[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 49 KB, 357x500, shoplifting-from-american-apparel.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4250870 No.4250870 [Reply] [Original]

Just picked this up at the library, what can I expect?

>> No.4250878

>>4250870
You can expect it to have been written by Tao Lin

>> No.4250886

Rumpus: There is a lack of affect to the characters in Shoplifting From American Apparel (“SFAA“). They are rendered no more or less valuable than the objects alongside which they are described. Is this flattening of value something that is intentional on your part?

Tao Lin: To me the characters in SFAA experience emotions the same as other humans and maybe even more intensely than other humans. Luis talks about how he feels like his chest is going to explode. Sam talks about how he feels like his face is going to float away from his skull (to emo music). But I decided not to include sentences about the characters’ emotions or thoughts. In part because I wanted to write in a certain prose style’s most extreme form. One “by-product” or “side-effect” of the prose style is that the characters’ thoughts/feelings aren’t available to the reader. I talk about the prose style’s function more below, I think.

>> No.4250887

you can expect words, often several at a time, to be strung together to create sentences. this will occur on most pages.

>> No.4250889

Greentext tier writing.

>> No.4250894

>>4250870
modern post-modernity

you'll either find it brilliant or a boring slog

>> No.4250900

post-greentext k-mart realism is the future.

>> No.4250914

You can expect the bookseller to be kind if you recognize your mistake, maybe he'll give you half the money back.

>> No.4250931

>>4250914
>picked this up at the library
You lack reading comprehension. No wonder you hate Tao Lin so much.

>> No.4250934
File: 527 KB, 1019x876, good writing vs bad writing.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4250934

>what can I expect?

awful writing.

>> No.4252670

dont want to derail your thread but Ive got a question about which book I should read of Tao Lin.
My local library doesnt have books of Tao Lin but I can order on from another one but it obviously costs money so I need to make a choice between two books.
So which one should I read, Bed or Eeeee eee eeee?

>> No.4252683

>>4252670
Bed is definitely the better of the two

>> No.4252731

Are his books better than his twitter?

>> No.4252737

>>4250886
And people actually pay this guy to write things?

>> No.4252742
File: 16 KB, 376x260, 1379692829474.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4252742

>>4250870
>mfw I thought anon bought a shoplifting guide

It took me 2 minutes to nice there wasn't a "to" between American Apparel and Tao Lin

>> No.4252744

>>4252683
thank you

>> No.4252768

>>4250887
Then, I won't read it

>> No.4252937

>>4250934
Why do people do this?
It's the same as that Fitzgerald v. Martin pic.

It's obvious the bad writing is a particularly off-putting fragment put against one of the best fragments used for the good writing.

>> No.4252951

>>4252670
Neither are really as good as his later stuff, apart from some of the earlier stories in Bed.

>> No.4252982

>>4252937
It's called 'trolling'.

>> No.4252990

>>4250934
The bad writing just looks like surreal Hemingway

>> No.4253013

>>4250934
When I first read the one on the right I thought it was a didactic story about pedophilia.

>> No.4253043

You guys realize the whole point of Tao Lin is that he writes terribly,right? Like , it's a joke. It's funny. Not much substance there i dont buy into the whole bs about the voice of our autistic generation but how could Tao actually make you mad???

>> No.4253076

>>4252937
Except they're both page one. They weren't cherry picked.

>> No.4253085

i used to talk so much shit about towelin.

he's not bad though, taipei is actually rather well-written