"The evil of automation. Never again will I sacrifice my shit to the sucking vortex. My God, there was no trace left. My shit disappeared like the plague or like an abortion. It's terrible to have abortions every day. Wake up you people, humanize yourselves. Don't reject your shit like you reject your parents."
-Lucas Samaras, "Crude Delights : Shitman"
Sunday, September 09, 2007
A Scatological Parable
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I'm surprised that isn't a Julia Kristeva quote.
Maxwell:
While I kniw who Kristeva is, I haven't read any of her writing. I tend to be skeptical of those writers dubbed "post-structuralists," "structuralists" or what have you. Richard Dawkins describes the work of such folks as the "vacuous rhetoric of mountebanks and charlatans," and I tend to agree...though there have been exceptions.
Those labels can be stifling, as can the insanely dense reading itself. Still, I like Kristeva for attempting to understand how some fundamental circumstances of human existence actually control many of the things we take for granted, such as identity and choice.
But I wasn't really trying to get into a structuralist debate. Kristeva wrote a lot on the "abject," which Samaras is trying to reclaim here. Mainly I just love this blog and wanted to post something so you would look at mine. Keep up the great work.
Love, me.
Maxwell:
It sounds like she's something of a behaviorist, although that's just one more stifling label. ;)
Thanks for mentioning her, in any case; I'll look into her ideas when I can.
I checked out your blog, Lightning history. I'll be sure to visit from time to time. I also noticed that you're writing in other venues, too, which is always encouraging. Good luck!
Hey, thank you so much! The other venues help me build a writing portfolio, but ultimately I hope to work for something other than a primarily A&E booster magazine built around trendy real estate.
Post a Comment