July 16th, 2009 / 6:39 pm
Uncategorized

LITERATURE

a man named court merrigan emailed me a few days ago and asked me to comment on his blog, in a post about twitter, because he knew i had started a twitter website where made up accounts are maintained. i am interested in what other people think. i am not trying to get an argument going or whatever, i just think it would interest me to hear from other people. the tone of the comments seems to change by the last one and i don’t know why people get so defensive. but whatever, i am interested in hearing from other people. here is the article and the comment thread that followed is after the break.

# sam pink Says:
Wednesday, 15 July, 2009 at 18:42

“sure dude. i will reply. twitter 666 is an attempt to entertain people not provide them with whatever literature is. i remember thinking of the idea in somewhat the same way i started a blog. it was the idea that you could now do whatever you wanted, in terms of publishing your own shit, and yet people still seemed to be using it uniformly. as much as i like to read that someone just washed hands or whatever, i thought, “it would be funny to here what happens to a big sandwich.” that was the first account we started, “a big sandwich.” the rest were ideas either we had or other people volunteered. i like the internet because it allows you to do whatever you want, which means some people will think that’s bad, since it allows anything, and those who think it is good, since it allows things to get through that might normally not be accepted by an editor. i agree with the aphorism thing you were talking about, except that it doesn’t matter what medium you have access to, you can do whatever you want with it. like, smaller pieces of paper are always available, less web space is always available…the main aspect of twitter that i like, in terms of creating fake accounts, is that, like for instance, “instant messenger,” it has a built in device of point of view. like, in instant messaging, we can imagine two people having the conversation, so you dont have to worry about setting up an environment. it’s just fun to read. same with twitter, you already have the perspective once you create the account. the main reason behind the journal, is to entertain people. sometimes when i feel like shit i am happy that other people have written things for me to read. i hope this is an ok comment dude. thanks for the opportunity. bye.”

# courtmerrigan Says:
Wednesday, 15 July, 2009 at 18:52

“You are more than welcome, Sam. Responding in world-record time, too (at least on my blogs – I’m accustomed to waiting days and days to hear back from folks).

It hadn’t occurred to me that there’s a built-in perspective in tweeting, at least from a fake account. That’s probably because my thinking about lit is marooned in, well, the sort of picture I posted above, the “future” of lit being lots of nice-smelling books from the past. Like I said, you’re onto something. Although if you don’t necessarily know what it is, I clearly don’t, either.

Probably I shouldn’t take literature so goddamnawful serious all the time. Thanks for inserting some useful levity, Sam.”

# Brad Green Says:
Wednesday, 15 July, 2009 at 19:42

“I read recently about an author that is releasing his “literary” fiction novel on twitter. Dr. Mrinal Bose over at http://awritinggeek.blogspot.com/ mentioned it and has a link, I believe, to a story about it. I’m not sure how such a thing will work. Seems like it would promote discontinuity, but perhaps it’s a postmodern novel.”

# Donigan Says:
Thursday, 16 July, 2009 at 06:35

“One definition of anybody can do anything they want is anarchy. There are probably people who think of anarchy as a pleasant way to get through life. There are probably people who think that ultimately anarchy renders everything meaningless, or valueless. And there are probably people who don’t mind if everything is meaningless, and value is a nonsense word. There’s something for everyone.

I find that my problem with the chaotic and valueless life is one of limited time, and the desire to spend one’s time, my time, in pursuit of things I do value. Let’s suppose human life is not terminal, that we live infinitely. Then, there is time for everything and anything and in limitless variety. But instead, we get something less than a hundred years, which is to me, in the great limitless structure of time, the real equivalent of the lifespan of a snowflake falling into a flame. So I am careful and considerate about how I spend my minutes and hours and days. My problem with the chaos of anarchy is simply that I do not have the time it takes to meander through the morass of it all in search of something of value. Of value to me, of course.

I have elsewhere used the metaphor of seeking a pearl at the bottom of an ocean and having to go through each water molecule on the way.

Then there is this twittering thing. I rarely come across it, but do, it seems, more and more often. This mystifies me. Is there anyone who could possibly care, outside of your mother maybe, what you ate for breakfast? That you are at the moment listening to a rave? That little Johnny got an A on his report card? The utter narcissism of this is astounding.

I suppose everyone now knows about the “novel” written as text messages on a cell phone that is a big hit in Japan? Of course, another current big hit in Japan is a little pink bunny that turns flips when you clap your hands.

My thinking is marooned in literature, philosophy, music, graphic arts, and wine. I hope I don’t always take literature so seriously, but I do wish more people even know what it is, and what it isn’t.”

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19 Comments

  1. drew

      literature doesn’t have to be serious, does it?

      i mean, from everything i read above, apparently it does.

      twitter666 feeds are literature, goddamnit.

  2. drew

      literature doesn’t have to be serious, does it?

      i mean, from everything i read above, apparently it does.

      twitter666 feeds are literature, goddamnit.

  3. Nathan (Nate) Tyree

      Aren’t comic novels literature? What of A Confederacy of Dunces or The Enderby books? Surely we don’t have to take ourselves so seriously that our asses pucker into anal singularities. I’m proud to contribute to Sam’s twitter journal. Possibly I make someone smile from time to time, and thinking that I do makes my day a little better.

  4. Nathan (Nate) Tyree

      Aren’t comic novels literature? What of A Confederacy of Dunces or The Enderby books? Surely we don’t have to take ourselves so seriously that our asses pucker into anal singularities. I’m proud to contribute to Sam’s twitter journal. Possibly I make someone smile from time to time, and thinking that I do makes my day a little better.

  5. Court

      Hello Sam, et al, the problem I think Donigan and others like have with twitter666 and suchlike is the perceived frivolity of it. This is coming straight out of the Moby Dick School of Literature, wherein GREAT literature must be DEADLY SERIOUS. I confess that this is my default position, as well. However. ButI part ways with the ultra-serious:

      1) there’s a whole comic tradition of literature – who could deny the greatness of the absurdist Tristram Shandy, written almost before any serious novel had been, and certainly before the grim calvinism with which a disportionate proportion of American literature is seriously engraved, to say nothing of Pnin and the Vonneguts and Hellers and the Confederacy mentioned above, etc.;
      2) Twitter, for christ’s sake, is barely even a year old – is it even a year old? So lit that comes out of it could hardly be said to have reached its mature form yet.

      I happen to have a thing for aphorisms, that is what attracts me to Twitter in the first place, and why I wanted to check out Sam Pink’s satan-themed thingy. For a long time I held a similar view of blogging that Donigan evidently holds of twittering – but then I realized that blogging has all kinds of potential beyond narcissitic navel-gazing, and I think the same potentially holds true for Twitter.

      Especially in light of how much lit is migrating and will continue to migrate to the net, which is as yet is barely a decade-old technology in its own right (as far as literature goes, I mean). As I rather sloppily tried to indicate in my post, web-lit is at something of a cave-painting phase. Who knows where it’s going? None of us, that’s for sure. But at least we get to be here at the beginning.

      @drew, I don’t think twitter666 is literature, quite yet, but it could be. And so it is interesting.

      @ Nathan, you made me smile, at least, especially now that I’ve shed my Mask of Seriousness.

      Sam, I tried to subscribe to twitter666. Couldn’t figure it out. Is there some trick I’m missing?

  6. Court

      Hello Sam, et al, the problem I think Donigan and others like have with twitter666 and suchlike is the perceived frivolity of it. This is coming straight out of the Moby Dick School of Literature, wherein GREAT literature must be DEADLY SERIOUS. I confess that this is my default position, as well. However. ButI part ways with the ultra-serious:

      1) there’s a whole comic tradition of literature – who could deny the greatness of the absurdist Tristram Shandy, written almost before any serious novel had been, and certainly before the grim calvinism with which a disportionate proportion of American literature is seriously engraved, to say nothing of Pnin and the Vonneguts and Hellers and the Confederacy mentioned above, etc.;
      2) Twitter, for christ’s sake, is barely even a year old – is it even a year old? So lit that comes out of it could hardly be said to have reached its mature form yet.

      I happen to have a thing for aphorisms, that is what attracts me to Twitter in the first place, and why I wanted to check out Sam Pink’s satan-themed thingy. For a long time I held a similar view of blogging that Donigan evidently holds of twittering – but then I realized that blogging has all kinds of potential beyond narcissitic navel-gazing, and I think the same potentially holds true for Twitter.

      Especially in light of how much lit is migrating and will continue to migrate to the net, which is as yet is barely a decade-old technology in its own right (as far as literature goes, I mean). As I rather sloppily tried to indicate in my post, web-lit is at something of a cave-painting phase. Who knows where it’s going? None of us, that’s for sure. But at least we get to be here at the beginning.

      @drew, I don’t think twitter666 is literature, quite yet, but it could be. And so it is interesting.

      @ Nathan, you made me smile, at least, especially now that I’ve shed my Mask of Seriousness.

      Sam, I tried to subscribe to twitter666. Couldn’t figure it out. Is there some trick I’m missing?

  7. PHM

      This Donigan cat sounds like one of the last gasps of the dying generation.

      Twitter wasn’t originally intended for people to use for promotion of things. Its purpose really is for your mom or your sister or your best friend or whoever to know what you’re up to. It creates an ambient sense of what the people you care about are doing. People have built up from the original concept of that, sure, but getting all mad about it like that is probably dumb.

      Anarchy and chaos are not synonymous, either, but that’s of course an entirely different discussion. All anarchy means, though, is a society without a king or rulers. The internet is very much and has been for several years a society without rulership. They’re trying to defeat that but ultimately the user will win no matter what happens. But for a thing that was originally invented for intellectuals to share papers more easily between institutions, it’s come quite a damn way.

      I think this thing about limited time is sort of defeatist. I choose what to waste my time on. I don’t think the choices have increased so much as my access to them has, and I also think our consciousness will adjust to that in the coming decades.

      I do think that the structure should remain in an evolutionary way. I’m trying to build an audience with my various projects. Sure, I could just publish whatever without worrying about grammar or anything, but that would be pointless, and I wouldn’t build an audience. I suppose my ultimate motive is legacy.

      That’s all for now. Have to run to guard. It’s 2:38AM here and this shift was a surprise.

      Thanks for posting this. I disagree with most of what Sam Pink said but I still appreciate the opportunity to spout off.

  8. PHM

      This Donigan cat sounds like one of the last gasps of the dying generation.

      Twitter wasn’t originally intended for people to use for promotion of things. Its purpose really is for your mom or your sister or your best friend or whoever to know what you’re up to. It creates an ambient sense of what the people you care about are doing. People have built up from the original concept of that, sure, but getting all mad about it like that is probably dumb.

      Anarchy and chaos are not synonymous, either, but that’s of course an entirely different discussion. All anarchy means, though, is a society without a king or rulers. The internet is very much and has been for several years a society without rulership. They’re trying to defeat that but ultimately the user will win no matter what happens. But for a thing that was originally invented for intellectuals to share papers more easily between institutions, it’s come quite a damn way.

      I think this thing about limited time is sort of defeatist. I choose what to waste my time on. I don’t think the choices have increased so much as my access to them has, and I also think our consciousness will adjust to that in the coming decades.

      I do think that the structure should remain in an evolutionary way. I’m trying to build an audience with my various projects. Sure, I could just publish whatever without worrying about grammar or anything, but that would be pointless, and I wouldn’t build an audience. I suppose my ultimate motive is legacy.

      That’s all for now. Have to run to guard. It’s 2:38AM here and this shift was a surprise.

      Thanks for posting this. I disagree with most of what Sam Pink said but I still appreciate the opportunity to spout off.

  9. Nathan (Nate) Tyree

      I’m glad I made you smile. Frankly, that is enough to make my day worthwhile.

  10. Nathan (Nate) Tyree

      I’m glad I made you smile. Frankly, that is enough to make my day worthwhile.

  11. darby

      i have tried to rea these comments but many are long and i just cant do it. i like sames idea of 666 almost. i am not good at twittering i’ve thought recently at me. i don’t liek the that my word count is limited before i have a chance to think about what im goin to write so i write on my blog instead that has less limit. i think some of 666 is funny but i do worry that some of the noveltry of the ideas will where off like the big sandwich, at some point, won’t the novelty exhaust itself and there wont be anything new to say about it? i hate being mean, but honesty its blood. i have though, i wonder if i can think of something to maybe contribute to it that i don’t feel the novelty will wear off of it but ive not thought of it yet, like why seinfeld lasted forever the show about nothing no hook to get tired of, twitters are like tiny sitcoms except awesomer. what? man this ipa. my name will be a link to my blog because i just did one and nothing to do with twitting.

  12. darby

      i have tried to rea these comments but many are long and i just cant do it. i like sames idea of 666 almost. i am not good at twittering i’ve thought recently at me. i don’t liek the that my word count is limited before i have a chance to think about what im goin to write so i write on my blog instead that has less limit. i think some of 666 is funny but i do worry that some of the noveltry of the ideas will where off like the big sandwich, at some point, won’t the novelty exhaust itself and there wont be anything new to say about it? i hate being mean, but honesty its blood. i have though, i wonder if i can think of something to maybe contribute to it that i don’t feel the novelty will wear off of it but ive not thought of it yet, like why seinfeld lasted forever the show about nothing no hook to get tired of, twitters are like tiny sitcoms except awesomer. what? man this ipa. my name will be a link to my blog because i just did one and nothing to do with twitting.

  13. Ani Smith

      Sam and Martin can correct me if I’m wrong of course, but I don’t think the intent was necessarily to keep it going long term. A big sandwich has a limited shelf-life, you know?

      Also, one of the reasons I wanted to contribute to it is because I don’t really like twitter and as such it’s a roundabout commentary on that. I think it’s more interesting to read about how Mike Tyson’s face tattoo might feel and maybe then think about the absurdity of twitter and your response to it or maybe just laugh. Laughing and wasting time is healthy and natural.

  14. Ani Smith

      Sam and Martin can correct me if I’m wrong of course, but I don’t think the intent was necessarily to keep it going long term. A big sandwich has a limited shelf-life, you know?

      Also, one of the reasons I wanted to contribute to it is because I don’t really like twitter and as such it’s a roundabout commentary on that. I think it’s more interesting to read about how Mike Tyson’s face tattoo might feel and maybe then think about the absurdity of twitter and your response to it or maybe just laugh. Laughing and wasting time is healthy and natural.

  15. martin wall

      this is just so funny. one thing I like about the internet is the
      dynamics that it adds to my life. I think it is funny that people
      would want to be one way all the time.

      the twitter666 feeds are like rolling submission or something,
      sometimes some slow down or stop, and sometimes new ones will be
      added.

      there is a new website being made right now, and we are putting in
      FAKE (more like, REAL fictional or not true but still real) uses of
      all social networking platforms, not just twitter.

      part of it is the provided context, like sam described. another
      important aspect is that this is not something intended particularly
      for literary readers, even if it is offered by literary minded folk.
      social networking sites are things that are used by alot of people, a
      more universal form than the poem or novel right now.

      there are so many ways to do things, I think I spend alot of time
      being serious, and I believe in sustaining a dynamic life. I can be,
      and I know alot of the people involved can be, very very serious. so
      why not mix it up.

      I guess I have just always been a sucker for a pink bunny that flips.
      I am a proud maker of cave paintings. I think it is cool to be able
      to value good lit., as well as, pink bunnies, for different reasons.
      Alot of people like pink bunnies, I want to relate to that feeling.
      why would I like this bunny. hmm. well look at the goddam thing it is
      pink, it is doing flips, that is so fucking cute. look at the table,
      there are forty of em, flipping. goddamm, sometimes I feel like I
      have forty pink flipping bunnies inside my chest. hot damn, that
      table is my heart.

      party. it is more fun to enjoy silly things during the terribly serious day.

      plus we are lonely. hahh.

  16. martin wall

      this is just so funny. one thing I like about the internet is the
      dynamics that it adds to my life. I think it is funny that people
      would want to be one way all the time.

      the twitter666 feeds are like rolling submission or something,
      sometimes some slow down or stop, and sometimes new ones will be
      added.

      there is a new website being made right now, and we are putting in
      FAKE (more like, REAL fictional or not true but still real) uses of
      all social networking platforms, not just twitter.

      part of it is the provided context, like sam described. another
      important aspect is that this is not something intended particularly
      for literary readers, even if it is offered by literary minded folk.
      social networking sites are things that are used by alot of people, a
      more universal form than the poem or novel right now.

      there are so many ways to do things, I think I spend alot of time
      being serious, and I believe in sustaining a dynamic life. I can be,
      and I know alot of the people involved can be, very very serious. so
      why not mix it up.

      I guess I have just always been a sucker for a pink bunny that flips.
      I am a proud maker of cave paintings. I think it is cool to be able
      to value good lit., as well as, pink bunnies, for different reasons.
      Alot of people like pink bunnies, I want to relate to that feeling.
      why would I like this bunny. hmm. well look at the goddam thing it is
      pink, it is doing flips, that is so fucking cute. look at the table,
      there are forty of em, flipping. goddamm, sometimes I feel like I
      have forty pink flipping bunnies inside my chest. hot damn, that
      table is my heart.

      party. it is more fun to enjoy silly things during the terribly serious day.

      plus we are lonely. hahh.

  17. jereme

      buttfuck jesus

  18. jereme

      buttfuck jesus

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