December 18th, 2008 / 10:03 am
Excerpts
Justin Taylor
Excerpts
Power Quote: Beckett
Thus the sixpence worth of sky changed again, from the poem that he alone of all the living could write to the poem that he alone of all the born could have written.
– Murphy, p. 83
Tags: beckett, Power Quote
Gotta tell you, I like Beckett a lot.
Gotta tell you, I like Beckett a lot.
Oh, c’mon! That doesn’t even make sense!
Oh, c’mon! That doesn’t even make sense!
that doesn’t make sense? i think it makes exact sense
and is badass
that doesn’t make sense? i think it makes exact sense
and is badass
bonus points for the coming to america photo
bonus points for the coming to america photo
kevin,
i had to reread it but I get it. This type of clever wording bores me but I understand the idea being conveyed.
kevin,
i had to reread it but I get it. This type of clever wording bores me but I understand the idea being conveyed.
I like Beckett a lot too – Jereme – expand! Why does clever wording bore you? Beckett doesn’t really sound clever to me (at least in the pejorative) or like fancy writing (at least in the pejorative sense of “fancy writing”.)
I like Beckett a lot too – Jereme – expand! Why does clever wording bore you? Beckett doesn’t really sound clever to me (at least in the pejorative) or like fancy writing (at least in the pejorative sense of “fancy writing”.)
i think i fall in more with jereme and kevin on this- but only after being obsessed with a languagey stuff/ modernism for at least ten years. I loved Beckett. He’s a genuis for sure. I read waiting for godot at least four times and would then run around the house with my arms thrown up in the air exclaiming stuff. Now I read other stuff. It’s all good.
i think i fall in more with jereme and kevin on this- but only after being obsessed with a languagey stuff/ modernism for at least ten years. I loved Beckett. He’s a genuis for sure. I read waiting for godot at least four times and would then run around the house with my arms thrown up in the air exclaiming stuff. Now I read other stuff. It’s all good.
it’s not clever. it’s music.
it’s not clever. it’s music.
Matt,
I have a very hard time believing his mind naturally works like this. It is dick bragging of sort. A bloated pig smiling at itself in the mirror.
darby,
yes it is music. i liken it to the long winded bullshit of the 60s.
i like what is being conveyed but not the delivery.
iron butterfly plays a 15 minute song.
the ramones play a 90 second song.
both songs convey the same idea.
i choose the ramones.
Matt,
I have a very hard time believing his mind naturally works like this. It is dick bragging of sort. A bloated pig smiling at itself in the mirror.
darby,
yes it is music. i liken it to the long winded bullshit of the 60s.
i like what is being conveyed but not the delivery.
iron butterfly plays a 15 minute song.
the ramones play a 90 second song.
both songs convey the same idea.
i choose the ramones.
Jereme – Yeah, we can’t really say how Beckett’s mind worked, but I would guess that transcribing Finnegan’s Wake probably fucked him up a little bit. Sometimes I think writers like Beckett, or Gertrude Stein, or etc more accurately depict how people think (or my perception of how they think) than something like I dunno, Hemingway, whoever, pick your favorite narrative realist. I’m not sure about this, though, I think it takes a lot of different perspectives (and not really one text) to really get at ‘people.’
Does writing ever reflect how minds work? Should it? I’m totally down with you not liking Beckett – I’m just interested in your thoughts.
Some days I like the Ramones, but it’s not the only music I listen to. Sometimes Iron Butterfly is called for.
Jereme – Yeah, we can’t really say how Beckett’s mind worked, but I would guess that transcribing Finnegan’s Wake probably fucked him up a little bit. Sometimes I think writers like Beckett, or Gertrude Stein, or etc more accurately depict how people think (or my perception of how they think) than something like I dunno, Hemingway, whoever, pick your favorite narrative realist. I’m not sure about this, though, I think it takes a lot of different perspectives (and not really one text) to really get at ‘people.’
Does writing ever reflect how minds work? Should it? I’m totally down with you not liking Beckett – I’m just interested in your thoughts.
Some days I like the Ramones, but it’s not the only music I listen to. Sometimes Iron Butterfly is called for.
Revision: I’m listening to some Iron Butterfly now. Iron Butterfly is never called for.
Revision: I’m listening to some Iron Butterfly now. Iron Butterfly is never called for.
“iron butterfly plays a 15 minute song.
the ramones play a 90 second song.
both songs convey the same idea.”
What? That’s ridiculous.
“iron butterfly plays a 15 minute song.
the ramones play a 90 second song.
both songs convey the same idea.”
What? That’s ridiculous.
okay.
okay.
adam,
how is that ridiculous?
fine pick a fucking doors song. is that better for you?
adam,
how is that ridiculous?
fine pick a fucking doors song. is that better for you?
Writing how the mind works? I don’t know.
A magician watching a fellow magician perform fucks up the experience I think. how the audience reacts to the magic act is most important.
I am not worried about how the guy saws the chick in half. I am more concerned with am I in awe at the end of the magic act?
Beckett is a magician’s magician. I am not dismissing him. His flash isn’t my style is all.
Writing how the mind works? I don’t know.
A magician watching a fellow magician perform fucks up the experience I think. how the audience reacts to the magic act is most important.
I am not worried about how the guy saws the chick in half. I am more concerned with am I in awe at the end of the magic act?
Beckett is a magician’s magician. I am not dismissing him. His flash isn’t my style is all.
Jereme- what doesn’t add up is your premise, that both songs convey “the same idea.” And the fact that you’re willing to sub the Doors or whatever in is pretty telling. Why not sub the Ramones out too, and say that NOFX is the same as the Grateful Dead and Nick Drake is the same as Frank Zappa? A song isn’t just saying “I am a song.” Even when it’s the same song. There’s a reason Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” takes 120 seconds and the Grateful Dead’s takes a half hour. All that extra music and the act of improv is “saying” something above and beyond the words and basic tune. in fact, the GD version drops about half of Holly’s verses.
There’s a reason Infinite Jest isn’t a haiku. They don’t both just say “I am writing.”
You don’t have to like Beckett. The truth is that Murphy isn’t one of my favorites of his, but I stumbled on this quote I’d written down in an old notebook when I was reading it, and I like the sentiment. I appreciate the movement from possibility (“COULD write”) to actuality (“COULD have written”). I think it reflects a key idea about the entire purpose of art- that you sit down and attempt to produce the one and best thing that you’re capable of, which after it’s made ought to be something nobody else could have put into the world except you. This notion is echoed by the switch from “the living” to “the born,” because of course each human being is utterly unique, and therefore each human’s art, to be fully worthy of being born of man, ought to strive for that same kind of originality.
Jereme- what doesn’t add up is your premise, that both songs convey “the same idea.” And the fact that you’re willing to sub the Doors or whatever in is pretty telling. Why not sub the Ramones out too, and say that NOFX is the same as the Grateful Dead and Nick Drake is the same as Frank Zappa? A song isn’t just saying “I am a song.” Even when it’s the same song. There’s a reason Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” takes 120 seconds and the Grateful Dead’s takes a half hour. All that extra music and the act of improv is “saying” something above and beyond the words and basic tune. in fact, the GD version drops about half of Holly’s verses.
There’s a reason Infinite Jest isn’t a haiku. They don’t both just say “I am writing.”
You don’t have to like Beckett. The truth is that Murphy isn’t one of my favorites of his, but I stumbled on this quote I’d written down in an old notebook when I was reading it, and I like the sentiment. I appreciate the movement from possibility (“COULD write”) to actuality (“COULD have written”). I think it reflects a key idea about the entire purpose of art- that you sit down and attempt to produce the one and best thing that you’re capable of, which after it’s made ought to be something nobody else could have put into the world except you. This notion is echoed by the switch from “the living” to “the born,” because of course each human being is utterly unique, and therefore each human’s art, to be fully worthy of being born of man, ought to strive for that same kind of originality.
from the poem that he aloem of all the livin’ could write to the porn that he alorn of all the born could have wriven.
I think Jereme’s point was that iron butterfly might want to write a song about, say, wanting to get fucked up, but it would be all loopy and long and the words would go “the wind has come to me, i hear the messages of the gods, the great wine and smoke of eternity…” and so on. And the Ramones would write a song about getting fucked up and it would be very short and the words would go ” i wanna get fucked up.”
I- personally- like both kinds of shit. I listen to Zeppelin with great regularity. And the Ramones.
PEACE OUT!
from the poem that he aloem of all the livin’ could write to the porn that he alorn of all the born could have wriven.
I think Jereme’s point was that iron butterfly might want to write a song about, say, wanting to get fucked up, but it would be all loopy and long and the words would go “the wind has come to me, i hear the messages of the gods, the great wine and smoke of eternity…” and so on. And the Ramones would write a song about getting fucked up and it would be very short and the words would go ” i wanna get fucked up.”
I- personally- like both kinds of shit. I listen to Zeppelin with great regularity. And the Ramones.
PEACE OUT!
What JT said.
I think it’s especially fitting to say of Beckett that his dialectical form trumped whatever one might suppose he was writing about. What else are we to make of Lucky’s 4 page ramble quaquaquaqua — which is to say that nothing is “about” one thing so if whoever’s version of whatever is about the same thing as whoever else’s, there’s still an infinite difference between them.
I like this word, about. I like it in the spatial sense — as nearness — so when writing about things we don’t address them, we approximate them.
Beckett does seem like a magician’s magician sometimes, but that’s not his fault.
What JT said.
I think it’s especially fitting to say of Beckett that his dialectical form trumped whatever one might suppose he was writing about. What else are we to make of Lucky’s 4 page ramble quaquaquaqua — which is to say that nothing is “about” one thing so if whoever’s version of whatever is about the same thing as whoever else’s, there’s still an infinite difference between them.
I like this word, about. I like it in the spatial sense — as nearness — so when writing about things we don’t address them, we approximate them.
Beckett does seem like a magician’s magician sometimes, but that’s not his fault.
PR gets it.
JT/Adam,
I apologize. I thought i was being clear when I cited a band from the ‘self-indulgent’ age.of music.
iron butterfly’s ‘in-a-godda-divida’ being the foremost example I could think of.
the ramones would play 90 second songs live.
the discussion was raised when Kevin said “i don’t get it’. Beckett isn’t clear because he is self indulging his ego.
beckett was not dismissed by me. i understood what he was trying to convey. i don’t like his delivery.
i get it. he is a writer’s writer. i’m sure big boners swell when univserity professors read him. good for university professors
the ramones style of writing is going to be understood better by the public.
i guess it all depends on who you want to read your shit.
i personally find the ego jelqing style annoying and boring. get to the fucking point already.
this concept applies to all things.
it is my personal opinion. i am not trying to influence how anyone feels.
PR gets it.
JT/Adam,
I apologize. I thought i was being clear when I cited a band from the ‘self-indulgent’ age.of music.
iron butterfly’s ‘in-a-godda-divida’ being the foremost example I could think of.
the ramones would play 90 second songs live.
the discussion was raised when Kevin said “i don’t get it’. Beckett isn’t clear because he is self indulging his ego.
beckett was not dismissed by me. i understood what he was trying to convey. i don’t like his delivery.
i get it. he is a writer’s writer. i’m sure big boners swell when univserity professors read him. good for university professors
the ramones style of writing is going to be understood better by the public.
i guess it all depends on who you want to read your shit.
i personally find the ego jelqing style annoying and boring. get to the fucking point already.
this concept applies to all things.
it is my personal opinion. i am not trying to influence how anyone feels.
Hey, I hear what you’re saying and think there’s a lot of truth in what you’re saying. I have seen the public pogo-dancing like crazy to the Ramones many times. The Ramones music has been delighting the public for 35 years. But, I think it’s boring to just listen to the Ramones, and bands that sound like the Ramones. Just talking about the Ramones this much makes me like them less. Have you ever been in a bar or disco and ‘I wanna be sedated’ comes on and everybody goes crazy? It makes me feel the same way when Piano Man comes on and everybody starts screaming the lyrics with their arms wrapped around one another, clinking their Coors beers.
It seems just as egostistical to assume that the public can only understand the Ramones and only university professors can appreciate Beckett. The ‘simple’ style can also sound stilted.
Hey, I hear what you’re saying and think there’s a lot of truth in what you’re saying. I have seen the public pogo-dancing like crazy to the Ramones many times. The Ramones music has been delighting the public for 35 years. But, I think it’s boring to just listen to the Ramones, and bands that sound like the Ramones. Just talking about the Ramones this much makes me like them less. Have you ever been in a bar or disco and ‘I wanna be sedated’ comes on and everybody goes crazy? It makes me feel the same way when Piano Man comes on and everybody starts screaming the lyrics with their arms wrapped around one another, clinking their Coors beers.
It seems just as egostistical to assume that the public can only understand the Ramones and only university professors can appreciate Beckett. The ‘simple’ style can also sound stilted.
matt,
i like what you type.
“t seems just as egostistical to assume that the public can only understand the Ramones and only university professors can appreciate Beckett. The ’simple’ style can also sound stilted.”
i never made absolutes.
matt,
i like what you type.
“t seems just as egostistical to assume that the public can only understand the Ramones and only university professors can appreciate Beckett. The ’simple’ style can also sound stilted.”
i never made absolutes.
“Does writing ever reflect how minds work?”
have you guys ever read the poet, robert hershon. i think he’s an editor at hanging loose now. i came across his collection HOW TO RIDE ON THE WOODLAWN EXPRESS at some used book sale at a library in clinton, michigan. but holy fuck. robert hershon writes poems the same way my brain works. ive never read anything else of his except for that collection.
“Does writing ever reflect how minds work?”
have you guys ever read the poet, robert hershon. i think he’s an editor at hanging loose now. i came across his collection HOW TO RIDE ON THE WOODLAWN EXPRESS at some used book sale at a library in clinton, michigan. but holy fuck. robert hershon writes poems the same way my brain works. ive never read anything else of his except for that collection.
Barry- I sent a copy of hanging loose to my secret santa. but it wasn’t you. i’ve been a subscriber for years.
Matt- every time that crazy shit comes on- meatloaf “dashbaord light” comes to mind– I start taking my clothes off and singing really loudly. I love it. It makes me feel good .This, btw, happens very infrequently, because i no longer leave my house.
That said, yeah, mix it up. My biggest regrets- which after reading about Sontag’s turnarounds in her life, are no longer regrets, but understanding? not sure- is the idea of absolutes. I went through a huge modernism-freudian-stream-of-consciousness-unconscous phase- and then a “simple ray carver thingy” phase and so on and so forth. Now I don’t need to attach my identity to anything. (not that you do, just saying bout me). THe only thing about being old- no need to say “wait, i love punk rock ONLY! kill the goths!!
Also, that said, Beckett did write for a particular audience. Joyce wrote how he wrote to write something to be “studied”. Lots of writers write for very specific, elitist audiences and that is their choice and not a bad one. But others choose differently. Jack Spicer wrote about the “insider audience” to the extent that he thought West Coast poets shouldn’t even try to publish outside of the west coast. (Dodie Bellamy writes about this is her Barf Manifesto). I am more – broad audience. But not always. Anyway, I don’t think the Ramones could ever be called pretentious, but Beckett lovers (which is not to Beckett himself, he wrote at a very different time, a time when what he did was temporally significant) can be called that, I think, with good reason.
I like Beckett- liked him alot when I was 25. I also like other stuff. just sayin.
this is why jereme has fists and pr has penz.
this is why jereme has fists and pr has penz.
(all) beckett lovers can be called pretentious?
I don’t think Joyce or Beckett wrote for any audience, or with the thought in mind of ‘this will be studied.’ Like that’s all they were doing. Or like that’s all anyone in academia does. No one wakes up and decides, hey I’m going to devote my life to writing specifically for an elitist audience. I have to believe they did what they did, more than anything, as personal (audience = themSELVES) explorations into what literature can be, because maybe they just love literature and have a desire realize/further its potential through experimentation? Why are they sitting on a witness stand fending off accusations of pretentious and egotistical? How did they get there in the first place? Not to mention the branches of other authors you are by aesthetic association accusing also, ie. Barthelme, etc. I’ve grown so tired of the word pretentious. It serves simply and simultaneously as a creative inhibitor for the accused and, for the uncreative, ungetting and insecure about it, a convenient form of accusation.
how are beckett lovers now pretentious? Are they pretending to love beckett but not really? Explain.
This thread was started with admirable intentions. It was nice to see a beckett quote for a power quote and I look forward to more.
(all) beckett lovers can be called pretentious?
I don’t think Joyce or Beckett wrote for any audience, or with the thought in mind of ‘this will be studied.’ Like that’s all they were doing. Or like that’s all anyone in academia does. No one wakes up and decides, hey I’m going to devote my life to writing specifically for an elitist audience. I have to believe they did what they did, more than anything, as personal (audience = themSELVES) explorations into what literature can be, because maybe they just love literature and have a desire realize/further its potential through experimentation? Why are they sitting on a witness stand fending off accusations of pretentious and egotistical? How did they get there in the first place? Not to mention the branches of other authors you are by aesthetic association accusing also, ie. Barthelme, etc. I’ve grown so tired of the word pretentious. It serves simply and simultaneously as a creative inhibitor for the accused and, for the uncreative, ungetting and insecure about it, a convenient form of accusation.
how are beckett lovers now pretentious? Are they pretending to love beckett but not really? Explain.
This thread was started with admirable intentions. It was nice to see a beckett quote for a power quote and I look forward to more.
yeah, fair enough. I have been thinking about the Ramones all day now. They made some kind of shitty records in the later 80s, although my friend who is dedicated says that those are the best records. I dunno.
yeah, fair enough. I have been thinking about the Ramones all day now. They made some kind of shitty records in the later 80s, although my friend who is dedicated says that those are the best records. I dunno.
Beckett is the Michael Jordan of words.
Beckett is the Michael Jordan of words.
god darby you sound soooooo pretentious
god darby you sound soooooo pretentious
their live shit is the pharoah’s harem
their live shit is the pharoah’s harem
Sorry Darby, about making you angry. I didn’t think out my comment very well and that is my fault. I drunk comment here a lot and I apologize for that.
When I say pretentious, I don’t really mean it is a terrible way, as wierd as that sounds. I like Beckett- I have said that over and over again in these comments. I especially liked him when I was younger. I have also called him a genuis in this thread.
To be pretentious- to me- is to be so vulnerable and earnest in the best way, a way that maybe as i’ve gotten older i no longer have in me. there is a guy who sits at this french cafe across the street from me. he runs a literary magazine. He sits outside with a glass of red wine and wears- i kid you not- a black beret, and sits there writing in a notebook and staring off thoughtfully. On the one hand, this is pretentious. On the other, he has more balls and more GENUINE love for his life than most writers. I love him. I love it when I get pretentious. It makes me feel important. It is also embarrassing. It is’ bothness” my favorite DFW word.
Again, I am sorry I pissed you off. I think I said a lot of nice things about Beckett here. I appreciated the dicussion that ensued, too.
I guess most importantly, I AM a Beckett fan. That is what I tried to make clear here. But I have mixed feelings about what it is in his work that makes me his fan. I think it might be my elitist tendencies. I also have said and say again, he is very temporally significant. He deserves to be studied and so on.
Anyway, I should never have used the word pretentious. Sorry. Really.
darby,
agreed that calling someone pretentious for liking a particular writer is pretty lazy . . .
jereme,
dude, your posts are about indian, japanese and chinese poetry that happens to have been written eons ago. calling someone else pretentious for his taste in books is pretty bold. at least compare beckett to a decent band. iron butterfly? seriously. call him john cage or something, or ravi shankar or something. is that pretentious though? to drop j. cage? have you read beckett lately? maybe the trilogy. he’s the sunno nay the burning witch of irish writers translated from french.
p.r.
this whole thing about going through literary phases and adulthood is weird. as if a creative life is actually a linear, positive progression.
isn’t this a magazine that champions underground writing . . . some of it quite difficult . . .
beckett backlash = odd
darby,
agreed that calling someone pretentious for liking a particular writer is pretty lazy . . .
jereme,
dude, your posts are about indian, japanese and chinese poetry that happens to have been written eons ago. calling someone else pretentious for his taste in books is pretty bold. at least compare beckett to a decent band. iron butterfly? seriously. call him john cage or something, or ravi shankar or something. is that pretentious though? to drop j. cage? have you read beckett lately? maybe the trilogy. he’s the sunno nay the burning witch of irish writers translated from french.
p.r.
this whole thing about going through literary phases and adulthood is weird. as if a creative life is actually a linear, positive progression.
isn’t this a magazine that champions underground writing . . . some of it quite difficult . . .
beckett backlash = odd
damn. i cannot control my syntax so that i don’t seem mad or insulting . . . i am neither. here is my tone register for the above
jereme = jovial but mildly sarcastic (in a playful way)
p.r. = jovial but also wondering if we could talk more about the trajectory of taste, which might be pretentious.
damn. i cannot control my syntax so that i don’t seem mad or insulting . . . i am neither. here is my tone register for the above
jereme = jovial but mildly sarcastic (in a playful way)
p.r. = jovial but also wondering if we could talk more about the trajectory of taste, which might be pretentious.
gaz,
what does my affinity for eastern philosophy have to do with beckett? everything i said above falls in line with my argument.
the japanese poetry is easy to understand and conveys the intended meaning well.
i do not think the same of lish. the earlier quote post wasn’t a fucking boner stroking word jumble. the same can be said (from the small amount i’ve read) of DFW.
the band was picked from the self indulgent period of rock and roll. it was an illustration.
tone: wondering if you read/comprehended the entire thread.
gaz,
what does my affinity for eastern philosophy have to do with beckett? everything i said above falls in line with my argument.
the japanese poetry is easy to understand and conveys the intended meaning well.
i do not think the same of lish. the earlier quote post wasn’t a fucking boner stroking word jumble. the same can be said (from the small amount i’ve read) of DFW.
the band was picked from the self indulgent period of rock and roll. it was an illustration.
tone: wondering if you read/comprehended the entire thread.
have you &^$^%^ looked this word up? it just means: attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed. i.e. the point was simple: someone could as easily dismiss your affinity for eastern philosophy as being similarly pretentious, and do so with a similarly shallow argument.
is my *&^&^%$%#$# interweb broken? have you not been implying/stating that people who like beckett must be boner-stroking pretentious academics? did you not liken beckett to Iron (*(&*(&*( Butterfly? the implication was/is clear. the illustration was reductive and pejorative. and my point about that wasn’t even a serious one until now. give me a break.
have you &^$^%^ looked this word up? it just means: attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed. i.e. the point was simple: someone could as easily dismiss your affinity for eastern philosophy as being similarly pretentious, and do so with a similarly shallow argument.
is my *&^&^%$%#$# interweb broken? have you not been implying/stating that people who like beckett must be boner-stroking pretentious academics? did you not liken beckett to Iron (*(&*(&*( Butterfly? the implication was/is clear. the illustration was reductive and pejorative. and my point about that wasn’t even a serious one until now. give me a break.
haha gaz i was fucking with you.
settle down or your shift key is going to fall off.
and no i didn’t state/imply the onlyl people who like beckett are boner stroking professors.
they are the main audience of the work in my opinion.
haha gaz i was fucking with you.
settle down or your shift key is going to fall off.
and no i didn’t state/imply the onlyl people who like beckett are boner stroking professors.
they are the main audience of the work in my opinion.
Hey, a group put on Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in NOLA’s 9th Ward last year, and they got it. They got it really well. Susan Sontag put it on in Sarajevo in ’93 while they were still getting shelled. So her audience didn’t have a lot of entertainment choices, but they got it. Maybe it’s the difference between reading and seeing, or context is crucial (like Grateful Dead fans said, “no, man, you got to go to the show“) but let’s give the public a little credit. Folks in bombed-out Sarajevo standing around in candlelight leaning up against sandbags and people down in the 9th Ward with spraypainted signs like “1 dog DOA in bathroom” still on some houses don’t strike me as being all that pretentious.
I get it, though. Saying it straight hits people, and liking, I don’t know, Ginsberg over Beckett is still good taste, it’s just that–taste, which I think is what Jereme is saying. Ginsberg shouting “Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb” gets the point across. But–well, with or without the tambourine, he is music, too.
Hey, a group put on Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in NOLA’s 9th Ward last year, and they got it. They got it really well. Susan Sontag put it on in Sarajevo in ’93 while they were still getting shelled. So her audience didn’t have a lot of entertainment choices, but they got it. Maybe it’s the difference between reading and seeing, or context is crucial (like Grateful Dead fans said, “no, man, you got to go to the show“) but let’s give the public a little credit. Folks in bombed-out Sarajevo standing around in candlelight leaning up against sandbags and people down in the 9th Ward with spraypainted signs like “1 dog DOA in bathroom” still on some houses don’t strike me as being all that pretentious.
I get it, though. Saying it straight hits people, and liking, I don’t know, Ginsberg over Beckett is still good taste, it’s just that–taste, which I think is what Jereme is saying. Ginsberg shouting “Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb” gets the point across. But–well, with or without the tambourine, he is music, too.