The root of this, I believe, lies in the privileging of “realism” over other modes of expression in aesthetics. By this, I mean the idea that art is supposed to be a mimetic reproduction of things that would “really happen”. Leaving aside, of course, the number of really-occurring events that get you treated as insane if you acknowledge.
Read MoreWhat I'm getting at here isn't just the juxtaposition of a classic mystery genre with the weird but something that emerges from that juxtaposition, and what it says about us and the world that we live in.
Read MoreIt’s been a rockier road with reading, though I see now that I said roughly the same thing the last time I subjected everyone to my reading list. I also neglected to mention what else was on my plate while I was being underwhelmed by Eugene Thacker, so we’ll start there.
Read MoreIt was V. that brought me to Thrice, actually, and not the other way around. I distinctly remember having read V. already, and then, not that long after, being in a Wal-Mart in Bedford, PA and seeing Vheissu, their then-most recent album. I was stunned to see such an obvious reference to a novel I had first heard about from my father, who basically only remembered chapter 3, in which a character named Stencil does several “impressions” of not-himself, with each section of the chapter narrated by the person he’s pretending to be at the time. Also there’s like, robot secret agents or something, and everyone’s in Cairo in the late 19th century.
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