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Declension
A surrealist journey through language and violence in contemporary America. A study of linguicide in the 21st century. Chaos theory in prose form. The violence of language. A performance lost to the ages, and presented here to unlock your lizard brain.
84 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
1 person is currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Michael Allen Rose
28 books68 followersMichael Allen Rose is an award-winning writer, musician, editor and performance artist based in Chicago, Illinois. His stories have appeared in The Magazine of Bizarro Fiction, Heavy Feather Review, and Tales From The Crust among other periodicals. He has published several books including Jurassichrist (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing) which won the 2021 Wonderland Award for best bizarro novel, and The Last 5 Minutes of the Human Race, winner of best collection in bizarro fiction 2022. He is the host of the annual Ultimate Bizarro Showdown at Bizarro Con in Oregon. Michael also releases industrial music under the name Flood Damage. He lives with an awesome cat named Dr. Light, and enjoys good tea. You can find more at www.michaelallenrose.com
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 24, 2017
Big applause for this book. It was an open stage, and I was the audience and the interpreter. It is a play with words about words that define the ongoing disintegration of language and the breakdown of affinity. It is literally the Theatre of Chaos, and our collective subconscious bows and participates. I felt the influence of the Surrealists in these pages, and the reign of chaos and found imagery are explained in the author's supplemental guide. This was a manic experience for a lover of words who thrives on chaos and creativity in literature. If you have bowels, conglomerate.
September 12, 2015
Mute, a hyper-homeless person and his friends, Trask, Burnings, The Girl and McGruff the crime dog. On the stage. Dancing the “Blissful Wafflestomper”.
Brian Keene mentioned Michael on his web site a few months back, so I contacted him and picked up a couple of his books. Declension is the first one I have read. Someone described it as performance art on the page - a chaotic experiment in linguistics. Pretty damn accurate.
I don’t consider myself overly “experimental” with my reading preferences and would probably not have sought this one out or even read it had I known it was so-called “experimental”. I figured it was bizarro, which is hit or miss for me, but if Keene gave it a green light then wtf. I gave it a go and I am glad I did.
I have no idea why I liked this one as much as I did. It should have been a hot mess, but it wasn’t. It should have been hard to follow and confusing, but it wasn’t. Ok, I lied a little bit there because I suppose it was a bit confusing at times. I have no doubt it was on purpose and a part of Michael’s chaos theory of language.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one and I can’t even tell you why except for the fact that Michael Allen Rose is obviously one hell of a writer to have pulled this one off. I look forward to seeing what else this guy can do.
"I am the unreliable narrator. Not because I narrate, but because I am unreliable."
Brian Keene mentioned Michael on his web site a few months back, so I contacted him and picked up a couple of his books. Declension is the first one I have read. Someone described it as performance art on the page - a chaotic experiment in linguistics. Pretty damn accurate.
I don’t consider myself overly “experimental” with my reading preferences and would probably not have sought this one out or even read it had I known it was so-called “experimental”. I figured it was bizarro, which is hit or miss for me, but if Keene gave it a green light then wtf. I gave it a go and I am glad I did.
I have no idea why I liked this one as much as I did. It should have been a hot mess, but it wasn’t. It should have been hard to follow and confusing, but it wasn’t. Ok, I lied a little bit there because I suppose it was a bit confusing at times. I have no doubt it was on purpose and a part of Michael’s chaos theory of language.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one and I can’t even tell you why except for the fact that Michael Allen Rose is obviously one hell of a writer to have pulled this one off. I look forward to seeing what else this guy can do.
"I am the unreliable narrator. Not because I narrate, but because I am unreliable."
November 9, 2015
There are great ideas and fascinating techniques used in the creation of this "verbal art form". The results are worth your time.
May 12, 2014
Michael Allen Rose has written a masterpiece.
Exploring automatic writing and other means of literary production, Rose produces a study on the correlation between the downfall of the English language and the increases in violence.
The concept of automatic writing is something dear to my heart, as it relates to my religion (Spiritism), where it's called psicography. Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa used it, as he claimed he was in contact with spirits. Philip K. Dick also claimed the influence of otherwordly beings in his writings, and wrote extensively about his experiences. Michael doesn't claim spiritual influences, but he uses it as a mean of producing truly unfiltered "mind prose".
This book is experimental, and should be viewed as such. I particularly loved it. It reads almost like a song, or a poem in some parts. You can feel the rhythm of the words, popping out of the page (or in my case, the screen), making you want to move around while reading it, letting the words guide your body through space.
I extremely recommend reading it, for sure.
Exploring automatic writing and other means of literary production, Rose produces a study on the correlation between the downfall of the English language and the increases in violence.
The concept of automatic writing is something dear to my heart, as it relates to my religion (Spiritism), where it's called psicography. Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa used it, as he claimed he was in contact with spirits. Philip K. Dick also claimed the influence of otherwordly beings in his writings, and wrote extensively about his experiences. Michael doesn't claim spiritual influences, but he uses it as a mean of producing truly unfiltered "mind prose".
This book is experimental, and should be viewed as such. I particularly loved it. It reads almost like a song, or a poem in some parts. You can feel the rhythm of the words, popping out of the page (or in my case, the screen), making you want to move around while reading it, letting the words guide your body through space.
I extremely recommend reading it, for sure.
March 28, 2014
So Michael tried something even more different than Bizarro here, utilizing his background in theatre to bring us an updated vision of, as far as I can tell, Kerouac's Spontaneous Prose and Brecht's comfortably distant social commentary.
American memes and tulpas make appearances in the narrative, like Scruff McGruff and the Domo-kun (God Kills a Kitten meme). Rose calls this new approach of his 'Theatre of Chaos' and it's achieved through an automatic writing practice, with no causation between the words to influence one another. It's almost like taking a taste test blindfolded, freeing the reader up from potential bias and allowing them to an experience that is more open to individual interpretation. I enjoyed this one alright, but I really want to see what he has planned next for Bizarro! I'd also like to see him tackle a nihilistic Industrial metal-influenced work some day, as he'd knock it out of the park.
American memes and tulpas make appearances in the narrative, like Scruff McGruff and the Domo-kun (God Kills a Kitten meme). Rose calls this new approach of his 'Theatre of Chaos' and it's achieved through an automatic writing practice, with no causation between the words to influence one another. It's almost like taking a taste test blindfolded, freeing the reader up from potential bias and allowing them to an experience that is more open to individual interpretation. I enjoyed this one alright, but I really want to see what he has planned next for Bizarro! I'd also like to see him tackle a nihilistic Industrial metal-influenced work some day, as he'd knock it out of the park.
July 31, 2015
DECLENSION (and what a wonderfully apt title that is!) is a very unusual book, in that it's a bizarro tale about language. It comes off as a fevered and demented prose poem. In fact, while I was in the middle of it (before I'd gotten to the supplemental material), I'd decided that this book shouldn't be read; it should be performed. Imagine my delight to discover that is exactly what the author had in mind. I can even see the theater in my head. Small stage. Small building. Maybe thirty seats. A stage so close that the audience can touch the performers. Actors wandering out into the audience during their performance. Audience engagement. Very intimate. And maybe a little uneasy. These actors are pretty crazy. You just don't know what they might do. A slight element of danger hangs in the air. It's a shame that there are only 50 copies of this book, and it's also a shame that this was only ever performed once. It's not just a book to read. It's an experience.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews