The blog of author Dennis Cooper

Spotlight on … Kenji Siratori HUMAN_WORMS (2004) *

* (restored)

 

‘The work of Japanese novelist Kenji Siratori poses the reader with a contentious question: at what point does literary experimentalism transcend the circumference of literacy? Siratori’s work evokes “the coming to consciousness of an artificial intelligence” via “a devastating loop of language” (Blood Electric book jacket). Indeed, his novels are a conflation of computer code with anatomical, medical, and technological language. So, Siratori’s fiction is generically cyberpunk; yet, extreme in both form and content. Siratori’s writing evokes Joyce’s Finnegans Wake and the cut-up experiments of William S. Burroughs thus placing Siratori along an experimental trajectory. However, while the work of Joyce is semantically fecund and Burroughs wishes to reveal the underlying conspiracy of language, Siratori moves away from reconceptualizing meaning towards a disorienting, often violent, affect.

‘The emotional experience of “reading” Siratori demonstrates literary meaninglessness as an analogue to the consumer’s relationship with information technology. His work considers the biases of information technology in an analogous manner that Joyce and Burroughs ask about the biases of language. Here, agency and literacy are conflated in an intense way: if we are unable to acknowledge the biases of information technology, we are incapable of possessing agency in late-capitalism. American media theorist Douglas Rushkoff recently suggested that “Facebook is set up to make us think of ourselves in terms of our ‘likes’ and an iPad is set up to make us start paying for media and stop producing it ourselves.” Amidst all the garbled nonsense of his writing, Siratori’s metaphor is as lucid as it is timely: the anxiety of reading asemic cyberpunk is analogous to the consumer’s illiteracy regarding programming and information technology. As literary experimentation is pushed to absolute limits, new languages of code and programming suggest the dawn of new arts.

‘Siratori’s psychedelic style, mixed with its idiosyncratic (and definedly Japanese!) use of the English language, recommends a reading in which the reader is rendered the real author of the book. The theme of the awaking artificial intelligence demands us to be replaced in the mind of what is awakened, including the noise of growing, learning, forgetting and remembering, in short, acquiring a self-referentially evolving self. In Siratori’s own words: “In my writing, the language cell is distorted by the infinite hyperlink of the synapse -a new language is the conceptual pain– all the data act as the hardweb character as if I dissect subjective writing, I’m striking the nude brain to a screen. This is the practice that hardweb creatures were disclosed”. In order to read it, one furthermore has to do away with everything that qualifies as fiction, science or otherwise. Siratori presents us the art of the 21 st century word, with its typical references to the multimedia embedding of (post?)modern communication.

‘As Siratori himself states, “my writing was born with the horizon of techno — I’m advocating nerve physics here — I process violence and sex as the reality of data — I take a view of my conceptual web with nerve experiences. The writing is linked to how I game this expanded hardweb for me — such a method that touches to my brain more cruelly.” His work is an experiment with noise and complexity, and the necessity of its reduction. The reader should therefore be especially attentive to what he remembers of the text, what he perceives to be the text’s meaningful (although I doubt that word is in place here) qualities. More than anything else, this implies a sensitivity for the transformative aspects of the new media. What is the meaning of this writing, what is its truth? If one asks Siratori: “TRUTH–data trash in the brain universe–nerve violence and nerve sex—we scan reality with the HIV form.” Apparently, he has accepted the epistemological consequences of his writing. This digital narrative is no more than a synapse of an endlessly evolving web of communications, the meaning of which is ever harder to discern… Read if you dare.’ — collaged

 

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Further

Official Kenji Siratori
‘The Etude of Murder’ by Kenji Siratori
‘Brain Meat for Naked Lunch’ by Kenji Siratori
‘hallucination=cell’ by Kenji Siratori
‘TATTOO’ by Kenji Siratori
Kenji Siratori @ Discogs
THE NUDE BRAIN: AN INTERVIEW WITH KENJI SIRATORI
‘Writing machines from remote territories’
KJ’s ‘Blood Electric’ reviewed @ Word Riot
Kenji Siratori @ goodreads
Kenji Siratori @ Facebook
Re: Kenji Siratori @ IMAGE [&] NARRATIVE
‘”Hidden Truth” is a Bootleg, Kenji Siratori his shadow and Nocturne the Killer’
::theQuestionnaire: KENJI SIRATORI
‘Living Through Our Errors’
‘Kenji Siratori: Cybergothic Writing’

 

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Musics & Videos


Colette Phair by Kenji Siratori


‘Monster’s Device’


‘Superbug’


‘Cow: a desperate poem’


‘Zero Person Study’

 

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SANTEMUTERUERU, a graphic novel (excerpt)

 

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Ctrl+Monster
3D printable object by Kenji Siratori

Plastic is a great starter material. Strong, with a fairly good level of detail and slightly flexible, it comes in a wide range of colors. If you’re not sure which material to go with, plastic is a great all rounder. €117.95

 

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Interview
from Bookmunch

 

Let’s start the only way I know how. Can you talk me through your novel Blood Electric – describe the book to me in your own words.

Kenji Siratori: My writing was born with the horizon of techno — I’m advocating nerve physics here — I process violence and sex as the reality of data – I take a view of my conceptual web with nerve experiences. The writing is linked to how I game this expanded hardweb for me — such a method that touches to my brain more cruelly. In my writing the language cell is able to be distorted by the infinite hyperlink of the synapse — ‘a new language’ is the conceptual pain – all the data act as the hardweb character as if I dissect subjective writing, I’m striking the nude brain to a screen. This is the practice that hardweb creatures were disclosed. Blood Electric is presenting the aspect of a genetic hardweb clearly — the nerve cells that run through our gene dub — is the strategic object that our body codes erodes the world – ‘literature is networking to our gene dub’

You say “Writing born with the horizon of techno” – Are you saying that dance music and dance culture is an influence on your writing?

KS: Yes–my writing is an industrial human body emulator–virus for the Genomics strategy. Rave that was turned hypertext is body-encoded.

Furthermore, would you say your writing was narcotic (in the way that, say, Coleridge or de Quincey or Burroughs or countless others wrote while “under the influence”)?

KS: Vital browser of nerve system is opened–language cell spins to genomewarable–nomads of the spiral form occur from my writing.

You talk about “new writing” – aren’t you just dressing up what the modernists did at the start of the twentieth century, a method Burroughs did something to update but which is in essence “stream of consciousness”, albeit stream of consciousness infiltrated by technology and html code etc?

KS: I advocate a hypermodern literature to pop culture–it means the invasion to the gene code–and to update our abolition world code–because the characteristic of 20th century style ‘hardweb’ is a struggle. However my language cell is streaming the genomewarable struggle as 21st century style ‘hardweb’.

Who are you writing for? Who do you imagine your reader to be? Would you admit there was an element of impenetrability to “Blood Electric”?

KS: I upload the focus of the nerve system–everything is to contact our language cells that were exposed to gene terrorism–I manufacture the literary plug-in of a vital browser.

Like a lot of experimental fiction, you expect your readers to work pretty hard – should reading be this difficult?

KS: I expect my readers to scan the language cell–to cause the cracking of the gene corroded–to stream the change to the human body emulator.

I think we need to define terms more clearly: what do you mean by “industrial human body emulator”? What do you mean by the term “genomewarable”? What do you mean by the phrase “the invasion to the gene code . . .”?

KS: “industrial human body emulator”–it functions as a literary hacker in our genetic network. . . “genomewarable”–the hyperlinking genetic information–the genetic engineering liquidity of hardweb. . . “the invasion to the gene code”–so language cells in gene dub are produced by the genetic ‘struggle=hardweb’.

There is a sense, I think, that you hide behind coded responses – you don’t clearly articulate answers – do you sublimate the intimacy of your SELF behind cyber doublespeak?

KS: So I cause to escape SELF of the spiral mechanism to positive–it is the language cell sequence that was approximated to nerve transmission.

What is the TRUTH – for you – of what you say – yes, you have to work to uncover the meaning of your book (and the answers to these questions) but, having worked, what is there? Is it worthwhile, this “streaming of the genomewarable struggle . . .”?

KS: TRUTH–data trash in the brain universe–nerve violence and nerve sex—we scan reality with the HIV form.

On the one hand, you’ve got STYLE – your style, this “new” style – but on the other you’ve got storytelling – the importance of telling a story in a way that can be understood (maybe not right away, but eventually) – are you telling a story in Blood Electric, or is telling a story outmoded?

