Theory

500 Pages·2015·0.382 MB·English

by  Kenneth Goldsmith

I look to theory when I realize that somebody has dedicated
their entire life to a question I have only fleetingly
considered.
I used to be an artist; then I became a poet; then a
writer. Now when asked, I simply refer to myself as a word
processor.
Writing should be as effortless as washing the dishes -- and
as interesting.
Hunter S. Thompson retyped Hemingway and Fitzgerald novels.
He said, “I just want to know what it feels like to write
these words.”
Obama regularly copies his speechwriter’s work out in
longhand on legal pads in pencil: “It helps organize my
thoughts.”
If you’re not making art with the intention of having it
copied, you’re not really making art for the 21st century.
From producer to reproducer.
The Internet is destroying literature (and it’s a good thing).
“Plagiarism is necessary,” Lautréamont insisted. “Progress
implies it.”
Authenticity is another form of artifice.