Blind Items
Conceptual Plagiarism
What if someone made a book by plagiarizing the newspaper; then six years later someone came along and made a book by plagiarizing that first plagiarism? Answer:
Day by Kenneth Goldsmith (The Figures, 2003)
From the “Author”:
“I am spending my 39th year practicing uncreativity. On Friday, September 1, 2000, I began retyping the day’s NEW YORK TIMES word for word, letter for letter, from the upper left hand corner to the lower right hand corner, page by page.” With these words, Kenneth Goldsmith embarked upon a project which he termed “uncreative writing”, that is: uncreativity as a constraint-based process; uncreativity as a creative practice. By typing page upon page, making no distinction between article, editorial and advertisement, disregarding all typographic and graphical treatments, Goldsmith levels the daily newspaper. DAY is a monument to the ephemeral, comprised of yesterday’s news, a fleeting moment concretized, captured, then reframed into the discourse of literature. “When I reach 40, I hope to have cleansed myself of all creativity.”
Day by Kent Johnson (BlazeVox, 2009)
From the “Author”:
What he said.
Tags: kenneth goldsmith, plaigarism
I like Kent Johnson’s work a lot. I think.
I like Kent Johnson’s work a lot. I think.
congrats Kent!
congrats Kent!
These two bozos deserve each other.
Is there really nothing else these companies could be publishing?
It reminds me of that Borges story.
It reminds me of that Borges story.
[…] As if waking up isn’t a pain in the ass enough, I have to wake up to this question via HTML Giant: “What if someone made a book by plagiarizing the newspaper; then six years later someone came along a…“ […]
i’m kind of into this and yet also kind of totally not going to buy it
i’m kind of into this and yet also kind of totally not going to buy it
perfect.
Absolutely fucking perfect.
Someone give me some money to buy it with please. I want to make the editions fight each other (Godzilla versus Mothra)
perfect.
Absolutely fucking perfect.
Someone give me some money to buy it with please. I want to make the editions fight each other (Godzilla versus Mothra)
from the blazeVOX site:
“All copies come with specially designed, affixed stickers (on cover, back cover, title page, spine, etc.) to impart authorship, copyright, blurbs, and co-production.”
That’s rich.
from the blazeVOX site:
“All copies come with specially designed, affixed stickers (on cover, back cover, title page, spine, etc.) to impart authorship, copyright, blurbs, and co-production.”
That’s rich.
I like Kent Johnson’s work a lot. I think.
I like Kent Johnson’s work a lot. I think.
Goldsmith asked for this. I did like Sports, though, but that’s only because I like listening to sports talk radio on my transistor radio every night in bed while I try and will myself away from sleep, because you never know, tonight could be the night you go to sleep and never wake up. A think a healthy dose of infinite regress is in order here, with Goldsmith’s next book being Kent Johnson’s Day by Kennth Goldsmith, followed by Kenneth Goldsmith’s Kent Johnson’s Day by Kent Johnson, and so on, until these two jokers have painted themselves into a conceptual corner so tight that the only means of escape is death. On a lighter note, I’ve been waiting for years for someone to re-type Catcher in the Rye and slap their name on it, calling it J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye by [Your Name Here]. Or maybe someone can re-type Catcher with one change: turn it into a close third person and change the main character’s name to Mark David Chapman. That would be fun. Probably have to wait till that old coot kicks, though. He’s more litigous than a Milton Katselas acting class.
Goldsmith asked for this. I did like Sports, though, but that’s only because I like listening to sports talk radio on my transistor radio every night in bed while I try and will myself away from sleep, because you never know, tonight could be the night you go to sleep and never wake up. A think a healthy dose of infinite regress is in order here, with Goldsmith’s next book being Kent Johnson’s Day by Kennth Goldsmith, followed by Kenneth Goldsmith’s Kent Johnson’s Day by Kent Johnson, and so on, until these two jokers have painted themselves into a conceptual corner so tight that the only means of escape is death. On a lighter note, I’ve been waiting for years for someone to re-type Catcher in the Rye and slap their name on it, calling it J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye by [Your Name Here]. Or maybe someone can re-type Catcher with one change: turn it into a close third person and change the main character’s name to Mark David Chapman. That would be fun. Probably have to wait till that old coot kicks, though. He’s more litigous than a Milton Katselas acting class.
wow. rad.
wow. rad.
Shouldn’t this be on stupid.com?
Shouldn’t this be on stupid.com?
You can check out Kent’s original post on this at digital emuction. He’s been blogging up a storm (heh) for us there recently, so check his other posts, too.
You can check out Kent’s original post on this at digital emuction. He’s been blogging up a storm (heh) for us there recently, so check his other posts, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Menard,_Author_of_the_Quixote
This has already been satirized by Borges, 60+ years in advance, as pointed out by Michael
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Menard,_Author_of_the_Quixote
This has already been satirized by Borges, 60+ years in advance, as pointed out by Michael
Well, I’d submit that if you read “Pierre Menard” as a satire, you’re missing the point of the story entirely, which has nothing to do with Kent’s point, and (meta alert) everything to do with the fact that the exact same thing—book, conceptual gesture—can mean different things in different contexts. I.e., it’s a parable about reading.
Well, I’d submit that if you read “Pierre Menard” as a satire, you’re missing the point of the story entirely, which has nothing to do with Kent’s point, and (meta alert) everything to do with the fact that the exact same thing—book, conceptual gesture—can mean different things in different contexts. I.e., it’s a parable about reading.
Gross.
Gross.
Well, I’ve read them both and I have to say I prefer Kent’s.
Well, I’ve read them both and I have to say I prefer Kent’s.
youre an idiot
youre an idiot