations and its representations.

Mythologies, page 139-140

Power Quote / 30 Comments
October 11th, 2009 / 4:32 pm

Movies are remade all the time.  Why not books?

Ectecera

Hustler

Seth Harwood is a hustler.

He’s so knowledgeable about podcasting, video-posting, eBook-pricing,  iPhone-apping and what is now called (nostalgically by everyone but me) “the Amazon Rush” that I wanted to run the other way.

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The Goldberg Variations Variations: ‘an audio work that simultaneously plays ten different synchronized recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations BMV 988. The beginning of each variation is synched, but after the first note, the performances fall out of step due to the differences in their tempos.’  Beautiful.

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Random / 4 Comments
October 8th, 2009 / 3:14 am

Unfortunately, making physically nice books will only be a niche within a niche. Publishers are more likely to resort to expedients like selling autographed copies, or editions with the buyer’s picture on the cover.

from Post-Medium Publishing.

Thoughts?