The Truth is a Hammer
Alt Lit
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Alt Lit is a
Contemporary Literary Movement. It is distinguished from Past Movements as Well
as Other Contemporary Movements in that it is the First Literary Movement to be
sustained by the InterNet. Most of the Content of Alt Lit is published on the
InterNet. Most of the “ Alt Lit Players ” are of the Millennial Generation - 18 to 35 Years of Age - the Generation that grew up onLine.
( Rough ) Alt Lit Demographics
Most Alt Lit Authors
are at the Blog or Poetry ChapBook Level of Publication - the Vast Majority of
the Poetry ChapBooks are PDFs Available for DownLoad off Blogs. Personal Blogs,
Lit Magazine Blogs, FaceBook and Twitter are the Primary PlatForms for the
publication of Alt Lit. Only a Small subSection of Alt Lit Authors have
published Books, and All of these, with the Xception of Tao Lin’s upComing 3rd
Novel, Taiwan, Taipei, have been
published by “ UnderGround ” or “ Small ” Presses. This use of Small Presses - plus its Use of
the InterNet as a Primary Publishing PlatForm – is what Accounts for the “ Alt
” in “ Alt Lit. ” In Fact, there is Very Little “ Alternative ” about “ Alt ”
Lit : it is Par the Course for Young and upComing Authors to publish with Small
Presses or to Self Publish via whatEver Medium is Convenient. That,
Stylistically, Alt Lit is Homogenous ( minimalist ennui-ridden prose describing
daily life in american suburbia ) lends to the misNomer. It's postModernism -
anOther Staple of Alt Lit.
“ Alt Lit ” is a
Brand created by Tao Lin's
Followers in an Attempt to market their Scene as Special or Different. To the
OutSider, Most Alt Lit Voices are inDistinguishable ( minimalist ennui-ridden prose describing
daily life in american suburbia ). This Accounts for
Much of the Disdain the Movement garners from those not within the Scene - being
“ in the Scene ” means writing like EveryOne Else in the Scene - which means
writing like Tao Lin, who created the Scene in his Image, handpicking Authors
for the Alt Lit PowerHouse, Muumuu House.
Let the Term “ Alt Lit
” dissolve back into the Meaninglessness from whence it came : I suggest
changing the Title of “ post-tao lin consumer minimalism ” to “ Emo Lit ” or “
Ennui Lit ” – a subGenre of “ OnLit ” for “ OnLine Literature ” - shortened, Effectively, to “ Emo / Ennui OnLit. ”
The Environmental Psychology of Emo / Ennui OnLit
- or -
The SubUrbs
Let us call the Way
the Environment a Writer grows up in effects their Art Environmental Psychology. Having been granted Access to Emo / Ennui
Lit - having rooted around in it via
FaceBook, Twitter and Blogs - I have concluded that Emo / Ennui Lit, and the
Writers of Emo / Ennui Lit, come out of American subUrbia circa Generation
Y - for this Reason, the Aesthetic and Moral Values of American subUrbia circa Generation
Y ( Regan, Clinton, Bush, Obama ) permeate their Writing. Their Psychology is an outcome of their Environment. These Values are best
described as “ Starbucks Values, ” or “ Corporate Consumer Values ” - these are
the Values which say - “ You want to help the Environment? Buy Green! ”
Emo Lit is Notable
for being One of the First Literary Movements in which Hollywood, Television
and Music Celebrities feature Prominently - in Emo Lit, Pop Celebrities take
the Positions Once occupied, in Literature, by Mythical and Literary Figures, Such
as the Greek Gods, Biblical Saints, or Famous Lead Characters, like Leopold
Bloom or Captain Ahab. This is Consistent with a subUrban Youth that grew up consuming
TV and Music Media over Literature ( before the Introduction of the InterNet )
and therefore brings the Sensibilities of those Medias to Literature. This
Pervasive Early Xposure to Television and Music Media xplains the MultiMedia
approach Many OnLitsters take - creating Videos for YouTube and Interactive
Poetry ( now that they have Access to the InterNet, their Only God ). The More
Creative Side of Most Ennui onLit is MediaTechnological.
Mention is Frequently
made, in Emo Lit, of Consumer Choices ( Media, Clothes, Food, etc. ) and Many
Scenes from Ennui Lit Stories and Poems feature Easily Recognizable Consumer Locations
Such as Restaurants, Clothing Stores, and Popular WebSites. The visually reductive and nature deprived concrete / plastic homogeny of the
suburban wastescape is reproduced in the emo litsters’
minimalist prose, which is then used to convey a rote set of emotions and experiences. I say
Rote because, like the subUrbs, Ennui Lit is “ Safe ” - what’s “ Alt ” about “
Alt Lit ” is its Lack of Interest in “ Traditional ” Literature - the Scene is
almost Entirely Self-Referential, like a Gated Community in which a Few Members
smoke Pot or own unUsual Albums and Classic Novels. And like a subUrb - a Gated
Community - in Ennui Lit, Blandness predominates : Prose is Bland, Relationships
are Bland, Adventures are Bland, Gossip is Bland – hence the Ennui. Ennui Lit
is endemic of Literature written by an Animal in a Zoo – a Nice Cage, but a
Cage nonetheless. That “ alt lit ” is so resistant to other kinds of prose and subject matter beyond consumer naval gazing is Similar to an Animal that,
having been raised in Captivity, is Afraid to go outSide of its enClosure.
Emo Litsters and Technology
What is Most Notable
about OnLit, of which Ennui OnLit is just the First of what will Surely be Many subGenres,
is its Use of Technology to create and spread its Work. The Use of Sites Such
as Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube and the Use of HandHeld Digital Devices has
created Forms of Literature that Previously did not xist. The Emo Litsters are
at the Technological ForeFront of Literature - for this they Rightly
congratulate theirSelves - but they confuse their Use of Innovative Technologies
to create Literature with their Use of Innovative Literature. Most Emo Litsters are copying Tao
Lin, Tao Lin adopted Noah Cicero because they shared a Nihilistic Minimalism,
and Noah Cicero Kind of sounds like Blake Butler, his More Snobbishly Noir
Incarnation.
Alt Lit Influence O'Meter
Depression and Nihilism
Depression features
Notably in Emo Lit, as do the Drugs prescribed by Doctors to combat
it. This is Consistent with the Writers being Writers. There is noThing “ Alt ”
about Writers being Depressed and taking Drugs for it – what is Even Less Alt
is Emo Lit's Use of Legal Drugs. The
Nihilism is a Little More Interesting – and the eSpecially subUrban Cause of
the Depression. Curing Nihilism would make Xanax Obsolete! Nihilism is what
happens when an Animal is raised in Captivity : kept from True Xperience, it
begins to feel its Life is Meaningless – but for being shown off, of Course :
so we xplain the Phenomenon of Tao Lin, who xisits for no Other Reason, it
seems, than to show off the Fact that he is Tao Lin – like a Hamster in a Cage does
noThing but be a Hamster in a Cage. To cure his / her Nihilism, the Emo Litster
would have to break out of it's Cage. Can the Litster do it?
Emo / Ennui OnLit as a Scene
Emo / Ennui Lit is a
Social Scene whose Primary Mode of Conversation is Writing xchanged over the
InterNet. For the Most Part, Emo / Ennui Lit requires that you write from an
Emo / Ennui Perspective if you are going to be accepted into the Clique. As Far
as I know, within “
Alt Lit, ” I am the Xception - a Maximalist, a Vocal AntiCapitalist, and a Radickal Optimist, I am on the Fringes, granted Access
Only because of my Insistence. What fascinates me about Emo / Ennui Lit is its
Mediocrity. It incenses me. How could the First Major Literary Movement of my Generation be so
Thoroughly Bland? The Answer is that Emo / Ennui Lit is the PlayGround of
Priviliged subUrban Kids living in Cages of the Mind and the Few Working Class Kids Smart Enough to move up
an Income Level but not Mad Enough to fight the System. Emo / Ennui Lit is More about the InterActions between the Writers as
Similar People than about the Writing itsSelf - the Writing itsSelf is subPar -
Most Emo / Ennui Writers ( Muumuu House and People who wish Muumuu House would publish them ) are 2nd Generation Tao Lins and Tao Lin is a
Mediocre Writer and a Narcissist. Noah Cicero interests me - his Descriptions of UnderClass Torment brush with Genius, but he needs a Better Editor and a More Comprehensive Politics - Right now he appears Impulsive and Moody - Sam Pink
is a Good Prose Writer but still a More Absurdist 2nd Generation Noah Cicero - Blake Bulter
is the Most Lyrical, but too Self Conscious in the Academic Style, making him overwrite and overthink in a Very Sad Young Man Kind of Way, etc. Derivative, Riddled with Spelling and Grammatical
Errors, OnLine Emo Lit is Notable More for its Bad Faith Conformity than its
Literary Leaps and Twirls and Flourishes. Emo / Ennui Lit is Notable for getting
Emos to care about SomeThing - but then Again, its Really Only theirSelves,
their Consumer Habits and their Shallow InterNet FriendShips they care about.
That Emo Lit provides a Forum in which Young People can xchange their Works of
Art is Honorable, but there is Little of Any Value to those not conforming to
the Scene below the Surface of the Scene. If Cliquish, Most Ennui Lit is Decidedly
Anti-Intellectual with Self-Absorbed Thoughts, Ordinary Activities and
Habits of Consumption making up the Content of Essays, Stories, Poems and Tweets - the Xception
being Blake Bulter’s HTMLGIANT, which Services University Writers with a Passing Interest in the “ Alt Lit ” Phenomenon.
Emo / Ennui Litster Male
The Emo / Ennui
Listster Male, from what I have seen, is Depressed, Snide, Sarcastic, Self-Deprecating yet Self-Satisfied, a
Hipster, from the subUrbs, Skinny, Snobbish, Pretentious ( but pretending to
be an EveryMan by enjoying “ Base ” Pleasures ), Cliquish, Well -
if Simply - Dressed, a Nihilist, Politically Apathetic ( with Pretenses to
Idealism and Long Stretches of Cynicism ), Loyal to Brands, Obsessed with the
InterNet, Sociable if Socially Awkward, Vaguely Sxual to Sxually Frustrated to
a Compulsive Fornicator / Masturbator, inCapable of Commitment, Capable Only of
Serial Commitment, or a HardLine Monogamist, adrift in the Sea of himSelf,
drowning his Feelings in a Flat Writing Style, Passively Patriarchal to a Momma's Boy,
Emotionally Needy but Emotionally Detached, out of Touch with his Emotions, out
of Touch with his Body, pushing Energy up into his Head from his Loins causing
OverThinking of Actions and a Tendency to live More on the InterNet and in Writing
than in Real Life, and Finally - Fundamentally at a Loss about what to do with his
Life besides write Things that make him feel a Little Bit
Better about his Boring subUrban Consumer Xistence.
Emo / Ennui Litster Lady
It’s Harder for me to
be as Mean to Ladies than it is for me to be Mean to Men, but here we go : Emo
/ Ennui Litster Ladies are Oppressed. No, Really, they are. The Perennial “ Second
Sx, ” Emo / Ennui Lister Ladies, besides Tao Lin’s Handpicked Harem, All fly
below the Radar on the non-Alt Lit Initiated - like Women in Saudi Arabia, they are “ behind the Veil. ” Emo / Ennui Litster Ladies
are the Nicer, Sweeter, More Timid, Cuter, Prettier, More Shapely, Slightly Less Depressed and Nihilistic
- but still Kinda Depressed and Nihilistic, so the Men can understand them -
Versions of the Men. Their Bodies and Appearances are focused on. The Sluttiest, Most Insecure
One gets the Most Attention. They talk about Feminism and their Men pay them Lip
Service. Most avoid me.
Future
What is the Future of Alt Lit? What is the Future of Emo /
Ennui OnLit? That depends - Emo / Ennui OnLit will alWays be defined by Tao
Lin, alWays be defined by a Particularly Millennial Nihilism and Consumerism - “ Alt ” Lit, however, is SomeThing More Fluid - and Less Real. For Xample, a Classic, or “ Establishment ” Work of Literature ( my Area of Xpertise ) is alWays at Least Somewhat “ Alternative ” by Virtue of its being Xceptionally proFound in the Nietzschean beyond Good and Evil Sense of the Term : a Classic Novel is alWays ahead of its Time. But, the Name
“ Alt ” Lit implies that whatEver Literature falls under its Umbrella stands in Opposition to SomeThing - so, what is the Current Incarnation of “ Alt ” Lit
in Opposition to? I am tempted to say that “ Alt Lit ” is in
Opposition to Traditional Literary Formats, but, this brings up a Dilemma Similar to that of All Literary Classics being Alt in Some Fashion : does Tao Lin's being published by Viking mean he and his Style is no Longer “ Alt ” but now “ Mainstream? ” One might argue that “ Alt Lit ” is in Opposition to Traditional American Values, like the Beats were, but the Majority of Alt Litsters do not live Alternative LifeStyles, like the Beats did - they live like subUrban College Students. In Order
for “ Alt Lit ” to be deserving of its Definition, there will have to be a
WideSpread disIntegration of the Emo / Ennui OnLit Scene - Young Writers will not
Only have to reject Tao Lin as a Primary Influence and go searching for their
Unique Literary Voices, but begin adopting Truly Alternative LifeStyles as Well - as it
stands, it is the LifeStyles of the Emo / Ennui Litsters, as reproduced in their
Literature, that are the Least Alt Thing about them - besides using the InterNet,
the Majority of Alt Litsters do not live in Any Way Differently or have Any Different Values from the American Cultural Mainstream of the Past 70 Years - rather, they are the American Cultural Mainstream, Generation Y?
Andrea
or - my Argument as to
how the Widely Copied Prose Style of Tao Lin represents the Commodification of
Literature -
Throw the Tao Lin