KS: I go across the digital narrative in the human body–Blood Electric is such software that captures “the digital narrative in the human body” and is archive that connects my digital narrative to your digital narrative.

Who is Kenji Siratori – man or machine?!?!

KS: He is one hardweb that hyperlinked to our genetic information . . .

 

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Book

Kenji Siratori HUMAN_WORMS
iUniverse

‘EXTREME BIO-CYBERPUNK HORROR>>>insanity medium of the human body pill cruel emulator that was sucked to the emotional replicant of super-genomewarable abolition world-codemaniacs that was biocaptured a chemical=anthropoid acid of the soul/gram made of retro-ADAM is accelerated the virus:: clone-dive a trash sensor drug embryo rave on the DNA=channel of the cadaver feti=streaming_body encoder that was send back out to the acidHUMANIX infection archive genomics strategy circuit technojunkies’ era respiration-byte nerve cells of the hyperreal HIV=scanner forms to the brain universe that was processed the data=mutant of her ultra=machinary tragedy-ROM creature system murder-gimmick of the cadaver city Blog…. I compress the insanity medium of the human body pill cruel emulator to the brain universe of the murder-protocol emotional replicant performance technojunkies’ DNA=channel hacking the soul/gram made of retro-ADAM acidHUMANIX infection****the genomics strategy circuit of the abolition world-codemaniacs nerve cells that accelerates the virus of the artificial sun to the hunting for the grotesque WEB=joint end of the cadaver feti=streaming_body encoder that clone-dives a chemical=anthropoid mass of flesh-module vital to the era respiration-byte sending program murder game of her digital=vamp cold-blooded disease animals different of a trash sensor drug embryo-hyperreal HIV=scanners that were controlled plug-in….’ — Kenji Siratori

 

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Excerpt

Insanity medium of the human body pill cruel emulator that was sucked to the emotional replicant of super-genomewarable abolition world-codemaniacs that was biocaptured a chemical=anthropoid acid of the soul/gram made of retro-ADAM is accelerated the virus::clone-dive a trash sensor drug embryo rave on the DNA=channel of the cadaver feti=streaming_body encoder that was send back out to the acidHUMANIX infection archive genomics strategy circuit technojunkies’ era respiration-byte nerve cells of the hyperreal HIV=scanner forms to the brain universe that was processed the data=mutant of her ultra=machinary tragedy-ROM creature system murder-gimmick of the cadaver city BLog….acidHUMANIX infection archive of the abolition world-codemaniacs nerve cells to the mass of flesh-module murder-gimmicks of her digital=vamp cold-blooded disease animals DNA=channel of a chemical=anthropoid is send back out the era respiration-byte_covered the reptilian=HUB_modem=heart to the brain universe of the murder-protocol emotional replicant performance that was biocaptured the cadaver city technojunkies’ nightmare-script and crash that genomics strategy circuit****cadaver feti of the artificial sun=hunting for the grotesque WEB=joint end of the neuromatic body encoder that streams to the hyperreal HIV=scanners that BDSM play a trash sensor drug embryo hacking–hunting for the grotesque WEB of the cadaver city=covered the reptilian=HUB_modem=heart that jointed and suck acid to the insanity medium of the human body pill cruel emulator that was send back out the era respiration-byte of the soul/gram made of retro-ADAM mass of flesh-module rave on::the different vital-controllers of the biocapturism nerve cells to non-resettable the murder-gimmick of a chemical=anthropoid–abolition world-codemaniacs to the cadaver feti=streaming circuit of the acidHUMANIX infection archive_brain universe that technojunkies’ BDSM plays the DNA=channel of her ultra=machinary tragedy-ROM creature system gene-dub….I compress the insanity medium of the human body pill cruel emulator to the brain universe of the murder-protocol emotional replicant performance technojunkies’ DNA=channel hacking the soul/gram made of retro-ADAM acidHUMANIX infection****the genomics strategy circuit of the abolition world-codemaniacs nerve cells that accelerates the virus of the artificial sun to the hunting for the grotesque WEB=joint end of the cadaver feti=streaming_body encoder that clone-dives a chemical=anthropoid mass of flesh-module vital to the era respiration-byte sending program murder game of her digital=vamp cold-blooded disease animals different of a trash sensor drug embryo-hyperreal HIV=scanners that were controlled plug-in….”I am disillusioned-covered the reptilian=HUB_modem=heart cadaver city at the murder-protocol that was processed the data=mutant of her abolition world-codemaniacs emotional replicant module and that genomics strategy circuit noise–hunting for the grotesque WEB of a chemical=anthropoid=body encoder of the hyperreal HIV=scanner form to the different vital-controller of the acidHUMANIX infection archive_brain universe that jointed technojunkies’ hacking the nightmare-script….hunting for the grotesque WEB insanity medium of the human body pill cruel emulator to gene-dub of the cadaver feti=streaming_brain universe that compressed the acidHUMANIX infection of a chemical=anthropoid murder-gimmick of the soul/gram made of retro-ADAM=joints::the technojunkies’ DNA=channel era respiration-byte sending programs of the abolition world-codemaniacs nerve cells that artificial sun was output to the mass of flesh-module of the murder-protocol emotional replicant performance is installed vital different of a trash sensor drug embryo-hyperreal HIV=scanners that were controlled clone-dives to the genomics strategy circuit that was biocaptured her digital=vamp cold-blooded disease animals….the nightmare-script of the acidHUMANIX infection archive_body encoder that clone-dives the cadaver city to the murder-protocol data=mutant processing organ DNA=channel of a trash sensor drug embryo FUCKNAMLOAD****abolition world-codemaniacs that was send back out the era respiration-byte of her ultra=machinary tragedy-ROM creature system murder-gimmick of the chemical=anthropoid to a hybrid cadaver mechanism SAVE the paradise device of the biocapturism nerve cells_covered the reptilian=HUB_modem=heart that artificial sun was set up and stream to that mass of flesh-module cadaver feti=….the insanity medium of the human body pill cruel emulator that was biocaptured to the hunting for the grotesque WEB=joint end of the cadaver feti=streaming_brain universe that compressed the technojunkies’ acidHUMANIX infection soul/gram made of retro-ADAM murder-gimmick nightmare-script….I rape the reptilian=HUB_modem=heart that crashed a trash sensor drug embryo to the emotional replicant of super-genomewarable abolition world-codemaniacs that was sucked to the different vital-controller nerve cells of the hyperreal HIV=scanner forms that BDSM play@artificial sun DNA=channels of her digital=vamp cold-blooded disease animals acid of a chemical=anthropoid….rave on the modem=heart of the hybrid cadaver mechanism technojunkies’ gene-dub to the nerve cells murder-gimmick of her abolition world-codemaniacs emotional replicant****the surrender-sites of the hyperreal HIV=scanners BLog the artificial sun to the cadaver feti=streaming_brain universe that I compressed the acidHUMANIX infection of a trash sensor drug embryo mass of flesh-module vital to the hunting for the grotesque WEB=joint end of the murder-protocol data=mutant processing organ that crashed a chemical=anthropoid different of the soul/gram made of retro-ADAM-insanity medium of the human body pill cruel emulator that was controlled FUCKNAMLOAD vital different of a trash sensor drug embryo-genomics strategy circuit of the biocapturism nerve cells that compressed the acidHUMANIX infection of a chemical=anthropoid is output to the hyperreal HIV=scanners that were controlled the insanity medium of the human body pill cruel emulator that accelerates the virus of the soul/gram made of retro-ADAM to the mass of flesh-module murder-gimmicks of her digital=vamp cold-blooded disease animals gene-dub::the DNA=channel of the cadaver city hyperlinks to the disillusionment-module of the murder-protocol data=mutant processing organ that was send back out the body encoder of the abolition world-codemaniacs emotional replicant performance technojunkies’ era respiration-byte reptilian=HUB_modem=heart that accelerates the virus of a trash sensor drug embryo to the DNA=channel of the cadaver feti=streaming_brain universe that compressed the technojunkies’ acidHUMANIX infection crashes–the insanity medium of the human body pill cruel emulator that was send back out to the different vital-controller of the murder-protocol emotional replicant that was biocaptured a chemical=anthropoid era respiration-byte of the soul/gram made of retro-ADAM clone-dives abolition world-codemaniacs of the hyperreal HIV=scanner form gene-dub of the cadaver city to the nerve cells nightmare-script of her ultra=machinary tragedy-ROM creature system mass of flesh-module hunting for the grotesque WEB of her abolition world-codemaniacs emotional replicant=being covered the reptilian=HUB_modem=heart that was sucked to the cadaver feti=streaming circuit that jointed technojunkies’ acid mass of flesh-module is output::clone-dive the artificial sun insanity medium of the human body pill cruel emulator that was biocaptured to the disillusionment-module of the acidHUMANIX infection archive_brain universe soul/gram made of retro-ADAM murder-gimmick rave on a chemical=anthropoid gene-dub in the surrender-sites of the hyperreal HIV=scanners nerve cells of the murder-protocol data=mutant processing organs BDSM play the cadaver city….the surrender-sites of the hyperreal HIV=scanners gene-dub of the cadaver city to the brain universe of the murder-protocol emotional replicant performance that was sucked the acid of a chemical=anthropoid FUCKNAMLOAD ****the abolition world-codemaniacs nerve cells rave on the murder-gimmick of the trash sensor drug embryo hunting for the grotesque WEB of her ultra=machinary tragedy-ROM creature system=genomics strategy circuit that jointed to a hybrid cadaver mechanism to the insanity medium of the human body pill cruel emulator that was biocaptured the soul/gram made of retro-ADAM nightmare-script….the data=mutant processing organ of the acidHUMANIX infection archive_vital browser DNA=channel of the artificial sun is ejected being covered to abolition world-codemaniacs of the acidHUMANIX infection archive_body encoder that technojunkies’ BDSM plays hunting for the grotesque WEB of a chemical=anthropoid=reptilian=HUB_ modem=heart that jointed that murder-protocol mass of flesh-module….it hyperlinks the insanity medium of the human body pill cruel emulator murder-gimmick of the soul/gram made of retro-ADAM to the nightmare-scripts of the biocapturism nerve cells that accelerates the virus of the artificial sun plug-in to the hyperreal HIV=scanners that were send back out the cadaver feti=streaming circuit that clone-dives@digital=vamp cold-blooded disease animals era respiration-byte of a trash sensor drug embryo….era respiration-byte is send back out to the DNA=channel of the acidHUMANIX infection archive_brain universe insanity medium of the human body pill cruel emulator that clone-dives the soul/gram made of retro-ADAM BDSM play a chemical=anthropoid ****plug-in to the vital browser that was processed the emotional replicant of super-genomewarable abolition world-codemaniacs technojunkies’ reptilian=HUB data=mutant of her ultra=machinary tragedy-ROM creature system murder game to the mass of flesh-module of the hyperreal HIV=scanner form biocapturism nerve cells hacking a trash sensor drug embryo DNA=channel of the cadaver city–.

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** Steve Erickson, I hope you get to write that piece. It sounds like a sentence-turner. Glad to hear that money thing was a weird phantom. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. The Santa we deserve. ** _Black_Acrylic, I see absolutely no reason why you couldn’t. Nice to see the YnY gang back together, grinning, and fueling up. Sounds like cool move: the screen printing brush up tutorial. ** Bill, Me too. Almost put my hand in my wallet pocket. But then I got into how ridiculous the phone thing was. And removed my hand. Thanks about the ARTE thing. Much dread is going on in our camp. ** Jamie, Cheerio, Jamie! ‘Child Chain Gang’ is killer. That company, Unit 70, are kind of the best prop makers out there. The main photo on the blog’s Facebook page is a Unit 70 prop. The Artaud thing was wild in the sense that everyone but me did a big noise/ projection/ assaultive/ theatrical kind of thing, and then I just unfolded some papers and read my words. I’ve recently been interested in going back into my dormant novel for the first time in years. Choosing something from it and polishing it into a readable state added to that. And there’s suddenly theoretical interest in it from an amazing US publisher. So I’m going to go back to work on it when I have time, which there won’t be much of until the TV thing is out of my hair, but, yeah, it’s an interesting feeling to want to finish it. You sound so good for a two-hour sleep guy. I’d be an animated prop with an impossibility of a brain if I were in your situation. I still haven’t heard ESCAPE-ISM for no good reason. Do they work as recordings, or is the live thing really the thing? Very sweet about your progressing screenplay. I like the name! My Monday was a bit grim, a couple of bits of bad news on the film front that doused me and threw me for a loop, so the day was a downer, but I woke up re-determined. Funny how that works. May your Tuesday be so pure it defies Freudian analysis. Where the clown meets the road love, Dennis. ** Dominik, Hey, D! The London screening was in an art space, so the audience was largely from the visual art scene. We’ve found that the visual art crowd is super receptive to the film and really into it, I guess because they’re more adventurous in their interests. They don’t have the expectations about what a film usually is or should be to get through, so they embrace the film for what it is and really get into it, and that’s perfect. You mean going back to school in Holland or in Amsterdam? That’s interesting and exciting to think about. Cool! We’ll hear about one of the grants in December, and the other one doesn’t have a date when they decide, so we could hear about that one at any time. Wait, whoa, you finished the new SCAB! Holy shit! How extremely exciting! I’ll go explore that in all of its depths after I get this thing launched. Oh, you have Oscar Nearly in it! I just saw him in London. He’s great. Everyone, Amazing news: the new issue of the great zine/venue/site SCAB edited by the mighty Dominik is now born and fully available to you. So head over there ASAP and dig in. It’s here. Now that’s extremely happy making news! You have the best week, and I’ll spend a good portion of my away time dwelling in SCAB, and I’ll see you soon! ** JM, Hey. Thanks for reading ‘The Sluts’. It just got picked as one of the 100 best books of the 21st century so far by some arbiters over at Vulture. Here, if interested. Nice David Howard poem. I’m on it for more. Sounds wild indeed, that show. All the goods returned to you in mint condition. ** Nik, Yep! Heaven is back on earth. My weekend was good, showing the film and doing a reading in London. I think my jet lag finally died this very morning finally. Wow, okay, cool: your Chekhov role and the guitar playing! That’s super interesting. I hope it gets videoed. Do you like collaborations like that? I mean working with others? I love making the theater things with Gisele partly for that reason. Eek, those theater students’ brains do sound a little worrisome. Oh, big envy that you went to Basilica Soundscape! My friend Brandon organises those. I’ve never been to one, but the line-ups are crazy amazing, obviously. My friend/ collaborator Stephen O’Malley did a piece there, an orchestral piece, I think. Anyway, great! My email is: denniscooper72@outlook.com. Very awesome about the Fahey post! I’m excited. Thank you a ton! ** Misanthrope, Thanks, G. You have plenty of time to get a Halloween thing together this year, and the blog will not let you forget it, so start planning that fucker now. And I think you dropping the wuss act and going to that haunted house is just the thing you need to get in the right state, so uncancel that cancellation and go, if you know what’s good for you. ** Corey Heiferman, It’s my annual pleasure to do such a thing. Halloween barely exists here in France too. So barely that it basically does not exist unless Disneyland doing a corny Halloween makeover counts, which it does not. I’ve heard of Day of Atonement, of course, but I have no idea what it entails. But now I sort of do, and I’ll supplement what you said with a Wikipedia add or something. ‘Clown Torture’ is god, a masterpiece, etc. I didn’t know what a ‘time out doll’ was until just now. It is creepy. Empty especially. Emptiness is creepy always. More than hollow. I think I’ve heard of Wishbone, but that’s about it. I’ll check that video and keep my finger near the FF button re: the interruptions. You can’t dig fully into Hebrew poetry and stick with the US lit scene? Too contradictory? Yeah, I keep myself pretty closely attentive to the US lit scene, or the new, adventurous wing. It’s a fucking renaissance of fascinating new writers, and I’m wildly into a lot of the work. ** Okay. A few-odd years ago, Kenji Siratori’s completely unique fiction was kind of a buzzy thing, and David Bowie was talking it up and stuff, but I realised the other day that I haven’t seen/heard people talk about his fiction for a quite a while, and that seemed like an excellent opportunity to train the blog’s pinspot light on his stuff again. See you tomorrow.

11 Comments

  1. Corey Heiferman

    I really enjoyed this. I recorded myself reading the excerpt aloud. While reading I had no idea what I was doing and I stumble around a lot, but there are some stretches in there where at least to myself I sound like some sort of zombie who may or may not know what he’s talking about. Maybe if I believe these books can de-program me and I read them aloud they will.

    What’s up with the urittrottoirs?

    https://people.com/human-interest/paris-urinals-public-ritrottoir-critics/

    Thought you’d get a kick out of this flight simulator video game (passenger’s perspective):

    https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ev7dqj/flight-simulator-game-pc

    I know USA lit vs Hebrew lit is def not zero sum but I wanna devote myself to Hebrew for a year the way Bresson’s priest devotes himself to being a priest or pickpocket devotes himself to being a pickpocket, otherwise I feel like I’m living in way too bland of a movie. How strong is the zealot in you?

  2. Sypha

    Hey Dennis, thanks for the reminder of Kenji Siratori, it reminds me that I really need to read one of his books one day.

    I realize that I haven’t posted on here awhile… well, you were away at one point for a few days as well, ha ha. I’m still playing that game I told you about a few weeks ago, SHENMUE… really enjoying it. Actually, I’m nearing the end of the game. Right now I’m at a part where the main character gets a job at some docks in order to infiltrate a gang. Working 9-5 driving a forklift and using it to bring crates from one warehouse to another (with the occasional fight with gang members to relieve the monotony). Many gamers complain about the tedium of this portion of the game, but I find it strangely soothing… and hey, they do give you a generous 2 hour lunch break!

    I finished watching the first two seasons of TWIN PEAKS (and rewatched FIRE WALK WITH ME). But before I dive into season 3, I’ve been watching some Dennis Potter BBC serials, starting with PENNIES FROM HEAVEN and yesterday I began watching THE SINGING DETECTIVE. Great stuff!

  3. Damien Ark

    I’ve been meaning to read this guys stuff but have wanted to wait until I start writing my dystopian gore erotica. I loved your post from yesterday lol. The electric chair thing is so fucking bonkers. Just survived a two week sickness in which I thought I would die. You’re going to Japan next month? Well, you’re going everywhere, it seems! Perfect time to be in Kyoto too, according to my friend from Japan. Hope all is well. <3

  4. Steve Erickson

    The sample text by Siratori reminded me of some of the word salad texts posted in paper or as graffiti that I’ve seen around New York over the past 2 decades. There’s obviously a purpose to what he’s doing, whereas I suspect some of those are symptoms of schizophrenia, but that random capitalization and insertion of punctuation marks like = and – rings a bell.

    Simon Reynolds’ article on Autotune in Pitchfork yesterday covered a lot of the territory I’d like to do in a piece about the technique. A friend made a good pitch yesterday that it’s the modern-day equivalent of African-Americans taking the saxophone out of the symphony and making it into a central marker of jazz. While Cher’s “Believe” was the first song to use Autotune to distort vocals in a very obvious way, hip-hop and R&B artists took something that was supposed to be an invisible studio device to allow singers to sound “perfect” and made it into the vocal equivalent of a guitar distortion pedal (although the way ’80s funk groups used the Vocoder is an obvious precursor.) Perhaps this would work for an end-of-year piece for the December issue of the Brooklyn Rail.

    I got a video link to your buddy Christophe Honoré’s new film, and since it’s one of very few gay-themed films in the New York Film Festival, I will be watching it today and writing about it in my article for Gay City News on the fest. What role did you play when you acted in his last film?

    The remnants of Hurricane Florence are hitting New York today, which means on-and-off showers. We had a thunderstorm an hour ago, though it only lasted 10 minutes. The sun has never come out.

  5. Chris Cochrane

    Curious, inspiring post about Kenji. I did not know his work until your post. Cool, that you’ve picked up working on the “dormant novel,” maybe not so dormant and or all the other work you’ve been doing lately, I wonder how that may inform the process and or content of the novel. Still have to say, loved the language of PGL. Hoping the bad film news wasn’t about PGL, though it sound like you rebounded. It seems like the Artaud event ended up being better than you expected. Going to get my tooth worked on a third time today. NYU dental left a bit of tooth in me. Do you believe it. Started working on picking the guitar up to make some new things or least learn some new things. Saw the Spike Lee film and really liked it. I loved the sound editing, would love to talk to Zac about that after he sees it. It reminds me of some of the sound editing the Godard does, though Godard’s is a lot more brutal, extreme and non narrative or an alternative narrative to what is being seen visually. Spike Lee does that somewhat. Anyway great to see you both, Say hello to Zac. I’ll see if I can push Ish on the THEM front, now that Lost and Found is over for now. going to hear him read this weekend. All the best – as you might say hand grenades of love

  6. Jamie

    Good morning, Dennis!
    How are you?
    I had a copy of today’s spotlit book in my virtual basket, as the post makes it sound so fascinating, but when I got to the excerpt I thought it’s maybe not for me. Totally totally fascinating and great post though. Hey, I can’t buy every book you big up, eh?
    The Artaud thing sounds like an absolute blast and I’m excited that you’re getting back into your novel. An interested publisher is obviously a great thing too. Was the event recorded in any way? Colour me intrigued.
    ESCAPE-ISM are probably a better live prospect than on record, tbh, but there’s a few diamonds recorded, I think. There’s a nice sub-Suicide vibe going on with them. If I wasn’t using work’s shitty wifi atm I’d link you to one of my faves by them, but I’ll try to remember to do so tomorrow.
    Sorry that you had a downer of a day and that you got bad film news. I hope it’s nothing too serious. But great that you woke up re-determined. It’s cool how that can happen when you don’t expect it to! More of that, I say.
    How was Tuesday?
    May your Wednesday be as good as that 60s Batman TV series.
    Surgically enhanced love,
    Jamie

  7. _Black_Acrylic

    @ Dominik, the new SCAB is bookmarked and I’ll greedily return to it over the coming days.

    @ DC, today I received the densely packed booklet for that recent Artaud & Sound event and look forward to spending some post-YNY-festivities time with the thing.

  8. Steve Erickson

    I don’t want to jinx this by talking too much about it, but I’m in the very early stages of another film programming project. If it takes place, it will be at a New York theater which is not Anthology Film Archives. I’ve contacted the director whose films I want to show for the first time today. The theater’s main program has to like his films, and there’s a lot of logistics that have to come together, and I have to find time to do all this without driving myself crazy, but it seems like a real possibility.

  9. Chris Cochrane

    hello – I bought you a Roberto Bolano book when we did the 2010 remount of THEM. Do you still have it or remember the title? I’m looking for it, though cannot find it. It’s the only book of his I really liked or maybe the 2666 thang too. I hope you got my earlier message. Your blog’s memory of comments, just confuses me sometimes. still love you though

  10. Nik

    Hey Dennis,

    Wow, this might be the first noise musician I’ve ever heard about who writes in way that’s just as brain scrambling.
    Glad your jet lag is dead. Yeah, I don’t know if we’re allowed to film it, cuz I’m pretty sure it’s this directors musical adaptation of the play, but I’m not worried about it. Yes about the collaborating. It was complicated for me as an actor back in Temple though, because a lot of the time I ended up performing in these shows I didn’t really respect and didn’t really want to do, but would do anyways because I wanted to work. Also, I was getting more into writing at the time, so I felt it was keeping me from this other, more controllable creative thing. Now that I’m working hard at writing and identify more as a writer than an actor, I am starting to really enjoy the theater process again. I think it might just come down to only trying out for shows that I really believe in. Ramble answer, but yeah, collaboration is one of my favorite parts about making art and I hope to incorporate into my life as a writer somehow.
    I missed the Stephen O’Malley thing! I could only make the Saturday night show. That’s sick that you know the guy who organizes those, it was definitely the most well curated event I’ve ever been to.
    I just finished up a story for class tomorrow. Fingers crossed it’s in decent shape. What are you working on this week?

  11. JM

    oh my goodness. Kenji S is on my top priority list now, even though I have a bit of a gut feeling I wouldn’t be a fan (his like personal dialogues sound intentionally imperceptible a little, to me, but like half of it is super astute and clear and intelligent). I finished The Sluts today after a three-day read and loved it.

    I couldn’t help thinking about JT Leroy throughout the entire second half. We spoke briefly a few months ago about the whole scandal and you seemed pretty reticent about it, and understandably so, but I have to ask how much if at all JTL played on the conception of The Sluts? obviously the text itself as it stands is perfect in structure (seriously, the fact that a semi-meta-text like that didn’t get overwhelming and-or too much is unbelievable) but I’m curious about a lot of surrounding and coincidental facts. JimmyTaylor = the initials J.T. which could be entirely accidental but then there’s the whole thing about the fabricated identities and street prostitutes and an external wife with a kid for adoption. There were a lot of similarities I thought. Maybe it’s my own slightly smaller webspiracy, that the internal and external lives of a legend of a different sort have merged into one.

    that Vulture list is surprisingly well-rounded, and I’m not very uptodate on 21stcent literature! I really do need to read some Franzen sometime but he seems tediously middlebrow. I do like the fun chapters I’ve read though.

    peace and pieces.

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