February 11th, 2012 / 4:41 pm
 Power Quote

Don’t Blog

You can always microblog, Houellebecq had told him when talking about his career as a blogger, and try to string together tweets; but to launch yourself into the writing of a blog post you have to wait for all of that to become compact and irrefutable. You have to wait for the appearance of an authentic core of necessity. You never decide to write a blog post, he had added; a blog post, according to him, was like a block of concrete that had decided to set, and the blogger’s freedom to act was limited to the fact of being there, and of waiting in frightening inaction, for the process to start by itself.
–Michel Houellebecq, The Map and the Territory

11 Comments

  1. February 11th, 2012 / 5:24 pm leapsloth14—

      “career as a blogger” is a damn funny phrase.

  2. February 11th, 2012 / 5:48 pm Anonymous—

      Now this I get a kick out of!

  3. February 11th, 2012 / 8:21 pm Guest—

      thought he was talking about writing novels not blog posts

  4. February 11th, 2012 / 8:25 pm Guest—

      oh, ok, scratch that. nice. very ‘meta’.

  5. February 11th, 2012 / 8:47 pm lorian long—
  6. February 11th, 2012 / 9:15 pm deadgod—

      Don’t Rule

      You can always act, Praxis had told the agent when talking about his political career, and try to govern; but to launch yourself into directed change you have to wait for all that to become compact and irrefutable.  You have to wait for the appearance of an authentic core of necessity.  You never decide to direct change, he added; directed change, according to him, was like a block of concrete that had decided to set, and the agent’s freedom to determine society was limited to the fact of being historical, and of waiting in frightened subjection, for the process to start by itself.

      Don’t Become

      You can always exert force, Power had told the vector when talking about its career as force, and try to compel; but to launch yourself into an accumulation and expression of force you have to wait for all that to become compact and irrefutable.  You have to wait for the appearance of an authentic core of necessity.  You never decide to accumulate and express force, he added; vector composition, according to him, was like a block of concrete that had decided to set, and the vector’s freedom to constitute was limited to the fact of vector interaction, and of waiting in frightened potential, for the process to start by itself.

      Don’t Be

      You can always exist, Being had told the being when talking about ontological difference, and try to be-towards; but to launch yourself into metaphysical selfhood you have to wait for all that to become compact and irrefutable.  You have to wait for the appearance of an authentic core of necessity.  You never decide to be, he added; a metaphysical self, according to him, was like a block of concrete that had decided to set, and the being’s freedom to take place was limited to the fact of already being in some particular place, and of waiting in frightened homelessness, for the process to start by itself.

  7. February 11th, 2012 / 11:15 pm Brooks Sterritt—

      hahaha. she is a straight up blogger, owned the title.

  8. February 12th, 2012 / 2:01 am postitbreakup—

      phenomenal

  9. February 12th, 2012 / 8:54 pm derek motion—

      does anyone know of a good recipe for beetroot dip?

  10. February 14th, 2012 / 9:49 pm Anonymous—
  11. February 17th, 2012 / 1:26 pm Claire Nguyen—