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Mine
Against a densely imbricated skein of documentary fragments and confessional annotation, Mine advances a sustained, interlocutory investigation into the ulterior etiologies and malignant narcissism of underground pornography. “How dare you cling to the idea that there’s something to be understood.”
An excerpt:
I have to pin the words down, cut them out and place them as far as possible from the dunce economy. I’m not an exegete. But I take the words and ideas and stutters and stick them somewhere far more successful. You’ll understand this, finally, when I demean myself enough to tell you what I do with the words that these mouthy pigs just repeat often enough to tell you that they stand behind them. It’s not what I take, or who I take them away from. But where I put them. Not rewrite them. Not change or charge the context. I identify them. I don’t, idiot, masturbate with them. I can’t imagine wanting to do anything without having these words fully included. I wouldn’t even consider doing anything without them. The cunts that make cartoons out of their ideas. Little collages and signatures and slack versions. Strippers and songwriters and female’d max factors. I live all over them. I write through them, use them, come away with little more than a dangling possible.
…
What I do is inescapable.
An excerpt:
I have to pin the words down, cut them out and place them as far as possible from the dunce economy. I’m not an exegete. But I take the words and ideas and stutters and stick them somewhere far more successful. You’ll understand this, finally, when I demean myself enough to tell you what I do with the words that these mouthy pigs just repeat often enough to tell you that they stand behind them. It’s not what I take, or who I take them away from. But where I put them. Not rewrite them. Not change or charge the context. I identify them. I don’t, idiot, masturbate with them. I can’t imagine wanting to do anything without having these words fully included. I wouldn’t even consider doing anything without them. The cunts that make cartoons out of their ideas. Little collages and signatures and slack versions. Strippers and songwriters and female’d max factors. I live all over them. I write through them, use them, come away with little more than a dangling possible.
…
What I do is inescapable.
242 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
4 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
About the author
Peter Sotos
36 books225 followersPeter Sotos (born April 17, 1960) is a Chicago-born writer who has contributed an unprecedented examination of the peculiar motivations of sadistic sexual criminals. His works are often cited as conveying an uncanny understanding of myriad aspects of pornography. Most of his writings have focused on sexually violent pornography, particularly of that involving children. His writings are also considered by many to be social criticism often commenting on the hypocritical way media handles these issues.
In 1984, while attending The Art Institute of Chicago, Sotos began producing a self-published newsletter or "fanzine" named Pure, notable as the first zine dedicated to serial killer lore. Much of the text and pictures in Pure were photocopied images from major newspapers and other print media. Sotos also used a photocopy from a magazine of child pornography as the cover of issue#2 of Pure. In 1986 this cover led to his arrest and charges of obscenity and possession of child pornography. The charges of obscenity were dropped, but Sotos eventually pled guilty to the possession charge and received a suspended sentence. Sotos was the first person in the United States ever to be charged for owning child pornography.
Sotos' writings explore sadistic and pedophilic sexual impulses in their many, often hidden, guises. Often using first person narratives, his prose takes on the point of view of the sexual predator. Despite his early legal troubles, and the seemingly fatal stigma of falsely being labeled a pedophile, Sotos continues to garner support for his ideas and literary output.
He was until 2003 a seminal member of the industrial noise band Whitehouse.
In 1984, while attending The Art Institute of Chicago, Sotos began producing a self-published newsletter or "fanzine" named Pure, notable as the first zine dedicated to serial killer lore. Much of the text and pictures in Pure were photocopied images from major newspapers and other print media. Sotos also used a photocopy from a magazine of child pornography as the cover of issue#2 of Pure. In 1986 this cover led to his arrest and charges of obscenity and possession of child pornography. The charges of obscenity were dropped, but Sotos eventually pled guilty to the possession charge and received a suspended sentence. Sotos was the first person in the United States ever to be charged for owning child pornography.
Sotos' writings explore sadistic and pedophilic sexual impulses in their many, often hidden, guises. Often using first person narratives, his prose takes on the point of view of the sexual predator. Despite his early legal troubles, and the seemingly fatal stigma of falsely being labeled a pedophile, Sotos continues to garner support for his ideas and literary output.
He was until 2003 a seminal member of the industrial noise band Whitehouse.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 22, 2022
Well, this was my first Sotos read, having only heard Buyer’s Market once, and the Whitehouse collabs, i sorta knew what to expect, and yet there was a lot to this that i didn’t expect. The entire thing is a series of statements, ranging from a couple words to half-page paragraphs, give or take, perhaps some of it is transcribed from dialogues, some seems to be excerpts of news reports… not sure where all of it is coming from, except maybe the sources listed on the front and back covers but for all I know there’s stuff in the book from outside of the listed sources… maybe it doesn’t matter. This book is an extremely difficult reading experience, albeit i’m guessing it’s nothing compared to going through almost any of the things discussed within it though. It’s relentlessly brutal and depraved. Ultra depressing. Goes rummaging through the dumpster that is some of the-worst-aspects-of-humanity and wallows in it for 240 pages. Reading this is in some ways traumatizing, even. I don’t see how it wouldn’t be traumatizing if the one reading this has a molecule of empathy for survivors of child abuse. Aside from all this, the writing style is something else, not sure if it is considered experimental or what. Many sentences take abrupt unexpected turns, thought provoking in subtle on top of overt ways. Not sure i would recommend anyone read this book. But if you want to have a sort of crash course in horrendous child abuse, or begin to develop an understanding of the depth and extent to which these atrocities are committed, then this book is maybe for you. Not sure how it compares to the other Sotos books out there, not sure i want to know, know for sure i won’t be spending a lot of money on anything by Sotos so if I happen to come across affordable copies of any of his other work i may brave another slab of his shit at that point. Fucking devastating, Mine is.
August 20, 2015
Fishing spacecrafts and horse baseballs....this was a hard book to read! I will pass this on to the strong. God bless all the children of the world....!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews