The Following is a Paragraph from Shoplifting From American Apparel, a Novella by Tao Lin, selected by Randomly opening the Book -
“‘I’m going to use the bathroom,’ said Sam. ‘Do you want to use the bathroom?’ Kaitlyn shook her head no. Sam washed his face and peed and went in his room. Kaitlin was sitting on the mattress staring at the floor. ‘What are you doing?’ said Sam laughing. Kaitlyn grinned and said she was drunk and laid down on the mattress. Sam jumped on the mattress. He sat on the mattress. He lay on the mattress. He took stuffed animals and put them around Kaitlyn. He said his ex-girlfriend Sheila made them.”
The Following is a Paragraph from Richard Yates, a Novel by Tao Lin, selected by Randomly opening the Book -
“At the carnival they made funnel cakes under a tent with Dakota Fanning’s mother and a church pastor. Sometimes one of them left the tent to go get more milk from a full-size refrigerator. Haley Joe Osment tried to make a funnel cake in the formation of a pentagram. Dakota Fanning said they should replace the sugar powder with bacon bits. Haley Joe Osment said they should fry the funnel cakes in bacon oil and then wrap it in bacon and pour nacho cheese on it to create a family-size funnel cake for cheese beast families. They talked about having their own tent next year to sell organic vegan funnel cakes. They made funnel cake for about three hours and then walked to different areas of the carnival, sometimes saying ‘cheese beast’ or ‘party girl’ quietly while facing forward with neutral facial expressions.”
As it stands
( it's the 3rd Week of 2012 )
with his
"modernist minimalism"
is the "Crown Prince"
of "Alt Lit,"
the Best Known
and
Most Imitated
Literary Figure
thus
this
Generation,
my
Generation
the Very First
onLine
Generation,
or
as I like to call it
Millenni-Geni.
Tao Lin is Twenty Eight Years Old and he’s published Two Books of Poetry - One Book of Short-Stories - One Novella - and Two Novels.
Tao Lin is the Ring-Leader of a Small Publishing House called Muumuu House that is staffed by his Friends, Admires, and Acolytes.
Tao Lin has made his "Personal Brand" "Sxe" and "Cool" by cashing in on
a ) the "it's Sxe to associate your Self with Young Ladies, the Younger you can get away with the Better" Factor in Fame in the Arts
by marrying and then divorcing FilmMaker / Performance Artist / Writer Megan Boyle,
adding TeenAged Fashion Blogger Bebe Zeva
to his Circle of inFluence,
publishing a Controversial Story describing the Seduction of a Known NY Blogger by Twenty One Year Old, Blogger, Marie Calloway,
and making the Plot of Richard Yates,
his "Autobiographical" Second Novel
revolve around a Relationship between a Twenty Two Year Old Man and a SixTeen Year Old Girl Respectively named "Haley Joel Osment" and "Dakota Fanning"
b ) the "it's Cool to do Drugs" Factor in Fame in the Arts by
naming his Film Company
( which creates Films in a Style he associates with "Mumblecore,"
and that’s getting Plenty of Press in Plenty of Relevant Places )
after a Drug
as Well as by writing a Column for VICE Magazine
Original Hub of Hipsterdom
called Drug Related Photoshop Art.
Yes
despite his Detractors
despite his Detractors
Tao Lin is
Obviously
Obviously
to Date
( 3rd Week of 2012 )
the Most Significant Writer
to arise
out of the Generation
that grew up
onLine
to arise
out of the Generation
that grew up
onLine
the Ultimate Hipster Writer
and
with his Third Novel ( Taipei ) on the Way
Quite Possibly
the Person he posits himSelf to be
for American Letters
Milleni-Geni
a Spoof of
Because no Matter how Many People ( like mySelf ) think Tao Lin's Literary Style is Gimmicky
and no Matter how Many People ( like mySelf ) think his onLine Persona is iRritating
Tao Lin has achieved a Big Thing
and he knows it
and he knows it
Tao Lin has created
around himSelf
a New Literary Movement :
but Tao Lin knows
All Meaningful Literary Movements
were mocked
and derided
in their inCeptions
and so he soldiers on
as Well
America's Leading Young Literary Writer
should.
Yep
Tao Lin must be feeling Pretty Good about himSelf Right now
Yes indeed
Still
Still
I'd think
there Must be Times
there Must be Times
Times when Tao's aLone, Perhaps
surfing the Web, Perhaps
looking for New Blogs to interest him, Perhaps
SomeThing niggles at him
Okay - a Lot niggles at Tao Lin
But SomeThing to do with his Career
SomeThing to do with Literature
Some inEvitable Event
Some inEvitable Event
SomeThing
no
SomeOne
he's know he's going to have to face
for Years
THE GREAT( ER ) WRITER
THE GREAT( ER ) ARTIST
THE GREAT( ER ) ICON
Millenni-Geni
See,
in 2009
I was Twenty Years Old
in 2009
I was Twenty Years Old
living in Brooklyn
and Tao Lin
Twenty Five
was living there too
as he still is
Tao Lin was
in 2009
the SomeBody of the InterNet Writers, yes
but not a FilmMaker yet, no
just a Young Writer out of NYU with a Couple a Books in Print
with More than the Usual Amount of Buzz around his Name
who was suspected of being Carles
Author of Hipster Runoff
Voice of USAlt
TeenAged
subUrban
Millennial
onLine
onLine
Nostalgia
and Fan Boydom
Tao Lin
in 2009
had caused a Kerfuffle in the Literary Establishment
by selling Shares for the Royalties of Shoplifting from American Apparel
his First Novella
onLine
before it was Even written
and with this Act of Marketing Originality
had cemented his IdEntity
post readerofdepressingbooks.com
the Blog that launched his Career
as Part Writer
Part
Personal Promotion Performance Artist
how Very Millenni-Geni
Yes, Tao Lin was riding that Edge
Uniquely his
Uniquely Hamster
between Terribly Smart and
Terribly Annoying
for Xample
he was Still Openly Obsessed
with his MySpace "Friends" Count
the Poor Guy
and in this Slightly OCD / Self Absorbed
if Ultimately Justified
if Ultimately Justified
Quest for Greater onLine Readership
Tao Lin sent me
ANDREA COATES
Andrea Coates' MySpace Profile Picture, 2009, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY, USA
FIRSTEST
GREATEST
WRITER
ARTIST
ICON
OF
THE
MILLENNIAL
GENERATION
a Message that Read
"Nice Tattoos"
Well, thanks a Bunch, Tao
You Really do know how to make a Girl feel Special
But was it Really about the Tattoos, Tao?
Or was it Only about the Tattoos?
I mean, my Writing wasn't Great yet
I was Twenty Years Old
I was Twenty Years Old and living in Brooklyn
I was a Twenty Year Old Lady from NorthWest nowhere Canada
living in Brooklyn, NY
and I was like a White Savage to those Lorimer St. Hipsters, Man
a White Fucking Savage
the Way I danced
CampFire danced
letting All my Feelings coming out my Body
while they shuffled around in their
Skinny Jeans
in their
"Semi Legal Club"
trying so Hard
to get their Finger
on the Pulse
of Happening
it wound
up
their Asses
no
wait
the Opposite of that
the Opposite of that
cause if they'd Really had Fingers up their Asses
they'd've been dancing around like I was then
like Crazy Fun
What Total Dullards they were
like Crazy Fun
What Total Dullards they were
OmG
a Real Disappointment
to a Girl from the Stix
Anyway
besides Dancing
I was having Sx with Questionable Men
and trying not to become a Hooker
I started
www.andreacoates.blogspot.com
and the MySpace Account
( since Defunct )
and posted Poems
about being in Love
with a Philosopher
and how Much I hated
Refelxive Sxism
( I Fucking hate it and Tao Lin's got it )
I was an Adolescent Cougar
my Ears and my Paws were too Big for my Body
but I’d seen Tao Lin’s Ads on Hipster Run Off
and I thought his Ad about being
The Last Great American Poet
( where is it on Google Images, yo? )
( where is it on Google Images, yo? )
were Xactly
the Kind of Thing
I've made if I was Twenty Five
and had Friends
who were Writers
whose Blogs
I could post Ads on
but I wasn't
and I didn't
and I didn't
Yeah back then I was Totally unkNown
and I Totally sucked
but still
I believed I'd be the Person
I know I am
in
no Time Flat
Yep, back then I thought I'd be
Megan Boyle
or
Bebe Zeva
or
Marie Calloway
in
no Time Flat
Baby
Baby
Thought I’d be
sucking
Tao Lin’s Cock
in
no Time Flat
Of Course I didn’t post an Ad like that
( that’s a Positively Apocalyptic Thing to say
it suggests Tao Lin is going to destroy Literature where it stands
make it Totally Conformist
or SomeThing
and he might try )
Of Course I couldn't have been
known
Right off the Bat
Of Course I’m not
Megan Boyle
or
Bubu Zeve
or
Marie Calloway
or
whoever
or
whoever
Of Course I couldn't've
sucked
Tao Lin’s Cock
I have Four More Personality than All Four them Bitches hanging out together High on MDMA
But I was Twenty Years Old and my Mind wasn’t workin' Good yet
Grass still made me Sleepy
or maybe that was just that
Bushwick Shwag
cause after the Message
"Nice Tattoos"
I Seriously thought I'd be enveloped in the Tide of Tao Lin and his InterNet Fame in
no Time Flat
I tells ye
Thought I’d be gettin'
the Reputation
I know
I am Due
Right then
and
Right now
Tao's
in no Time Flat
but thas Okay
iz Mine now
Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhhahahah
The Following
is an Article
arguing that Tao Lin
is an Article
arguing that Tao Lin
Currently the Most Significant Writer of the onLine Generation
has Merely been the Place Holder
for a Far More Talented
Far More Compelling
Millennial
Literary
Icon
I am
and
I am
the Smartest
the Funniest
the Meanest
the Sxiest
the Deepest
the Darkest
the Most inTense
the Most Creative
the Most Unique
the Most Majickal
the Most Controversial
the Most Powerful
and the Most Entertaining
Writer of the onLine Generation
thus Far
thus Far
so this here is why you should All
THROW
THE
TAO
LIN
THE
TAO
LIN
I wish that I could say that Tao Lin's Literary outPut is a One Trick Hamster and be done with it, cause it is. The Best Thing I could say about Tao Lin's Prose is that it's Very Consistent - All the Effort he puts into Writing must be into making his Prose so Consistent, Otherwise, Things of Interest would happen in his Books - buh da bah ching.
In my Professional Opinion
Tao Lin's Novels / Stories / Poems are
BORING
MEDIOCRE
SHALLOW
FORGETTABLE
BOUND PAGES
of
FAD
but that Take
( my Subjective Opinion of his Work )
fails to account for
Tao Lin - "On-Line Phenomenon"
Tao Lin - "Literary Voice of the Millennial Generation"
and those Monikers - which he wears everywhere he goes
Many Times
More so
than his Books themSelves
are what is so
Darn Compellin'
to me
about
Tao Lin
I gotta ask mySelf
how did SomeOne who writes Books that I
with my Self Education in Canonical Literature and Philosophy
would consider " Boring," "Mediocre," "Shallow," "Forgettable" "Fad"
get to be the Most Famous
Young Literary Writer
of my Generation?
And, More imPortantly, what does that say about this Generation?
The Word Literary is Key the Following Analysis.
In this Essay
Saying that a Book is Literary denotes it has Poetry of Prose, Timelessness of Plot, and Realism of Character.
and that All together
A Book’s Literaryness can be said to be in Direct Correspondence to its proFunDity of inSight into the World.
It has Long been a Fact that Writers without Much Literary Talent - that is Writers who write Books with Stilted Prose, a Tired Plot, and unRealistic Characters - Books with Little proFunDity of inSight, in Other Words - become the Most Famous Writers of the Moment - think Stephanie Meyer of the Twilight Series or Dan Brown of The Davinci Code.
It is also understood
It is also understood
( by Frustrated Literary Writers Mostly )
that these Writers are not "Literary" Writers at All
their Books are not "Literary" Books
but rather
of an Other Breed
indeed
of an Other Breed
indeed
"Commercial" Books
by
"Commercial" Writers
Obviously,
The Easiest way to tell how Literary a Book is compared to how Commercial a Book is is to compare the Book's Prose to its Plot
Books can be More or Less Literary vs. More or Less Commercial.
Commercial Writers write for the Masses in a Prose that does not accomplish the Verbal Variety and Poetry for which the Literary Writer is Best Known and Most Easily recognized. In Commercial Novels, the Xcitement of the Plot compensates Both for the Utilitarian Prose and the Work's Consequential Lack of Literary Depth ( proFunDity ). Which is to say that -
If the Way the Words are put together in the Sentences is the Most inTeresting Thing about the Book, it is a Literary Book.
If the Action in the Plot is the Most inTeresting Thing about the Book, it is a Commercial Book.
As Bret Easton Ellis said about Raymond Carver in VICE’s Issue 17 : 5 -
“The plots don’t really matter. The solutions to mysteries don’t matter. Sometimes they’re not solved at all. It’s just the mood that’s so enthralling.”
This tells us that Raymond Carver, like Bret Easton Ellis, for the Same Reasons, is a Literary Writer despite Ample Commercial Attention.
So
Tao Lin
with his distinctive, consistent, and much imitated minimalist prose style
and Nearly Plotless Novels
falls Comfortably
into the Territory of "Literature"
In a Tao Lin Book
the Style the Prose is written in
is More Notable than what is going on in the Plot
( which is
for the Most Part
chatting on Gmail
for the Most Part
chatting on Gmail
going for a Walk
eating Food
talking to a Person
or doing a Drug ).
talking to a Person
or doing a Drug ).
Based on this, I would say that
Tao Lin's is "Commercial Literature" - Literature that is More Commercial than Literary in the End - but still Qualifies as Literary as opposed to Commercial Fiction.
Here's why :
Tao Lin's is "Commercial Literature" - Literature that is More Commercial than Literary in the End - but still Qualifies as Literary as opposed to Commercial Fiction.
Here's why :
The Critics of Literary Writers, like mySelf, are, above All Else, when judging how Good - or "Literary" - a "Literary" Book is, judging the proFunDity of that Literary Book. We are asking ourSelves, "How Deep does this Book's inSight into the World go?"
We know Literary proFunDity is xpressed in Poetry of Prose, Timelessness of Plot, and Realism of Character. But, the Larger Part of the Weight of the Question "is it a Good Literary Book?" falls onto the Poles "is the Prose Poetic?" and "are the Characters Realistic?" I ask mySelf, in judging the proFunDity of a Literary Book - just how Well does this Book capture the Complxity of being aLive? Often, our Lives don’t have Plots - More like ... Emotional Catharses separated by Mundanities. In this Sense, Plot is Often frowned upon by Literary Writers, especially minimalists, who prefer to keep the Plot to a Series of Mundanities in which there are Emotional Catharses - the Better to show off the Depth of their inSight into the World via the Poetry of their Prose and the Realism of their Characters. Tao Lin is here included - his Prose is More Poetic and his Characters are More Realistic than his Plots are they Eventful.
The Curious Thing about Tao Lin, however - what makes him Special and what infuriates the Literary Establishment ( including me ) about him - is that while Tao Lin has created a Brand of Literature that Ostensibly meets the Standards of Literature ( the Prose is Poetic and the Characters are Realistic ), but Very Few Poetic Tricks are repeated to the Point of Absurdity throughout Other Wise Banal Prose and this describes Characters that are Realistic in their being Mundane, yes, but, in their Utter Mundanity, have Few to no Emotional Catharses.
Tao Lin’s Characters' Lack of Catharsis means they lack proFunDity. Because his Books skim along the Surface of their Characters' Lives ( More about this Later ), the Books themSelves, too, lack proFunDity. But, Tao Lin's Books' Lack of inSight into the World we live in, we are lead to believe, via Tao Lin's Success as a Literary Celebrity, says SomeThing proFound about the Generation he chronicles - Millenni-Geni. Tao Lin has been crowned King Writer of the Millennials by the Millennials because he, in his Monotonous suppression of inSight, reproduces their Sensibilities - its a postModern, postXistential, subUrban Consumer Nihilism called "Hipsterdom," and it either doesn't like to own up to Depth of Feeling, or it doesn't have Depth of Feeling.
Personally, I think Tao Lin's Literary Works are a meta Jokes ( Literary Books that aren't Really Literary Books ) created by Tao Lin to support Tao Lin's Fame-Seeking ( and there will be More about this Later, too ). But, there is anOther Way of looking at this : Tao Lin, in his Want to become the Leading Young Literary Writer of his Generation ( as displayed in his Self-Aggrandizing Personal Promotion Material
) decided to universalize, in Literature, the Millennial Xperience and he did this by reducing his Literature and his Generation down to what he considered to be its Most Essential Elements.
In Terms of Literature, boiling a Novel down to its Most Essential Elements means Tao Lin has to provide a Protagonist who goes on a Journey of Some Sort - in ward & / out ward. In Terms of the Generation, boiling a Novel down to its Most Essential Elements means Tao Lin must mention, in his Novel, those Things which set this Generation apart from the Others - he must mention the subUrbs, Consumerism, the University Xperience, Social Alienation, Communications Technology, Irony, postModernism, Nihilism, antidepressants, etc.
Tao Lin has done to Contemporary Literature what "Modern" Art did to Art - he has reduced it to Shape and Shade
Because he so Clearly and unChallengingly portrayed them, Tao Lin has become a SomeThing of a Literary Pop Star among Millenni-Geni Webbies. The Similarities between Tao Lin and anOther Alt Pop Web Phenomenon like Lana Del Rey go Deeper than that, however. For Tao Lin has not just reduced his Art down to its Most Essential Elements ( a Very East Asian Approach to Aesthetics, as Well as a Very post Industrial One ) -
Tao Lin has done to Contemporary Literature what "Modern" Art did to Art - he has reduced it to Shape and Shade
Because he so Clearly and unChallengingly portrayed them, Tao Lin has become a SomeThing of a Literary Pop Star among Millenni-Geni Webbies. The Similarities between Tao Lin and anOther Alt Pop Web Phenomenon like Lana Del Rey go Deeper than that, however. For Tao Lin has not just reduced his Art down to its Most Essential Elements ( a Very East Asian Approach to Aesthetics, as Well as a Very post Industrial One ) -
CrimeThinc, in their Life-Changing Book, Work, say about Pop Stars that they
"embody our creativity- the creative potential of all the exploited- purchased from us, concentrated and sold back."
"embody our creativity- the creative potential of all the exploited- purchased from us, concentrated and sold back."
ie :
Tao Lin has made his Literary Style into a Commodity - a Product to be traded on the Market.
He is commoditizing Punctuation and Tone
He is turning them into a "Brand"
Tao Lin has taken an American Literary Style developed by Bret Easton Ellis
( and Due, at its Source, to Hemmingway )
Minimalist Prose + Consumer Consciousness + Emotional Nihilism
( Have you read that Article by Kurt Anderson where he points out that American Culture has Barely changed in Twenty Years? )
concentrated it into an
'easily recognizable meme'
and is marketing this Meme to Millennials via his Books and Muumuu House, which publishes writers who write like Tao Lin
as the ForeMost Literary Style of their Era.
The Way Tao Lin has made himSelf a Millennial Literary Pop Star is that he has done as All Pop Stars do - he has commoditized his Art.
Tao Lin has made his Literary Style into a Commodity - a Product to be traded on the Market.
Now
Tao Lin is not commoditizing Books here
Tao Lin is not commoditizing Books here
Book have allways been Commodities
TAO LIN IS
COMMODITIZING
LITERATURE
He is commoditizing Prose and Plot and Character Devices
He is commoditizing Punctuation and Tone
He is turning them into a "Brand"
Tao Lin has taken an American Literary Style developed by Bret Easton Ellis
( and Due, at its Source, to Hemmingway )
Minimalist Prose + Consumer Consciousness + Emotional Nihilism
( Have you read that Article by Kurt Anderson where he points out that American Culture has Barely changed in Twenty Years? )
concentrated it into an
'easily recognizable meme'
and is marketing this Meme to Millennials via his Books and Muumuu House, which publishes writers who write like Tao Lin
as the ForeMost Literary Style of their Era.
Tao Lin has commoditized a Literary Style the Same Way AnyThing is commoditized - it is produced over and over and over again Identical Every Time - like Products out of a Factory.
A Line of Tao Lin's Prose is repeated - in it's Tone and Essential Elements - over and over and over again in a Book
A Plot by Tao Lin features the Same Eight Subjects repeated over and over and over - Boy / Girl / Gmail Chat / subUrban or Urban Wastescape / Walk / Food / ( Consumer ) Item / Sadness
A Story by Tao Lin allways features the Same Protagonist, Tao Lin himSelf, surrounded by an in Differentiable Rotation of Friends and GirlFriends - Most of them poached from his Real Life
You've heard the saying,
"A Million Monkeys on a Million TypeWriters would produce Shakespeare?"
Well, Tao Lin's Literary Oeuvre, as opposed to being Monkeys on TypeWriters
is More like Hamsters in Cages on Wheels
Every Book by Tao Lin is a Little Hamster Factory
Every Line of Prose is a Hamster in a Cage in the Factory
Every Syllable in Every Word
is a Little Squeek
a Little Eeeeee Eeeee Eee
made
as the Hamster runs on its Wheel in its Cage in the Factory
The Hamsters themSelves
( the Soul of the Book )
( the Soul of the Book )
are bred for Cheap
and sold for Profit
to Children
plied
with onLine
Advertisements
Millennial Hipsterdom ( and thereby, emo / ennui on.lit, the American Hipster Literary Movement Millenni-Geni made up Entirely of Tao Lin Acolytes ) is reMarkable for being the First Youth "CounterCulture" to be absorbed into Consumerism before it even began.
Millennial Hispterdom is CounterCulture as marketed to you by the Powers that be and you buying it and thinking it’s Cool / Ironic.
Megan Boyle - Writer / Performance Artist / X Wife of Tao Lin - from Twitter
Tao Lin is an Independent Author publishing with Small Presses, but in his Soul he is allready sold out to the Gigantic, Global Machine of Capitalism.
His Writing is the American Millennial Literary Style commoditized into and marketed as the American Millennial Literary Style to the Point it has forgotten that Literature qua Literature is found in the Deep Personal Search for Truth, rendering it a Depthless Repetition of Literary Elements, just like a Pop Song is a Depthless Repetition of Musical Elements.
Both a Pop Song and a Book by Tao Lin seem directed More towards hitting the Nerves that make us consume / produce Products on the Capitalist Market than the Nerves that allow us to understand the Emotional underCurrent of our Lives - because that's the Aim of Commodification : to make you consume / produce Products. If you understand the Emotional underCurrent of your Life, you're Less Likely to think consuming / producing Products is what's Really imPortant in it. It's the Catharses.
Even if he is in Fact depressed ( and I don't doubt it ), Tao Lin’s Characters’ "depression" seems Less like "depression" itsSelf and More like an Effort to capitalize on the Commonality of depression in Books / Readers - anOther Attempt by Savvy Marketer Tao Lin to create the imPression he is the Leading Young Literary Writer of his Day - for a Writer of a Classic Novel must suffer from depression, Right?
Tao Lin’s Books read More like Ads for Books than Books.
Tao Lin's " Generational Classics "
Mock-up by Skeleton-Jelly
are composed of the Most Essential Elements of what makes a Generational Classic ( depression / Walks / Romantic Relationships / Conversations about Culture / Things that define an Era ), without Any of the Truly proFound Soul Searching that makes a Classic Novel a Classic. Which is Only One of the Reasons why so Many People copy Tao Lin's Style - they think they can create Equally Relevant Books out of the Empty Prose / Plot / Characters he has provided for them.
Tao Lin is Writing by Numbers.
And yet while the InterNet is Full of Reviews calling Tao Lin's Literary Work Fraudulent, People's ( mySelf included ) Dismay Over the Quality of his Literature has yet to depose Tao Lin of his Position as the Most Famous Young Literary Writer of his Generation because Tao Lin as a Literary Phenomenon was Never about Literature qua Literature - it was allways about the Commoditization of Literature by Capitalism - because if you can commoditize Literature qua Literature - if you can commoditize Plot and Prose and Character, as Tao Lin has attempted - it is Possible to commoditize Consciousness itsSelf - it is Possible to commoditize the Soul.
First his Own
( he is a "Brand" )
then Others
( now they are Tao's Band too )
This is not to say that Tao Lin is Part of an Evil Conspiracy ( though he is - the Evil Conspiracy of Capitalism ), rather that the Way Capitalism as an Ideology ( and it is Tao Lin's Ideology ) works ( see the Industrial Revolution ) is it takes People's Authentic ( Self Directed ) Work away from them, makes them work for Capitalism instead, and then, with the Money they make working for Capitalism, makes People buy back what was Once their Own to create and consume. The More Things Capitalism can commoditize - steal from People, concentrate ( for Cheap ) into a Commodity, and sell back to People ( for a Profit ) - the More Money it makes, the More Power it gets, the More Places it goes looking for New Things to commoditize - steal from People, concentrate ( for Cheap ), and sell back to People ( for a Profit ). It seems that, having commoditized the Physical World, Capitalism hopes to now do the Same for the Spiritual World. Tao Lin is our Evidence - his commoditization of himSelf and his Art is Authentic : he as "Authentically" sold to Capitalism as an Artist can be.
With the Fame of Tao Lin we are seeing Evidence that the Senseless, Voracious Commoditization Process of Capitalism has made it to Literary Consciousness, which is Consciousness itsSelf, the Soul itsSelf, and wants to make that into a Product for Sale on the Market.
So Tao Lin's Literary Style, his Consciousness, his Soul, is reproduced by his Fans because that's the Way Commoditization works. With his Influence on Literature, Tao Lin is franchising. NoOne who copies his Literary Style will Ever be as Big as him, though. Capitalism is a Pyramid Scheme, allways with SomeOne on Top, making the Most Money / having the Most Influence. AnyOne who writes like Tao Lin after Tao Lin is not going to achieve his Success - Worse! Tao Lin is a Mediocre Writer like Subway is Mediocre Food. Tao Lin's Followers are Rubes. He is fleecing them of their Authentic Voices. All the Effort they put in to writing like him Only reinforces him, like All the Food we eat at Subway does our Culture and our Bodies Little Good, but lines the Accounts of Corporate Xecutives with Money.
This, then, is the Difference between my Self-Promotion and Tao's - the Difference between my Anarkism and his Capitalism. Where Tao Lin's Self-Promotion involves creating an Entire Company dedicated to publishing Work that Greatly resembles the Work of Tao Lin ( with Only Minor Distinctions, like the Difference between Regular and Salt and Vinegar Chips ), imagining I started a LLWAM Publishing Company, and you came to me with a Story "in the Vein of Andrea Coates," if you copied my Prose Quirks and my Particualr Attitude the Way Tao Lin's 'consumer minimalism' and 'muted depression' have been copied by his Legions of Followers, I wouldn't publish it. I couldn't. Because to publish Work that is an Imitation of One Self is Arrogant and Cruel. It is to see the Other Writer Only in so Far as they reinforce your Own Power and I cannot do that. What I want to see from Writers is Uniqueness. I want them to be themSelves to the Fullest Xtent Possible. What Tao Lin wants to see is Conformity that in no Way threatens his Authority.
Superficiality
One of the Most Notable Things about Tao Lin's Prose is that it's constructed out of noThing but Superficial, Surface Observations ( Words said / Foods eaten / Things done ); ie : there is Little to no Inner Monologue in a Tao Lin Work. Perhaps the Most Notable Aspect Tao Lin's Literature is the Lack of Emotional Depth and Range. Tao Lin’s Protagonists are Patrick Bateman with Less Money and Less Rage - they are Patrick Bateman as Broke, Listless Vegan. Like Patrick Bateman, a Tao Lin Protagonist's Self-Awareness is Totally outward - he is Constantly thinking about how he appears on the outSide, Pointedly obscuring, in this Way, what is going on on the inSide. Millennial Hipsters are meant to see themSelves in Tao Lin's Protagonists, but Really, Tao Lin’s Protagonist's IdEntities are not inhabited - like a Blank T Shirt from an American Apparel is meant to be worn by SomeOne Other than Dov Charney but to notheLess point to the Supremacy of Dov Charney.
More Similarities between Tao Lin and American Apparel
- "Be a Hipster," say Tao Lin’s Books. "Here’s what to read / how to be" just like American Apparel says, "Be a Hipster. Here’s what to wear / how to be."
- Both Tao Lin and AA are Popular with American Consumers between the Ages of EightTeen and Thirty Five
- Both Tao Lin and AA have Connections to the Movers and Shakers of Modern "Cool" ( VICE Magazine )
- Both Tao Lin and AA have Sxualities Focused on Slim, Caucasian, Brunette, Quirky, Artistic Ladies
who are Nonetheless made Secondary Citizens the Way they are Consistently presented as the Faddish Objects de Fascination of the More Successful Men who created their Scenes
who are Nonetheless made Secondary Citizens the Way they are Consistently presented as the Faddish Objects de Fascination of the More Successful Men who created their Scenes
- Both Tao Lin and AA claim to have a Social Consciousnesses ( Tao Lin’s Veganism / AA’s Fair Trade ) but Both bury it so Deeply under Consumerism and Cult of Personality I don't believe it's Much More than a Cop out - "I'm not a Jerk - I eat Only Plants." "I'm not a Jerk - I pay my Mexican Employees Slightly More than that Other Guy."
- Both Tao Lin and AA use Guerrilla Advertizing Tactics
- Both Tao Lin and AA are Notable More so for their Ads More than for their Products
- Both Tao Lin and AA are post 9/11 Ironic - which is to say, they feel their Lives are deVoid of Meaning and so they degrade EveryThing around them with Snide Jokes as a Coping Mechanism
- Both Tao Lin and AA are Well-Traveled on Lorimer St
- Both Tao Lin and AA used Questionable Investment Strategies to get where they are toDay
- Both Tao Lin and AA oversaturate the Market with their Products
- Both Tao Lin and AA are criticized for the Narcissism of their Lead Man
- Both Tao Lin and AA are criticized for the Narcissism of their Lead Man
Every Time I have read SomeThing by Tao Lin / stepped into an American Apparel ( Curiosity summons me, I suppose ), my First Thought has been "I wish I was as Popular / Recognized as this Person / these People," and my Second Thought is, "Wait a Minute, if I surrounded mySelf with as Many Cliquey, Shallow Sell outs as these Eels I wouldn't be a Great Writer, I would be a Hipster. Thank God I missed that Failure Bullet." And out I go.
With Hipsters it is about following the Trends, it is about Xternal Indicators of Status. Hipsters are taught to be Empty by their Culture ( American Consumer Capitalism ), to avoid Contemplations of the Inner Divine, rather to xist as Consumers of Petty Xternal Things ( Clothes, Books ). They are taught to define themSelves by what Products they consume, and so the Consumption of Products Never ends - Consumer-Oriented Hipsters are feeding a Hole where their Authentic Personalities should be - this is why they are obsessed with "Authenticity" in the Products they consume : because they lack it in themSelves.
Under Capitalism, People are not the Creators of their Culture but Consumers Passively reacting to Choices offered to them by the Market, convinced by the Owners of the Means of Production, via School and the Media, that these are the Same Things.
The Millennials have chosen Tao Lin as their Literary Hero because he captures, with his "prePackaged" Literary Style, the Way EveryThing in their Lives has become "prePackaged," and, thereby, their Alienation from the Way their Lives are lived. In Tao Lin's Literary Works we reading about noThing if not how Tao Lin copes with Alienation : Emotional Nullification and Petty Xternal Amusements ( Such as Clothes, Books and the InterNet ).
Tao Lin’s Characters wander around talking, yet noThing happens to them, not Really. NoThing is completed. NoThing is learned. NoThing is achieved but a New, Thin Book, like a Short, semi-Satisfying Masturbation you can sell for Money onLine to buy More Things with / get Some Other Hipster to recognize you as being Totally Hip for having done.
In Tao Lin’s Books, Other People are Things to talk to on Gmail Chat / txt / Occasionally see. Spending Time with Other People consists of saying Meaningless Things that are Vaguely Funny and feeling Vaguely unComfortable / turned on but not Really knowing what to do about it Xcept what People are understood to do with their Time on Earth under the Rule of Consumer Capitalism : go to their Jobs / School, walk around, eat Things, make Small Talk, attempt Relationships, and take Drugs to make themSelves feel Less Awkward / depressed. For this Reason - their overIdentification with Xternal Products which is a Result of growing up in a Culture of Commercial Consumption - the Characters in a Tao Lin Novel are inDistinguishable from One an Other but for their Names, Outfits, and Genders. Every Girl in a Tao Lin Novel could have been "Dakota Fanning." Every Guy in a Tao Lin Novel is an emo / ennui on-lit Writer. That his Characters are Realistic in their Conformity does not save Tao Lin's Novels from the Fact that they are Boring for the Same Reason.
Tao Lin's Books show but a Meager Degree of what it means to be a Live toDay. But, because the Degree he is showing is the One Most Twenty SomeThing subUrban College Students who read Books can relate to, and because People living under Consumer Capitalism are so aLike ( Consumers of Capitalist monoCulture ), they think he's got Life in the Millennial Generation Totally nailed.
Tao Lin as Marketer
Tao Lin’s Real Talent, then, is not his Writing, which is Only Original in being so like a Mass Produced Consumer Product, a New Trick for Literature, if not for the Rest of the Arts ( Tao Lin is like a Sxually repressed Andy Warhol ) - it is his Marketing of his Writing as the Most Emblematic of his Generation.
If he were Any Less Good at it - Marketing himSelf - Tao Lin would have to work in Advertising.
Tao Lin has managed to convince us Readers, Eager as we allways are for a Literary Voice for the New Generation, that he is that Voice based not on what used to elevate a Literary Author to the Position - the proFunDity of their Literary Work- but via the Very Same Technique Capitalism has been using to sell Cheap Mass-Produced Consumer Products for Decades : advertise a Product as if it is Great, and People will buy it, no Matter how Xtraneous it Really is.
But Tao Lin is Aware of this, to a Degree : he knows he is being a Cheap Knock Off, and so he makes Fun of this by drawing our Attention to it.
Tao Lin glorifies his Own Meaninglessness. In doing so, he establishes and reinforces the Meaninglessness of Millennial Hipster Culture as a Whole.
ie : Tao Lin is a Watered-down for the Median Consumer Version of Classical Literature.
In his Books, Tao Lin makes it Clear he has the Elements of Classical Literature Totally figured out ( Angst / interActions between People / Movements from Place to Place / Objects and preOccupations that Define an Era ), but he has no More than this, and this is why his Books are All so Short. He has Bones, but no Meat.
Tao Lin has a Million Hipsters, Subjectable to Advertising like no Generation before them, yearning for a Generational Literary Hero, identifying their Own Mundane, Repetitive, Alienated, Vaguely depressed, Consumer LifeStyles in his Books and trying to write just like him on Account of that / their Conformist Consumer Brain-Washing.
What Tao Lin's Books lose by using Surface Infatuation as a Technique for Emotional Nullification ( what Patrick Bateman does as a Character Tao Lin does as a Writer ), is what a Literature needs to stand the Test of Time. Tao Lin's Books Lack the proFound Search for Meaning in Life that is the Source of inSight and the Kore of the Great Literary Work. Instead Tao Lin and his Literary Works have a Claim as to the "Purposelessness" of Life. But a Novel without Purpose is a Novel without Life.
Marketing yourSelf as the Great Writer of your Generation Only goes so Far - I should know. Despite his Popularity, despite creating a "New Prose Style" based in Commodifcation and Meme Theory - create a Relevant Product Such as a Self-Consciously Shallow Prose Style and reproduce it as Many Times as Possible - Tao Lin is rejected by the Literary Establishment because his Books - with their Conscious Lack of a Deeper Spiritual Meaning than "I wrote a Book about a Person like me and you, you should buy it" are Only Half as Interesting as the Hype he’s created around them via the Same Technique - Commodification + Meme Theory - create a Relevant Product Such as a Young, InterNet-Based Writer and reproduce it as Many Times as Possible - which works Better in Sales, which thrive on Consistency, than it does in Literary Writing, which thrives on Variety, no Doubt.
This is where Tao Lin’s Corruption as an Artist becomes Evident : Tao Lin acts, in his Public Persona, that Absolutely Necessary Counterpart to his Written Work, in a Way that contradicts the Very Message of his Literature. His Theme, buried there, under All its Author's Attempts to pound it out, is the Truth of where Tao Lin's and his Characters' Drive to Emotional Nullification, to Surface Infatuation to cover their "sever depression," comes from. IRL, Tao Lin acts as if he does not know his Own Literary Theme - and if you ask me, a Writer who does not yet know his Own Theme is a Writer who had not yet found a Meaningful Voice.
Tao Lin's Literary Theme
Universal throughout Tao Lin’s Books is a Sense of Helpless Despondency that is subdued by a Practiced Emotional Neutrality. Tao Lin’s Minimalist Prose elicits Little Emotion Even as Good / Bad Things happen to its Characters ( therefore, it is Hard to say that AnyThing at All happens in a Tao Lin Book ). Amid the Stuff of their Days ( Boy / Girl / Gmail Chat / NYC / Walk / Food / [ Consumer ] Item / Sadness ), Characters are Notable Only for their Lack of a reAction. Characters Emotions are Rarely xplored from the inSide ( Even their "depression" is not so Much described as is as inferred via Characters' Conversations about Suicide, which might also be taken as Sarcastic ) - instead - a Tao Lin Staple : describe the Possible Emotion a Character is feeling by writing "he / she made a happy / sad / neutral facial expression" - a Technique which emphasizes the Fact we don't Really know what the Character is feeling - Possibly noThing at All. Any Emotions that are described from the inSide are Mild - Mere Twinges, like a Sneeze : "he felt happy / sad." Then it passes. It passes over Small Things - like a GirlFriend saying SomeThing Funny - and it passes over Big Things - like a GirlFriend telling you she cuts herSelf. By Tao Lin's Protagonists, these Events are xperienced as of Nearly the Same Magnitude on the Emotional Barometer. This would be More disTurbing if it weren't so Boring, but you know what they say about Evil and Banality.
The Characters' Emotions do Subtly manifest, however, just like Tao Lin's Theme manifests despite his ( Apparent ) Ignorance of it - "Haley Joel Osment" becomes "More Controlling" the More "Dakota Fanning" Self harms. Sam steals from AA and goes to jail for it. But this is All Tao Lin will let on to - now the Book Ends. We Never know how Things work out between Haley and Dakota or what happens to Sam ( my Guess is they continue about their Boring, Normal, depressed, Consumer-Oriented Lives Xactly as they have throughout the Book ). The "Barely there" Progression of a Tao Lin Plot would seem to confirm this Hypothesis : Things stay the Same, like the Dull Drone of a HydroElectric Plant, like Hamsters in a Hamster Mill running Purposelessly on Wheels into Eternity.
The Characters' Emotions do Subtly manifest, however, just like Tao Lin's Theme manifests despite his ( Apparent ) Ignorance of it - "Haley Joel Osment" becomes "More Controlling" the More "Dakota Fanning" Self harms. Sam steals from AA and goes to jail for it. But this is All Tao Lin will let on to - now the Book Ends. We Never know how Things work out between Haley and Dakota or what happens to Sam ( my Guess is they continue about their Boring, Normal, depressed, Consumer-Oriented Lives Xactly as they have throughout the Book ). The "Barely there" Progression of a Tao Lin Plot would seem to confirm this Hypothesis : Things stay the Same, like the Dull Drone of a HydroElectric Plant, like Hamsters in a Hamster Mill running Purposelessly on Wheels into Eternity.
An Effect of this ( Self enForced ) Emotional Neutrality is an in Ability to Connect with People. Tao Lin’s Protagonists are Consistently Isolated, a Lone and Lonely ( a Condition of Life under Consumer Capitalism, which would see All interActions mediated by Technology it can profit off of ). Then, when they Suddenly do spend Time with Other People, instead of feeling the Other Person out based in Unique and Internal Traits, a Tao Lin Character notes the Clothing the Other wears, the Facial Xpressions they make, the Words they say, the Food they eat, as if these Surface Facts, in Aggregate, would amount to the Same Thing.
An Obsession with Food. The Type of Food One eats, Scenes featuring Eating, Conversations centering around Food - these are Universal to Tao Lin’s Books. "Central" to the Plot of Richard Yates is the Fact that Dakota Fanning is a Bulimic and that her Mother is a "cheese beast" ( she has Poor Eating Habits ). Veganism is mentioned in Tao Lin’s Books as if this, despite Little else to go on, were Evidence of a Moral Conscience to his Characters. Morality as xpressed through Consumer Choices.
Tao Lin’s Characters are Sad Characters whose Obsession with the InterNet, Xtreme Self Consciousness and Use of Prescription Anti Depressans cancels the Sadness out, creating a More Sustainable "Ennui." The Characters' Shallow Evaluations of themSelves and of One anOther mimic the Shallowness of the Culture they live in - Consumer Culture. Characters' Relationships with Food, the Most Fundamental Form of Consumption, therefore, are their One True Comfort, the One Way they xpress a Morality, and the Main Way they ( the Lady Characters eSpecially ) outWardly display their inTernal Emotional Issues.
And yet, as we know, in a Tao Lin Novel, noThing changes. NoThing gets Better. The Static Prose remains. The Static Characters remain. The Static Plots remain. It is Pure Monotony from Start to finish and this is meant to be Funny, or Witty, or Poignant - Mostly because the Characters SomeTimes say Funny, or Witty, or Poignant Things. But they don't do AnyThing. This is summarized Perfectly by the Scene in Richard Yates where Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning contemplate running and high-fiving but then Haley Joel Osment says, "It's better just to have thought about it."
Tao Lin’s Literature is just like a Hamster in a Cage running on a Wheel into Eternity. The Cage is the Modern American Consumer IdEntity. Seeing as he cannot escape the Cage, and seeing as the Banality of the Cage, IdEntical to Every Cage around it, desensitizes the Hamster to his Emotional Self, he can Only reproduce its Qualities by running, Endlessly, without getting Anywhere, observing, but Uselessly, the Things he sees from his Cage - not Much. More of the Same - over and over and over.
Isolated in his Consumer Identity ( to the Advantage of the Owner of the Means of Production - the High Level Capitalists, the Oligarchs and the InSiders ), Tao Lin's Hamster Soul has no Idea how to be with his Fellows ( Xcept in so Far as he's using them to build his "Personal Brand" - as Consumer Objects representing his "Self" ). Richard Yates opens with an Anecdote about a Hamster eating its Own Babies. This is what Animals do in Captivity. They appear without Empathy, but in Fact they are sparing the Nxt Generation their Condition. Haley Joel says that when he saw the Hamster eating its Babies he wanted to give the Hamster a High Five. With this Scene, Haley Joel Osment is displaying his Own Deep Inner Wounds. If he had known he would have been born into Captivity, he would have preferred not to have been born at All. Poor Dakota Fanning should have recognized the Warning for what it was - but she does not, and so, because the Capitalist Cage has failed to provide her with Authentic Xperience, and Haley fails to relate to her Feelings because he has been so numbed to himSelf by the Same deSensitizing Environment, Dakota pukes up her Food, her Body's subConscious Protest against the Cage, just like stealing from AA was Sam's.
And what is the ReAction of Haley Joel Osment to Knowledge of Dakota Fanning’s Bulimia? He becomes More Controlling, More Possessive - just like the Power Structure does when People begin to rebel. Haley Joel Osment is a Man in Emotional Denial. A Passive-Aggressive Misogynist who dates a SixTeen Year Old, I think, because no Grown Lady would put up with him. Emotional repression is his Technique for Dealing with his Feelings of Anger and Sorrow at being held Captive, and so he pressures his GirlFriend to do the Same. Because he has repressed so Much he has no Idea why him and his TeenAged Girl Friend feel so Miserable and Stuck, though they discuss it Frequently. Perhaps, if viewed from an Xistential Perspective, it is Even Funny, their Misery and imMobility? The Source of a Witty Book, Perhaps? Tao Lin has absorbed, into himSelf, the Perspective of those who keep the Cages he and his Friends live in, therein justifying his Captivity to himSelf. And so he becomes a Narcissist - the Self is the toughest Cage to break, though it can break All Other Cages.
Interestingly enough, unLike Most Writers, I don't think Tao Lin writes to release his Emotions, but to suppress them, Day after Day, through an affected neutral minimalist prose style. His Obsession with placing himSelf Every where on the InterNet is endemic of a Man suffering from a Lack of Proper Grounding : because he denies his Feelings, his inStincts, All of Tao Lin's Energy is being pushed into his Upper Chakras and out his Head into the Virtual World rather than recycling through his Real Life Body to energize it - hence, the Emotional Numbness, the Tepid Sxuality, and the Over Reliance on Xternal ( onLine and Material ) Indicators as a Measure of Personal Success. For this Reason, Tao Lin is at a Gave Risk of a Writer's Block - he has blocked himSelf off from his Primal Self, and until he releases the Energy in his his Lower Half, he will not be able to flourish Creatively. I hope to help him achieve this Aim by telling him the Truth about what is going on in his Literature. Because this is the Truth, it may, at First, appear Harsh. Accept it, Tao Lin. It is my Gift to you.
Dear Tao Lin
You have internalized the Attitudes of those who keep the Consumer Cages we live in toDay : you have internalized the Ideology of Capitalism, the Ideology of the Planetary Work Machine. Despite it's Manifestation in your Literature, you behave, in your onLine Public Persona, as if you are un Aware that the Message of your Work is that our Consumer IdEntities are destroying us by keeping us Captive within them, unAble to live our Lives as we ought to : Freely, Emotionally, from inStinct and inTuition.
Consumer IdEntities trap us within them, use us to perpetuate them, and then destroy us when we have given our All to SomeThing that can give noThing back but Consumer Products. Capitalism raises us in a Cage of Consumerism wherein Every Action must be mediated by the Market. Capitalism feeds off us at Every Turn - we work for it, and in our "Spare Time," we buy Things from it. Capitalism co-opts our proFunDity as Beings by making us its Slaves and then convinces us, via School, Advertisement and the Media, to reproduce its Memes of Production and Consumption in our Identities in Order to perpetuate it, and so, Tao, Lin, that's Xactly what you do : EveryThing about you screams : Brand. The Truth is, it is you who has been branded - by Capitalism - and now you are its Slave.
Capitalism takes our Creative IdEntities away from us in the Conformist Pressure Cooker of School and then sells them back to us as Adults with Jobs in the Capitalist Sphere as Consumer Products it convinces us, via Advertisement, are Necessary to our Well-Being and Sense of Self. Just like you, Tao Lin, convince us, via Advertisement, that your Books are Necessary to our Collective Literary Consciousness - to our Sense of Self in the Millennial, onLine Generation - when in Fact there is allmost no Self in your Books, just the Surface Consumptive Indicators of One offered up for our Consumption.
Suicidal Thoughts - Common to your Characters - are a Suitable Response to feeling as if you are a Slave - that your Life is not under your Own Control, but SomeOne else's, and to SomeOne else's Advantage Primarily. At Least your Death could be your Own. But - should Suicide be rejected as an Option - and it is More Often than it is not - the Nxt, Easiest, Option to ease a Life lived in Captivity is Conformity to the Power Structure, that Obedience might bring Favors - and the System suggests it will. To its Own Advantage, of Course - just like writing like you, Tao Lin, guarantees One a Place in emo / ennui on-lit Cirlces, if Never, for being Derivative, your Success as a Writer. Tao Lin, you have chosen, in Face of your depression, to conform to that which is eating away at you for whatever Meager Advantages it may offer, just like a Hamster in a Cage needs the Cage Owner to feed it and therefore dare not escape its Captivity, but rather keeps running, Endlessly, Pointlessly, in its Wheel, trying to Convince itsSelf its imPrisonment is Worth the Good Things it brings, like Food, or Fame.
If you sell out you will be Rich, said the FortuneTeller to Sam in SLFAA.
Well, my Fortune Teller, and that happens to be me, said, RESIST PATRIARCHAL COLONIALIST CONSUMERISM and you will ascended to the Highest Heights the Cultural Arenas of Literature and Philosophy in your LifeTime and beyond.
So, from the Looks of Things out here, Tao - from the Behaviors of you on-Line and the Characters in you Books - you are not helping to alleviate the Heinous Tragedy for Unique and Authentic Sapiens Self-Xpression ( Art ) that is Commodified Capitalist Consumption. You are watching what is happening, you are recording what is happening, you are getting a Little Bit upSet about it, but in the End you are doing noThing besides swallow your Misery, pressure your Imaginary ( Real? ) GirlFriend to do the Same, and keep on conforming ( sending out signed Copies of Will Farrel's Elf to Readers / putting AA's name on your Book / stickering BRITNEY SPEARS to the Door of a Lit Mag, etc ), in that, you are perpetuating the Cancer, Tao.
The Way People live toDay, in a Cage of Consumerism, is the Theme of your Writing, is the Biggest Problem with your Writing, and it is why you and your Friends have Such Bland and Similar Writing Styles. Comparisons are made to the Beats, but you are noThing like the Beats - the Kore Beats ( Kerouac, Ginsberg, Cassady and Burrows ) were Wild People. They were rebelling against Conformity, Tao Lin. You, rather, are rebelling against Literature by promoting Conformity. EveryOne from Muumuu House sounds like you and was chosen by you and you don't sound like Much of AnyThing besides a Drone. You have commodified your Literature and the Literature of your Friends for the Sake of Capitalist Comfort in the Moment, believing that this Indulgence of the Power Structure is "Ironic" considering your Position as a Literary Writer and therefore "Funny." It is Neither. It is what the Power Structure wants from you and it does noOne but those at the Very Top of that Structure Any Good. Not Even them, if Bret Easton Ellis' or Fitzgerald's Work is to be Any inDication.
The Best Parallel between Genius Art and Commercial Art is between Real Sugar and reFined Sugar. One is the Stuff by which we have survived, Hand to Mouth, for Millions of Years. The Other is a New, More Addictive but Less Healthy Industry Made Product promoted everywhere in the Market, causing, in its Monotonousness, Mass Obesity and Mass Diabetes.
Do you think your Veganism makes you Different, Tao ? Makes you Special? Makes you Better? It might mean you have a Healthier Body, Sure, but it's still just anOther Commodified, Consumer Choice in a Long, Super Market Line of Commodified Consumer Choices. It is still buying the Disease. It’s noThing but a "Hipper," "Healthier" Way of doing it. Eating Vegan Only proves you're a Slightly Smarter and therefore Slightly Better kept Slave than Some of the Other Ones - it Only proves you are a Member of the Educated Middle-Class.
Tao Lin - your refusal to denounce Consumer Capitalism - Truly the Greatest Evil of our Day - and the Cause of you and your Characters' depressions - the Very Fact that you seem Completely unAware that this is the Source of your Sorrows - or you wont admit it out Loud, even as it writes itsSelf into your Books - your reproducing instead its Memes - the Memes of Capitalist Commodification and Consumerism - suggests you are Naught but anOther Docile Slave to the Order of Money, like HollyWood, which is to say -
Tao Lin
you are not
and
under these Conditions
could Never be
a
GREAT
WRITER / ARTIST / ICON
you are not
and
under these Conditions
could Never be
a
GREAT
WRITER / ARTIST / ICON
just a Pretty Good One
because what makes a Great Artist
Great
Tao
Tao
is the Fight
for Freedom
Freedom from the oppression
even of their Own Language
Your Prose never breaks Free of itsSelf, Tao
It is Flawless
but it is All the Same
Calculated, Xecuted, IdEntical
like a Row of Cages
on a Row of Cages
on a Row of Cages
A More Conformist Work of Literature than yours has Probably Never xisted, and in that you are Special. Your Records of Life in the Cage have shown us just how Far Capitalist Commodification has gone - it has gone into the Very Soul of the Literary Book, which is the Very Soul of the Literary Writer, and tried to commodify that.
Tao Lin, you epitomize the Millenni-Geni Hipsters, who have been trained to see their Very Selves as a "Product," a "Brand," to be sold to the Highest Bidder, just like a Slave. In your Work, Hipsters see their State of Slavery reproduced and feel validated. Which is Fine, but Great Art, in its Greatness, is Refutation of Slavery. It is an Assertion of Freedom, an Xpression of Freedom pushed to its Limits. Great Literature qua Great Literature cannot be commodified or it would loose that Ecstatic and Miserable / Tremendous and Terrible / Sublime and Awful / unPredictable and unContainable Quality that makes it Last, as Great Literature, for Hundreds, if not Thousands, of Years.
Tao Lin, your Prose, Plots, and Characters are Facsimiles of those which make Great Literature Great. With your Consistent Prose, your Generational Content, your depression, your Literary Friends, your Appearance of an Inward Search turned on its Head and made into an Ad for Nihilism, it is Easy to confuse you with Great Literature - but just because you look like SomeThing on the outside does not make you that Thing on the inside and Time, Time has an Amazing Way of weeding the Frauds from the Real Deal, Tao.
Tao Lin, so Far
you are Only
on the Xterior
what I am
to my Very Kor
the
GREAT
WRITER
ARTIST
you are Only
on the Xterior
what I am
to my Very Kor
the
GREAT
WRITER
ARTIST
ICON
But
what I liked about you
Tao Lin
back in those Brooklyn Days
was Xactly what Many People didn't
and still don't
like about you
That you act
onLine
like a multiMedia Star
when you are a Writer
Being One of this New Breed of onLine Writer - these - Blog-gers? via the LameStream Media … no - these Blog-niks? via SLFAA … uhgk - these Blog-ists? via me, Right now … yes - being One of these Blogists, I am aware that Literature, for All its Ivory Tower, could not be Immune to the Fracturing and interBreeding of the Medias as occurs onLine if it wanted to survive there, even qua Literature.
I am aware - as Tao Lin you Most Certainly are Aware - because I found out when I moved to NYC that you had beaten me to the Position I had hoped to attain in leaving Canada - Literature, Serious Literature, of the Kind who’s Death is allways being trumpeted ( its Only because its Authors come around so Rarely ) - needs multi Media Celebrity to refresh itsSelf from the Doldrums it has become associated with since the Invention of teleVision and Computers. Not the Kind of Promo Heavy, Product Vapid, subServient to Capitalist Order, Surface distracting from Inner Emptiness for the Sake of the Status Quo Pop Celebrity Music and Film have come to rely on for Cash and which you epitomize for Literary Writing Right now, Tao Lin
No
It’s Literature
It needs a Celebrity of Great proFunDity if it is going to be "Literary" at All.
People look to Great, Generation-Defining Literary Books to see their Lives lifted from the Mundane into the Mythological.
Any Literary Celebrity who does not achieve this in their Works is no "Literary" Celebrity at All, just an Other Commercial Writer cashing in on what's Popular for Glory and Money in the Moment.
Any Literary Celebrity who does not achieve this in their Works is no "Literary" Celebrity at All, just an Other Commercial Writer cashing in on what's Popular for Glory and Money in the Moment.
You may think so, but there is noThing "Mythological" about your Books, Tao. Maybe there is SomeThing Mythological about your rise to Fame and your Relationships with your Various Friends, which is chronicled in your Books, but these are the not the Same Things. Mythology is All about Character - what drives the Character? - what Forces affect the Character? - and in your Books, as opposed to in your Real Life, on which those Books are based, the Character isn't there because the Catharsis isn't there. It is Empty, witnessing what is going about it, but not revealing AnyThing proFound about itsSelf or its Motivations besides its Continued Attempt to deny Any proFunDity of Feeling. This Lack of proFunDity makes your Work Mundane, Tao.
Trying to turn SomeThing Mundane ( AnyThing when witnessed through the Bars of a Cage - an Emotional Prison - is Mundane because you aren't engaging with it ) into SomeThing Mythological ( which xists in submerging the Self the subConscious Swirl of Archetypal Forces and Emotions ), as you attempt to do by marketing yourSelf as the Head of a Literary Movement
is doomed to Failure because it is a Ruse - that which has noThing at its Kor is bound to Collapse. That your Books are Consciously Devoid of Emotions means they will incite but Limited Emotions in Readers who do not know you Personally and those Readers will reject your Books. Feeling is what Most of us read for. Feeling is what makes Mythology last.
Me
Well
let’s just say that
let’s just say that
where you are Mundane, Tao Lin
I am ArcheTypical
Where you are Narrow in your Scope
I am Xpansive
Where you are Caged
I am Wild
Where you are Numb
I am Passionate
Where you are aSxual
I am Sxual
Where you are lacking Depth
I am Deeper than xpected
Where you are Weak
I am Strong
Where you show how Literature can depreciate on the InterNet
I show how it can improve
Where your Life, beyond your Celebrity, is Utterly Ordinary
Mine is Freaking unBelievable
Where your Prose repeats itsSelf
Mine is in Constant transFormation
Where you are a Conformist
I am a Radikal
Where your Work is Industrial and Material
Mine is Organic and Magickal
Where your Style makes Sense considering the proGression of American Culture
( towards Greater and Greater Commodification )
( though there were Signs )
noOne predicted mine
did they?
Here it is AnyWay
to tell you a Story
My Man and I
were downTown
were downTown
I'd just bought SLFAA
in a used Book Store
in a used Book Store
for Five $
cause I wouldn't
pay More
not then
not then
The Book was in my
Purse
My Man wanted Food
SUSHI
he said
cause it was Hot out
We walked to the
Sushi Place my Man likes
Only to find out it was
Closed for Lunch
My Man said
AHHH
WHAT THE FUCK?
WHAT THE FUCK AM I GOING TO DO NOW?
I said
whatever
My Man said
NO
NOT WHATEVER
I said
I Usually just start walking and see what I can find
WELL, I DON'T DO THINGS THAT WAY
So my Man and I
stood on the
SideWalk
outside the
Sushi Place
for like
Five Minutes
while my Man
huffed and
puffed
that inDecisive Pisces
about how Hungry he was
and how
he didn’t know where to go
to eat
Come on, Mr. Dragon
Let's walk down to the Water and sit on a Patio in the SunShine!
FINE
On our Way
to the Water
we passed
The Lotus Pond
which is this
Vegan
Buddhist
Chinese
Restaurant
I like
because I'm a Veggie
My Man said
LET'S GO HERE
and I said
Okay!
but the Lotus Pond
too
was Closed
for Lunch
According to the Sign
The Lotus Pond
would be Open
in
Ten Minutes
My Man said
COME THIS WAY
and pulled me by the Hand
( he is Very Tall and walks Very Fast )
Two Blocks Over
to a Coffee Shop
called
Bliss
I'd Never been to this
Bliss
before
Bliss
sold
Organic
Vegan
Local
Seasonal
Fruit
Smoothies
for like
Eight $
a
Jar
which is like $10 in NY
Heheheh
Xpensive Yuppie Food
I said
leaning against the Bar
looking at the
Xpensive Yuppies
and their
Xpensive Babies
in the
Xpensive
Faux Rustic
Booths
drinking their
Organic
Vegan
Local
Seasonal
Fruit
Smoothies
out of Jars
for their
Ten $
with
Tax added
Tax added
SHHH
said my Man
and he and bought a Smoothie called
BERRY YUMMY
which we drank outside
in the SunShine
just like I had wanted
and it was
BERRY YUMMY
indeed
Then my Man said we were going
back to The Lotus Pond
where we sat down and my Man
ordered a
Vegan
Rice
Dish
and
I started reading
SLFAA
for that
Very First Time
in that
Very First Time
in that
Vegan
Buddhist
Chinese
Restaurant
after
having just been
dragged
Two Blocks out of the Way
to go to a
Vegan
Local
Seasonal
Fruit
Smoothie
Shop
I didn't Even know
xisted
by a Red Blooded Man
who is Usually Loath to accept
Any Novelty
when it comes
to Restaurants
Holy Shit
Tao Lin
yo Psychic Powers
they be Real
yo Psychic Powers
they be Real
I ain't denying that
I didn't figure out this "Thing with the Capital Letters" ( I call it " CAPITALISM " - and then I laugh so Hard I have to pee ) until I read SLFAA in that Restaurant and I was like .... how do I be .... SO MUCH MORE DRAMATIC THAN THIS? Consider yourSelf flattered.
A Little Competition is Good for us All, Eh?
and EveryBody loves
a Good
a Good
LITERARY
FEUD
Tao Lin
vs.
Andrea Coates
Whose Literary Work comes off the More
ProFound?
Compelling?
Dangerous?
Accomplished?
Round 1
In Richard Yates - his Second Novel - Tao Lin names Characters who start a Casual Relationship over Gmail Chat after preTeen Movie Stars Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning.
These are Really : Tao Lin and Bebe Zeva, and if they aren't, Well, they could've been.
In S.i/S : - my First Novel - I name Characters who start a poly-Amorous Relationship over MDMA / Alcohol after French Xistentialists Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.
These are Really : Some Teenagers from a Small Town in Canada, and if they aren't, Well, they could've been.
ROUND 2
Tao Lin's Literary AlterEgos are named Sam, Andrew and Haley - Average American 21st Century Male Names, indicating they are Average American 21st Century Males. Each Book, their Lives are Similar : they are Young Males living in sub / Urban American Consumer Society.
Andrea Coates' Literary AlterEgo is called Hap'e and her Last Name is a Different Representational Color Each Book - or Portion of a Book - indicating she is a Fulfilled and multi-Faceted Lady. Each Book - or Portion of a Book - Hap'e [ Color ] appears in a Universe corresponding to the Color of her Name.
ROUND 3
Tao Lin’s First Novel, which is about being a Young Person in America Today - Eeeee Eee Eeee - is populated with Dolphins, Hamsters, and Bears - that talk!
Andrea Coates' First Novel, which is about being a Young Person in Canada Today - S.i/S : - is populated with Goth Girls, Political Scientists, and Drug Dealers - that fight!
ROUND 4
Tao Lin wrote a Novella called Shoplifting from American Apparel that is about a Young Writer who steals from an American Apparel because he is … depressed? and ... Broke? or … Bored? Can’t. Really. tell. I think. the Book's. about. Capital.ism. causing. Emotion.al. Constipa.tion.
Not to be read while on the Toilet.
Andrea Coates is working on a Novella called The Sx Majik Book which is about a Wannabe Psychic who attempts to use her "Powers" to manipulate People's Lives: a Young Girl who comes to her to interpret a Dream she had while recovering from an overUse of Cocaine, a Drug Dealer and his Coke-Addicted Friend, a depressed American minimalist writer, and a Vagabond Girl suffering from post-Traumatic Stress. I think the Book is about the Conflict between Ego and Love, Fate and Free Will.
Not to be read if you want to maintain a Materialistic Perspective on Life.
ROUND 5
Tao Lin’s Poetry is about feeling Sad and Distant inside of Consumer Culture.
Andrea Coates' Poetry is about feeling Angry and Lustful outside of Consumer Culture.
ROUND 6
Tao Lin's Books are Each Similar in Structure, Style and Plot, creating a Cohesive Oeuvre.
Andrea Coates Books are Each Vastly Different in Structure, Style and Plot, proving I is a Creative Writer.
ROUND 7
You can read a Book by Tao Lin in a Couple of Hours if you don't get annoyed by him.
You can read a Book by Andrea Coates in a Couple of Days if you don't get over whelmed by her.
ROUND 8
Tao Lin’s overRiding Emotional Frequency is "Ennui."
Andrea Coates' overRiding Emotional Frequency is "Splendid in/Sanity."
Whose Film Work comes off the More
ProFound?
Compelling?
Dangerous?
Accomplished?
ROUND 1
Tao Lin makes Films with Megan Boyle, a multi-Disciplinary Artist who was spotted on her Twitter slurping from a Subway Takeout Cup.
Andrea Coates make Films with jody franklin, a multi-Disciplianry Artist who was spotted on YouTube writhing around Half-Naked on the Floor of a Dirty Art Space while howling and bashing Things into his Head.
ROUND 2
Tao Lin and Megan Boyle make their Films on a Mac Book.
Andrea Coates and jody franklin and make their Films on a Sony VX 2100.
ROUND 3
ROUND 4
You have got to be getting what I’m saying,
but, just in Case your not
Hipster RunOff. So into it back in my Brooklyn Days. I thought it would spread from Williamsburg to Burgs that wanted to be Willaims and be recognized the World over for having its Finger on the Pulse ( up its Ass ).
The Moment I moved back to Canada, however, the Site became … Totally iRelevant ... Sickeningly Consumer MainStream / Repetitive / Misogynistic / inSecure ( Carles strikes me as a Self-Loathing Sycophant - the Most Annoying Kind of Sychophant ), its Drop of Creative Lube rubbed to the Point of Uselessness. Not that it's changed at All.
The Moment I moved back to Canada, however, the Site became … Totally iRelevant ... Sickeningly Consumer MainStream / Repetitive / Misogynistic / inSecure ( Carles strikes me as a Self-Loathing Sycophant - the Most Annoying Kind of Sychophant ), its Drop of Creative Lube rubbed to the Point of Uselessness. Not that it's changed at All.
Tao Lin, you, too, are the Same as back in my Brooklyn Days. Only, instead of More Consumer MainStream, you've gotten "More inTense"
A Conceit that makes me laugh
Tao Lin, Man, you couldn’t handle One Party at my Place
and that's a Dare
and that's a Dare
Here's a Thing
All Writers oughta know : There are Two Basic Ways to get Attention directed your Way as a Writer of Literary Fiction, Poetry, or Philosophy ( ie: there are Two Basic Currents to being Xceptionally proFound in a Literary Sense, or to giving People the imPression that you are ) -
1) be Epic in Scope
This encompasses Most of the Great Fiction Writers - Most of the Great Philosophers - and Many of the Great Poets. This Style of Writing evokes of a Wide Range of Characters / Locations / Events / Themes.
Being Epic in Scope means an Author is Wise.
2) be inTense
This encompasses Many of the Great Poets - Some of the Great Fiction Writers - and a Few of the Great Philosophers. This Style of Writing is Minimal but Highly Evocative.
Being Intense means the Author is Hip.
We can alReady see that Tao Lin leans More to One End of this Spectrum than the Other.
Most of the Great Writers have a Mixture of Both of these Qualities - the Epic and the inTense - but Each falls More to One Side than the Other, for the Sake of Argument. Less Accomplished Authors fail at Both Qualities, ie : the Work is neither Epic, nor inTense ( Most Often, it's Sentimental ) - due to Mediocre Prose, a Lack of Thematic Relevance, or unRealistic Characteriszations. A Work can be Epic in Scope or Minimalist, but if it fails to be Evocative, either of Feelings or of Scenes, it lacks inSight.
To get Attention as a Literary Writer, Tao Lin could have tried being Epic in Scope, but we All know that’s the Opposite of what his Writing is. As it stands, Tao Lin doesn't have a Great enough Range of Emotions / Characters / Sentence Structures to be an Epic Novelist of the Level of Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky or Faulkner or Joyce or Proust or Elliot or Dickens or James or Bolaño or Melville or Any of those, and besides, being Epic in Scope would mean giving up the Reductionist Shtick for which Tao Lin is Best known and Most copied.
Better, Tao Lin thinks, to attempt that Technique which has Most Often, Both Personally and Professionally, gotten Attention for a minimalist, whether that be a Writer of Spare Prose, of Short Novels, Short Stories, or Poetry - like Hemmingway or Bukowski or Ginsberg or Hunter S or Easton Ellis or Fitzgerald or Rimbaud or Baudelaire or Sartre or Shelley or Conrad or Woolf or Orwell or Pushkin or Kafka or Hesse or Any of those - being inTense.
So, in Order to intensify ( his Gimmicky Cuteness and his minimalist prose ), Tao Lin started "doing Drugs." He started writing a Column for Vice Magazine called Drug Related Photoshop Art.
( ASide : I have to balance out my Cute Prettiness by being inTense
also, for Good Meaure, as you can tell, my Literature is Epic in Scope )
I was Super Xcited when I heard about this cause I like Drugs and Art a Lot More than I like Sulky Hipsters, Average American Days, or Talking Animals in Minimalist Novels, so, Fully prepared to accept this, New, More Andrea Coates-Accessible Tao Lin, should he warrant it, and crossing my Fingers the Drugs had xpanded my Nemesis's Perspective a Bit, I dug in.
Gee
How he disappointed my Optimism
DRPA is an unReadable Pastiche of Self-Conscious Pop Culture Reference and InterNet / NYU Hipster Jargon Complete with unUsual Punctuation meant to Only denote Tao Lin has [ no Emotions outside of 'Irony' ] - It reads More Difficultly than Any of my unEdited Blog Posts about Sxism, and it’s a Humor Column published by an interNational Magazine! The imPression I gathered from DRPA is that Vice is publishing it because it's got the Word "Drug" in the Title and because Tao Lin wrote it but they don't bother reading the Thing before it goes out to Print, because, why bother? It's got Drug in the Title and Tao Lin for an Author.
You have a Lot More Friends in High Places than I do, Tao Lin, which could be because I live in Victoria, BC ( pop 78,057 ) and you live in Brooklyn, NY ( pop 2,504,700 ), or because I’m Twenty Three and you're Twenty Eight or because I’m a Lady and your Man ... or may be it's because I’m Edgy and Brilliant and it scares People and you're a Predictable Pet People think they might look Hip / Cute carrying around in their Bag with them?
What do you think?
What do you think?
Daniel B Roberts, in his Review of Muumuu House, calls you and your Followers Writing "Lazy" and in Deed, Lazy is a Good Description of your Particular Style. Posting on the InterNet, you don't have to try Nearly as Hard as when you're attempting to get your Work published via More Traditional Routes.
( Question - would you call my Writing "Lazy?" )
The Fact is, and this is Criticism is Endemic of Vice Magazine as a Whole - talking about Drugs will not save you from your Moral Laziness. At Some Point, Tao Lin, if you want to be a Great Writer, you will have to shackle off your Privileged North American Consumer Vegan Hipsterdom and deal with the Ugly / Beautiful Depths of Sapiens' Society and the Emotions as a Whole. It doesn't matter whether your Books are Long or Short, minimalist or Loquacious, if Every Sentence is as Much of a Jolt to the System as a Line of Blow.
If you want to be a Great Writer, Tao, there can be no writing along the Superficial Surface of Society and Self, posting an out of Context Twitter here, depriving Words of their 'Meaning' there, sticking to defining a Narrow and Shallow Segment of being aLive to Day - no, you have to go Deep, Deep down into the Belly of your Species and your Self, and that's SomeThing the Drugs can't help you with, not on their Own, not without your iniTiative.
If you want to be a Great Writer, Tao, there can be no writing along the Superficial Surface of Society and Self, posting an out of Context Twitter here, depriving Words of their 'Meaning' there, sticking to defining a Narrow and Shallow Segment of being aLive to Day - no, you have to go Deep, Deep down into the Belly of your Species and your Self, and that's SomeThing the Drugs can't help you with, not on their Own, not without your iniTiative.
Just because you do Drugs now doesn’t Mean you understand the underBelly, Tao - your Society's or your Own - eSpecially if you're Primarily doing Drugs to get Attention / continue to repress / avoid your True Feelings. Because if you were willing to go Deep into Sapien Xperience you would stand up to the Autocracy for Authentic Self Xpression ( Art ) that is Commodification. Besides your "Drug Use" I’ve seen no Evidence you stand up to the Oppressive System at All, in Any Way - Much the Opposite in Fact, and we’ve talked about this, Tao. Resistance to oppressive Power is the Most Essential Element of Any Great Piece of Art ( at whose Kore, as I said, is Freedom - Pure, Absoulte, Anarkich Freedom ).
Shoplifting from an American Apparel does not count as a Protest if you then put their Corporate Name on the Cover your Book and fairydust that Book All over the InterNet.
Ironically, an Ad for American Apparel
You might as Well be working for them, Tao
You may be a Writer of Poetry and Prose and as of Such have to shoplift to get by, or you Might see your Actions as Some Kind of Righteous, but for Real, when you then turn around and put a Corporate Name on your Book, just like Franzen ( for All his Flaws ) wouldn’t let Oprah do it his, you’re saying you're Okay with All the Obnoxious Capitalist Shit we the Creative Nature-Oriented People of this Earth suffer from on a Daily Basis.
My Guess is, Tao Lin, you've Never spent Longer than a Walk in Nature and that's why you don't state it Xplicitly in your Books, that's why you act in Contradiction to the Very Message of your Own Oeuvre -
HOW
FUCKING
SICK
PATRIARCHAL
COLONIALIST
CAPITALIST
CIVILIZATION
IS
@!#!@#! IT'S FUCKING SICK @#%#%
!:{}! I FUCKING HATE IT !:{":!
|><<| I WANT IT DONE |<><>|
{}{{;} I WANT IT GONE {};}{}
[]];[]; I WANT THE ECO FEMINIST REVOLUTION l[;;[[
.;;.;> AND I WANT IT .,;,.<
&*(& NOW &*(&
See - that’s how it Works, Tao
That’s how you have an Opinion about SomeThing.
That’s how you have an Opinion about SomeThing.
Now, Let’s try you
And that, that Right there, is your Problem, Tao. It's the Problem with All of Muumuu House - you and your Followers are inDifferent ( and for the Reason why inDifference is an Evil, see the postScript ).
Opinions about Society are a Great Writer’s Bread and Butter, Tao. It’s how they Distinguish themSelves from the Crowd of Eager Little Birdies twittering away about the Same Silly Shit Evey One else is, not rustling the Bushes too Much lest they Actually have an imPact on Society beyond Casual Entertainment, cause that's how their Corporate Masters would have it.
You have to feel
LOVE
PASSION
PASSION
RAGE
SORROW
GUILT
ENVY
and
HATE
if you wanna be a Great Writer, Tao
but you
you're just
neutral
on EveryThing
it's Worse than Boring
it's Dangerously aPathetic
Without a Moral Centre, which is to say, without feeling Anger at oppression - the telling Sign of a Free Being - there is no Chance your Work will be Any More Memorable than a T-Shirt from AA, a Takeout Meal from Subway Restaurants or a Hamster from a Hamster Mill.
Without focusing on your Lower Chakra Issues - without Developing a Concrete Sense of Self and the Strong Personal Opinions this entails, along with Accessing the Mythological Realm of the Emotions - your Work will live and die with the Fads of the Era, Never proving itsSelf beyond the Generation in which it was "the Thing," and Later mocked as out of Date.
A Classic Novel continues to grow More proFound with Age.
InSight is Valid Era to Era.
Emotion is Valid Era to Era.
What will Richard Yates give us, One Hundered Years down the Line?
A Boring, repressed Narcissist on Gmail?
Who will care?
Without focusing on your Lower Chakra Issues - without Developing a Concrete Sense of Self and the Strong Personal Opinions this entails, along with Accessing the Mythological Realm of the Emotions - your Work will live and die with the Fads of the Era, Never proving itsSelf beyond the Generation in which it was "the Thing," and Later mocked as out of Date.
A Classic Novel continues to grow More proFound with Age.
InSight is Valid Era to Era.
Emotion is Valid Era to Era.
What will Richard Yates give us, One Hundered Years down the Line?
A Boring, repressed Narcissist on Gmail?
Who will care?
Succeeding at being a Great Writer is a Lot like succeeding at being a Great General, Tao
Attack that which needs to be attacked.
Defend that which needs to be defended.
Know how to topple Shit.
Know how to protect Shit.
You are a BillBoard, Tao Lin, yes, I can see that, but if your going to be a Great Writer too it’s Time to be a BillBoard for Some Thing More Substantial than your Fame. It’s Time to stand up for a Truth People can believe in, Tao. A Truth that gives them Hope of freeing themSelves from the Repetitive, Mundane, Hamster Wheel of American Culture in the 21st Century, SomeThing Realer than Fame.
Hamsters can live in the Wild, Tao. There is Hope for you yet. Use your Influence to organize those who are also in Cages. Use your Influence to organize an Escape.
Tao Lin nibbles his Vegan Snack
Right now, Tao, you are being xploited by Capitalism. You are inside the System, Observant, but too Bored, preOccupied, and Well Fed to make a Significant Point about it.
Even Worse, you perpetuate the Disease of Commodification through your particular literary style.
Even Worse, you perpetuate the Disease of Commodification through your particular literary style.
Your Work, Tao Lin, is Consumer Propaganda, your outLook on Life so sunk in aPathy you might as Well be a Dispatch from the Pentagon whose Ultimate Goal is making Sure our Generation Never lifts a Finger in Politics.
And Even if your not, the Effect of your Work is the Same : we don’t need to take Command of our Lives, we just need to write Funny Little Sentences and make Funny Little Videos about EveryThing Utterly Mundane and Consumer-Mediated that happens to us. That is supposed to make up for People's being in Captivity, Tao?
I don't Fucking think so.
I don't Fucking think so.
Look, here's Megan Boyle, a Performance Artist, sipping from a Subway Cup
and you Guys think that’s an "Ironic JuxtaPosition" ? Ya think that’s "making a Comment about Consumer Society?" You are spreading the Cancer, Tao. When Corporations convince Artists, Artists who ( think they ) are at the Top of their Game, to hawk their Products as Some Kind of "Irony," don’t you see they’ve won?
Don’t you see they own your Very Soul?
Don’t you see that’s why you're depressed
your GirlFriends are making themSelves puke
your Hamster is eating its Own Babies?
Because their Lives are not their Own, Tao.
Their Lives belongs to the Cage
Their Lives belong to Capitalism
and until you renounce this Ideology
and go seeking Self-Xpression
beyond Consumerism
you will not write a Classic Novel.
That's just what I think, but I know what makes me depressed, Tao. it’s the Society I am forced to live in, which has created itsSelf in the Image of the Factory, which demeans and oppresses Life in its Diversity and Spontaneity. It is being kept from Freedom that makes me Sad, Tao Lin. It is being kept, for Years, by School and Employment, from Authentic Self-Xpression. I refuse to give up my Honest Self Xpression, for AnyThing, and that is what makes me a Great Artist, Tao Lin. Great Artists are Constantly and Fully engaged in the Battle for their Freedoms, and when SomeOne tries to take those Freedoms away from us, we are the First to martyr ourSelves for them and the Most Dramatic about it. I don't see you rebelling, Tao Lin. I see you conforming to what the Oppressors want from you, your Very Soul, for Every Hour of Labor / Leisure to be making Money for the Oligarchy. You are creating your Soul, your Self, in the Image of the Commodity, Tao Lin, not in the Image of Art, and until that changes, you will not be a Great Artist.
Don’t you see they own your Very Soul?
Don’t you see that’s why you're depressed
your GirlFriends are making themSelves puke
your Hamster is eating its Own Babies?
Because their Lives are not their Own, Tao.
Their Lives belongs to the Cage
Their Lives belong to Capitalism
and until you renounce this Ideology
and go seeking Self-Xpression
beyond Consumerism
you will not write a Classic Novel.
That's just what I think, but I know what makes me depressed, Tao. it’s the Society I am forced to live in, which has created itsSelf in the Image of the Factory, which demeans and oppresses Life in its Diversity and Spontaneity. It is being kept from Freedom that makes me Sad, Tao Lin. It is being kept, for Years, by School and Employment, from Authentic Self-Xpression. I refuse to give up my Honest Self Xpression, for AnyThing, and that is what makes me a Great Artist, Tao Lin. Great Artists are Constantly and Fully engaged in the Battle for their Freedoms, and when SomeOne tries to take those Freedoms away from us, we are the First to martyr ourSelves for them and the Most Dramatic about it. I don't see you rebelling, Tao Lin. I see you conforming to what the Oppressors want from you, your Very Soul, for Every Hour of Labor / Leisure to be making Money for the Oligarchy. You are creating your Soul, your Self, in the Image of the Commodity, Tao Lin, not in the Image of Art, and until that changes, you will not be a Great Artist.
In suppressing your Emotions, Tao Lin, you act like a Robot - a Literary Robot released onto the InterNet for the Purpose of making into a Commodity to be bought and sold the Very Soul of you Generation, just as your Own Soul was made a Commodity to be bought and sold by your Culture.
So start getting
REAL
FUCKING
MAD
TAO
LIN
FUCKING
MAD
TAO
LIN
because you deserve Better
and Millenni-Geni deserves Better.
and Millenni-Geni deserves Better.
Readers might be entertained and shocked by your Antics for the Moment, Tao Lin, but the Feeling will wear off when they realize your Work is Empty of Meaning - and Purposefully so. When they realize that your Books give them noThing to feed on but their own Consumption - the Source of the Meaninglessness that permeates their Lives and your Books. Your aPathetic Literature leads to One of Two Places, Tao Lin - Suicide or Complacency to the subUrBan 9-5 / a Car / a Mortgage / 2.5 Kids ( if you don’t eat them First ) / Retirement Residence / Death, and they will reject you, Tao Lin, those whose Intellects crave Great Art in their Lives to remind them that Freedom and Originality are Real and Possible, to help them through and to help them learn and grow. Those, like me, who look to Literature to find the Meaning of Life will reject you, Tao Lin, because you have noThing to offer them but More of what we are suffering from - the Compulsory Consumption of Commodities under Capitalism, the Compulsory repression of the Living inStincts under Capitalism, the Compulsory reProduction of the Memetics of Capitalism in an Endless Cycle of Self enSlavement for Money.
As it stands, Tao Lin, you are a Pawn to the Order of your Day, and so you are a Trifle to Literature, whose God is Liberty and Individuality at whatever Cost, be that Madness, be that Solitude, be that Poverty, be that stepping out before a Young Writer Quite Rightly on the Verge of his MainStream Break to saying to him, "Is that the Best you got, Tao Lin? Cause, Boy, do I got Better. So now's the Time is now to step up your Game, Writer." I am looking for Equals, Tao Lin. I want Equals. I want Great Art in this World and you are not yet Great Art.
Thankfully, where you offer no Respite from the crushing Drone of Capitalism but Conformity, here I am, me, with a Whole Plan for the shackling off of Capitalist Xploitation plotted in the Resplendent Details of my Life and Art! I am your Shadow, Tao Lin, your Rejected Self, your Doppelganger, come to face you as a Real Person with Real Feelings and a Real Past and a Future, and you can either accept me as I am, incorporate me into who you are and flourish from that, or be driven to Creative Bankruptcy trying to pretend I don't xist. I xist Tao Lin and I speak your unSpoken Feelings. Mine is the Voice of the Great Writer that lives inside you, Tao Lin, waiting to be freed.
Maybe in America, and thereby, in Letters as they are in English to Day, the post Modern Mentality makes you and the Other Hip Young Writers Wary of Grandiosity ( Grandiosity of Emotion / Grandiosity of Literary Stylings ), but I think its Truer still that the oppression of Capitalism has you and your Friends by the Soul.
You've confused the outside with the inside. You can make a Fake Cover proclaiming yourSelf a Great Novelist and laugh over it and hope it’ll get you that Place via Association, the Trick of All Advertising, but keep on repeating a Single Simple Style of Prose, keep creating Characters Consciously devoid of Emotional Depth and see how Many People consider you a Relevant Literary Author in 20, 50, 100, 200, 300 Years.
You've confused the outside with the inside. You can make a Fake Cover proclaiming yourSelf a Great Novelist and laugh over it and hope it’ll get you that Place via Association, the Trick of All Advertising, but keep on repeating a Single Simple Style of Prose, keep creating Characters Consciously devoid of Emotional Depth and see how Many People consider you a Relevant Literary Author in 20, 50, 100, 200, 300 Years.
Chatting on Gmail and wandering around the subUrbs isn't Universal, Tao. Emotions are. Write from the Heart.
As it stands, I don’t think you have the Creative Self-Understanding, the Life Xperience, the Depth of Soul, Even at Twenty Eight and on your Third Novel, to write Any Thing to compare to S.i/S: - and I’m Only Twenty Three and it’s my First Book. But we'll see, won't we? This is why I've done this, Tao : to sell my First Book, that we might compare our elves afterwards, that the Thought of Such a Challenge might spur you on to Greater Innovation and Achievement. EveryOne needs a Rival, Tao Lin. OtherWise, the Game ain't Fun. You're Lucky I'm Magnanimous. S.i/S: is Greater than AnyThing you've written thus Far, but there's Room for More than One Great Writer a Generation, Tan, there is Room for Many, and though I am the First to arise, I shall not to be the Last.
I am not Wary of Grandiosity, Tao Lin.
I am not a postModernist.
I am a Pagan.
I am not a postModernist.
I am a Pagan.
from Burn the Tao Lin ( Bottom )
from Burn the Tao Lin ( Bottom )
For this Reason - my Connection to the ever-Changing Powers of the Earth - I look to see as Much as Possible of Life and I look to portray as Much as Possible of Life. This includes Matters from the Worlds outside of and the Worlds inside of me. And I have Opinions from what I have xperienced which are Mine and which I put forward Strong and Clear, and so I will be respected for being Good and True and Brave, Tao Lin. This is why I am called "Hap'e" while you are called "Sam."
I live my rEvolution, Tao Lin. You live your Fame. But if you want AnyThing Close to what I’ve got, the Spiritual and Intellectual proFunDity of my Work, you will take what I have said here, you will understand that it is True and you will use that kNowledge to transform your Work and yourSelf from Okay into Great. The Potential is there in you Tao, but the Rage, the Violence, the Sorrow, the Splendor, and the Love is not. Turn away from Fame and towards your Self, Tao Lin. Go looking to your Emotions and write down what you find there - then you will have a Great Book to write. There can be no More this sitting in Apartments on Computers, no More this Purposeful Neutrality covering True Feelings if you want to be a Great Writer, Tao. Being a Great Writer is a Lot like being a Great Lover. If Neutrality is what you're going for, beyond Seer Consistency, I can't Imagine the Xpereince is AnyThing at All Xceptional, let aLone Fun.
You are Popular, Tao Lin, because your Work captures SomeThing that plagues our Generation : Commodification of the Soul. But because you indulge it, because you offer no Solution to it, and no moving forward from it, so the Future will pass over you and your Work,. Like Pop Star is forgotten after Immense Success, your Books will have been a Phenomenon of Millenni-Geni and no More : there can be no imMortality for Art without the Glorious Power of Life shining through with All its Hope, and in your Work, as it stands, that Hope is Absent, turned over to a Complacent Endurance that is Never Satisfied, Never Ecstatic and Never concluded, but in Death. I hope to open you to Hope, Tao Lin. Hope for a Life beyond what can be bought and sold, a Life beyond the Commodity.
I have said my Peace, now, Tao. It was Long, but I have no More to say, xcept this has been an Arena, and I’ve won, cause you, you couldn't write an Article like this about me, even if you had Several of my Books to refer to. You don’t have the Guts for it, and besides, I'm not that Easy to summarize - I don't have a Schtick. So, if you want to join the Great Writers, Tao, if my Suggestions are Worth AnyThing to you after All this, scrap yours. Look at your True Feelings instead, the Whole Wide, Wild Range of them, and write about those. Then we will be Friends.
I have said my Peace, now, Tao. It was Long, but I have no More to say, xcept this has been an Arena, and I’ve won, cause you, you couldn't write an Article like this about me, even if you had Several of my Books to refer to. You don’t have the Guts for it, and besides, I'm not that Easy to summarize - I don't have a Schtick. So, if you want to join the Great Writers, Tao, if my Suggestions are Worth AnyThing to you after All this, scrap yours. Look at your True Feelings instead, the Whole Wide, Wild Range of them, and write about those. Then we will be Friends.
Hipsters, you've been warned
Sincerely
Andrea Coates
Millenni-Geni's
First
Great
Writer
Artist
Icon
( not its Last )
Post Script, by Antonio Gramsci:
Indifference is actually the mainspring of history. But in a negative sense. What comes to pass, either the evil that afflicts everyone, or the possible good brought about by an act of general valour, is due not so much to the initiative of the active few, as to the indifference, the absenteeism of the many. What comes to pass does so not so much because a few people want it to happen, as because the mass of citizens abdicate their responsibility and let things be. They allow the knots to form that in time only a sword will be able to cut through; they let men rise to power whom in time only a mutiny will overthrow. The fatality that seems to dominate history is precisely the illusory appearance of this indifference, of this absenteeism. Events are hatched off-stage in the shadows; unchecked hands weave the fabric of collective life - and the masses know nothing. The destinies of an epoch are manipulated in the interests of narrow horizons, of the immediate ends of small groups of activists - and the mass of citizens know nothing. But eventually the events that are hatched come out into the open; the fabric woven in the shadows is completed, and then it seems that fatality overwhelms everything and everybody. It seems that history is nothing but an immense natural phenomenon, an eruption, an earthquake, and that we are all its victims, both those who wanted it to happen as well as those who did not, those who knew it would happen and those who did not, those who were active and those who were indifferent. And then it is the indifferent ones who get angry, who wish to dissociate themselves from the consequences, who want it made known that they did not want it so and hence bear no responsibility. And while some whine piteously, and others howl obscenely, few people, if any, ask themselves this question: had I done my duty as a man, had I sought to make my voice heard, to impose my will, would what came to pass have ever happened? But few people, if any, see their indifference as a fault - their scepticism, their failure to give moral and material support to those political and economic groups that were struggling either to avoid a particular evil or to promote a particular good. Instead such people prefer to speak of the failure of ideas, of the definitive collapse of programmes, and other like niceties. They continue in their indifference and their scepticism.
I hate the indifferent. I believe that living means taking sides. Those who really live cannot help ing a citizen and a partisan. Indifference and apathy are parasitism, perversion, not life. That is why I hate the indifferent.
The Movie:
BURN THE TAO LIN
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9 comments:
This 2000 era No Logo anti-globalisation thing you're doing is an interesting parallel emergence to post-positivity. I think in the end you're just sacrificing yourselves on the alter of Tao Lin and Muumuu House; which I think is very dark very cool.
hi. i am confused and a little excited.
bye.
couldnt read this whole thing, seems inarticulate/obsessive
Ha ha
cool your shit. obsessive/bitter
Indignant, yes. Bitter, no. I know how this Battle ends.
okay.. how?
You're very confidant in stating that you're a better writer. It's admirable. I don't see what the hubbub is about Tao Lin. I think if he WAS actually Carles (because I still enjoy some HRO posts in my downtime [okay I like to Google Lana Del Rey because I hate that I'm so obsessed with her and Google always directs me to HRO] [I'm self-destructive like that]), it would give him some actual credit for being a writer but currently all I think is that he's some teenage-girl-famewhore-predator.
I skimmed your whole post but only digested ~75%. The punctuation really confuses my un-avant-garde brain hahah. I liked your story/poem. Your ironic sense of humour is pretty great.
You must've spent a lot of time on this essay. I hope you appropriated some kind of response from the Great Tao Lin?
P.S. I think it was a really gutsy move to put your ex-obsession/hopes/cocksucking dreams of Lin up there in the first section. It's hard to admit that we originally went with the crowd and mindlessly fell into the same old trap as everyone else. ya know.
I'm still pretty young and find myself headfirst in every ditch, hole, grave, uncovered manhole, etc. etc. every day. I wake up at night wondering if my adoration of something/someone will eventually be tarnished by Real Life.
P.P.S. Tao Lin is also "young". Maybe he'll be A Real Writer one day, we might never know. Or his style might just stay the same and this Online Generation of Hipsters will grow old and older and eventually forget about Shoplifting in American Apparel.
<3
Really enjoyed your Comment, Mimi. The Punctuation takes Some getting used to. What it allows me to do is focus on Certain Words and Concepts within the Sentence. Gets me thinking about Grammar. A Trip within a Trip.
Tao Lin is doing his Best to pretend I don't xist, I am doing my Best to prove I do. I'll give him More than a Blow Job.
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