STORIES II: A REVIEW, AN ESSAY BY THE AUTHOR AND A STORY FROM THE BOOK
Scott McClanahan is from West Virginia, which, as he has to explain to another person in STORIES II, is not just a part of Virginia, but an entire state of its own.
Sam Pink—
new ROBOT MELON up. issue ten. (click on the N in ROBOT MELON when you get to the main page (i didn’t put the link for issue ten up because now the link will take you to the main page and you might decide that you want to read all of the issues)).
6
Sam Pink—
new e-book at artistically declined press. written by ja tyler. WHEN WE MAKE OUR DINOSAUR.
HOW TO DO THINGS WITH WORDS, LECTURE 1
This is the first post concerning the book HOW TO DO THINGS WITH WORDS. The book contains twelve lectures, delivered at Harvard University by JL Austin on the nature of language. The importance of these lectures is, to me, the uncovering of language as a particular kind of instrument between people, and how literal meaning is not the only use of language.
HOW TO DO THINGS WITH WORDS
this is john austin
one of the most important books to me is HOW TO DO THINGS WITH WORDS by j.l. austin. it is a book about language and how certain utterances transcend the simple description of things or the world. after reading this book, it is easier to understand other people and the import of certain conversations. the book is based on lectures austin gave at, i think, harvard university. i am going to read it for a third time and try to provide a summary and critique of each lecture in the upcoming weeks. if you a familiar with language philosophy, performative utterances or how derrida has used these theories to augment his own, feel free to help me. the main thrust of the book is that in addition to describing things (constative language, or “my shirt is red.”), language can also produce realities. for instance, when saying “i do” at a wedding, if applied to the right person, in the right situation, with no obstacles denaturing the situation, an effect is produced by the utterance. forgiveness is another example. i think many of the ideas in the book could be applied to comment threads here. for instance, if i call someone a “dipshit” in a comment thread, on account of not knowing the correct placement of a comma, and then i apologize, i have used a “behabitive” utterance. a behabitive characterizes behavioral responses. in the moment i apologize, i place myself and the other person in a situation which can either be, according to austin, not true or false, but “felicitous” or “infelicitous” based on the correct execution. my apology must be worded in such a way as to signify true regret, i must not be sarcastic, i must not whisper it quietly or not type it, and the other person must accept it, etc. i can’t remember if i wrote a post on this before, but i will try to do it more in depth here. i think this kind of book is really helpful for dealing with other people, as it uncovers the unstated context for many “language games.” thanks for reading this.
Sam Pink—
there’s a good interview with scott mcclanahan at WORD RIOT. scott has another book coming out from six gallery press, called STORIES 2. i am getting a review copy soon and will interview/review. here is a line from the interview at WORD RIOT:
(in reference to his home, west virginia)–”This is a place where arm-wrestling still has some kind of cultural importance.”
CONTEST
To celebrate the release of his book, “Sex Dungeon for Sale!”, Patrick Wensink is holding a coloring contest. He had a series of illustrations created based on some of the book’s stories, including a Kindergartener who thinks he’s French, a puddle of ketchup shaped like Elvis and something called, “Chicken Soup for the Kidnapper’s Soul.”
To raise the stakes a little, he is also offering an autographed stack of some of his favorite books of 2009 to the winner.
Fool- By Christopher Moore
AM/PM – By Amelia Gray
Tales Designed to Thrizzle – by Michael Kupperman
Help! A Bear is Eating Me! – By Mykle Hansen
The contest ends December 14.
For all the details visit www.patrickwensink.com/randomness
Sam Pink—
also, i know who the editors are. the editors are all the good little children around the world.
INTERVIEW WITH GREG GERKE
Greg Gerke is the author of THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH SVEN. His website is www.greggerke.com. He answered some questions I sent him, mostly about flash fiction, though some are about being a real life human being. Interview after break.
Sam Pink—
they started filming noah cicero’s THE HUMAN WAR. you can follow the filming on this site. i have a review copy of noah’s next book THE INSURGENT and i will be reviewing it soon.
INTERVIEW WITH WARM MILK PRESS EDITORS
this is an interview with the editors of WARM MILK PRESS, ben spivey, jennifer whitley, and kyle whitley. their first title is MUSUEM OF FUCKED, by david peak, and can be pre-ordered now. interview after break.
Sam Pink—
HERE IS AN OFFER FROM MUD LUSCIOUS PRESS:
fuck black friday. free mlp. email author@aboutjatyler with a mailing address & we will send some mlp your way. enjoy.
best,
j. a. tyler
BOOK REVIEW
Uncategorized / 18 Comments
November 24th, 2009 / 11:55 pm
November 24th, 2009 / 11:55 pm
INTERVIEW WITH JORDAN CASTRO AND RICHARD WEHRENBERG JR.
Jordan Castro and Richard Wehrenberg Jr. have just released a split chapbook of their poetry, called THINK TANK FOR HUMAN BEINGS IN GENERAL. They answered some questions and here they are. I did them in split format as tribute to the chapbook’s structure. Interview after break.
INTERVIEW WITH MOLLY GAUDRY
Molly Gaudry is the author of We Take Me Apart (ml press, 2009). Here is an excerpt of the book. Molly is an editor for Keyhole, Willows Wept Review, Twelve Stories, and a contributor for Big Other. She has a face, and hair and fingers, and a place to live and probably a personal computer. Here is an interview I conducted with her:
Sam Pink—
you can read a new noah cicero book in its entirety on his blog. it’s called BEST BEHAVIOR.
Sam Pink—
hell yeah. noah cicero’s THE HUMAN WAR is going to be made into a movie. here’s an interesting post explaining his view on the book as it has aged.
Sam Pink—
do you ever consider the amount of time spent on a work as contributing to the quality (quality not necessarily meaning good or bad but characteristic) of a piece of writing (your own or otherwise)? meaning, is there any additional consideration to be made about a piece of writing, other than nominally, if the amount of time spent on its creation is known? or does that knowledge only refer to generalizations made about other qualities supposedly consequent to time? and if amount of time is considered to impact anything, doesn’t then the use of time become unclear? i can imagine shorter periods of time, while usually referenced as evidence of laziness, to be better for a piece in that it more fully allows one state of mind to dominate and avoid paranoia. paranoia of course, would then be the negative result of a longer period of time spent on a piece of writing, whereas most would reference longer time as evidence of hardwork. i think some of the same mentalities are applied to other bare facts like age, level of schooling et cetera. go phillies.
