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A Brief History of Authoterrorism
Includes pieces by Whitney Anne Trettien, Nile Southern, David Rees, Jeffrey Dorchen, Andrei Codrescu, Mark Jay Mirsky, Terry Southern, and Ben Greenman.
120 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 1, 2013
At the Brooklyn Book Festival, I stopped by the booth of fledgling small press Antibookclub, and picked up A Brief History of Authoterrorism. Support small presses!
This is a compact and attractive book, clearly printed by people who understand how to properly fetishize a physical book as an art object, a funny counterpoint to the subject matter which is--in many ways--about the death of print and the struggle to find a continuing place for art.
The seven stories and one introduction (which is really a mock introduction and a story itself) are very consistent. Enough variation in tone and style to be distinct and interesting, but similar enough that the anthology could almost have been written by one mad Nabokovian genius pretending to be multiple authors (not that I think this was the case, though such a subterfuge would be in keeping with the authoterrorism theme).
But physical attributes and consistency is a weird way to praise a book (despite definitely meaning it as praise), so let me get to the actual text. The book starts with an introduction written in a bizarre meta-scholarly doublespeak that cracked me up while also encouraging me to take it seriously. The rest of the stories are all about artists struggling with a world where art is secondary to marketing and money and the term "art" itself is losing meaning. (Think satellites printing text in the night sky, acid-based paintings that will dissolve before anyone can ever see them, and a deconstruction of the concept of a "book" that actually unravels our entire concept of space and time.) All while being fun to read (and funny) and no story going on long enough to seem preachy or contrived.
I accept that this is probably not everybody's cup of tea, but it was definitely MY cup of tea, and if you like clever, well-written, game-playing self-referential literature you will also like this cup of tea. In the end, I'm not yet sure whether I see this collection as simply an amusing but transient rumination on struggling artists in the modern era or whether it's a a book with a lasting and important point to make about the presence of art in our society. I suppose a bit of distance (and the complete unraveling of our entire concept of space and time) will tell.
"Inventing concepts is dangerous work, and intellectual genealogies are minefields." -Whitney Anne Trettien
This is a compact and attractive book, clearly printed by people who understand how to properly fetishize a physical book as an art object, a funny counterpoint to the subject matter which is--in many ways--about the death of print and the struggle to find a continuing place for art.
The seven stories and one introduction (which is really a mock introduction and a story itself) are very consistent. Enough variation in tone and style to be distinct and interesting, but similar enough that the anthology could almost have been written by one mad Nabokovian genius pretending to be multiple authors (not that I think this was the case, though such a subterfuge would be in keeping with the authoterrorism theme).
But physical attributes and consistency is a weird way to praise a book (despite definitely meaning it as praise), so let me get to the actual text. The book starts with an introduction written in a bizarre meta-scholarly doublespeak that cracked me up while also encouraging me to take it seriously. The rest of the stories are all about artists struggling with a world where art is secondary to marketing and money and the term "art" itself is losing meaning. (Think satellites printing text in the night sky, acid-based paintings that will dissolve before anyone can ever see them, and a deconstruction of the concept of a "book" that actually unravels our entire concept of space and time.) All while being fun to read (and funny) and no story going on long enough to seem preachy or contrived.
I accept that this is probably not everybody's cup of tea, but it was definitely MY cup of tea, and if you like clever, well-written, game-playing self-referential literature you will also like this cup of tea. In the end, I'm not yet sure whether I see this collection as simply an amusing but transient rumination on struggling artists in the modern era or whether it's a a book with a lasting and important point to make about the presence of art in our society. I suppose a bit of distance (and the complete unraveling of our entire concept of space and time) will tell.
"Inventing concepts is dangerous work, and intellectual genealogies are minefields." -Whitney Anne Trettien
May 28, 2017
A brief collection of essays that seem utterly distant, yet strangely fit together. There is no other theme than the loose idea of "authoterrorism", and each piece takes its own interpretation of the idea. The essays are brief thoughts that have no set format and have no consideration for what the other essays are attempting to do (quite like an authoterrorist). An interesting read for those willing to expand their interests. Also, the cover with gold foil is beautifully done.
November 27, 2021
Singular and iconoclastic.
February 15, 2026
Entertaining collection of off-kilter tales. Worth tracking down as a literary artifact.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews