Theory

by Kenneth Goldsmith

"I used to be an artist; then I became a poet; then a writer. Now when asked, I simply refer to myself as a word processor," Kenneth Goldsmith (born 1961) writes in Theory. The acclaimed conceptual poet, who is the founder and editor of UbuWeb, a professor of Uncreative Writing at the University of Pennsylvania and the former host of a weekly radio show at WFMU, was also appointed MoMA's very first Poet Laureate in 2013. Goldsmith may be a word processor, but he has also proven to be a highly influential literary figure over the past two decades. His latest publication, Theory, is a series of 500 texts-from poems to aphoristic thoughts to short stories-published on 500 sheets of paper and gathered unbound as a paper ream. This artist's book is the first of Goldsmith's publications to consolidate his diverse practices-from the radio to the Internet to his "uncreative" writing-in a single volume.

Genres: Poetry, Contemporary

500 pages, Unbound

First published May 1, 2015

Reviews

[Jeff Buddle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kenneth Goldmith’s “Theory.” As an object it’s a 500 page ream of paper with statements, fragments, and anecdotes on each page. If you know a little about Kenny G, it’s likely you’ve seen some of the stuff before. He’s pilfered sections of his own book, “Uncreative Writing,” and transcribed bits of his speeches and lectures. He’s re-purposed his own artist statements, broken-up his manifestos, quoted his articles, stolen from his interviews, sampled his own YouTube videos and repackaged it all here.

If I’d attempted to read the object, broken the seal on the ream and tried to page through it, I would have likely become frustrated. Even more so when I tried to store it. Without its wrapping it would be an unwieldy thing (or not a thing at all), destined to become a dog-eared mess, grubby. The pages would become separated from each other, the original wrapping torn; stuff would be lost.

The only way to be satisfied with it as an object would be not to open it. But then I’d have to take Kenny’s word for it. Without ever opening the ream, I couldn’t know if this was a real thing. For all I’d know, the pages could be blank and I would have paid $30 for a simple ream of paper. It would forever be the Schrodinger’s Cat of conceptual writing, both a text and not a text simultaneously.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am one of the books-as-objects crowd. I like art books, conceptual works. I am a fan of Concrete Poetry and the OuLiPo. When I first heard about “Theory” I wanted to own it. But as I considered it, I realized that it would be an impractical thing. For, although I love books as objects, I also love reading them. And I knew I wouldn’t be able to read “Theory” because of the reasons I mentioned above.

So, imagine my delight when Kenny G posted a link to a free download on Facebook. I now own the book —and have read the book— as a neat, clean PDF. It’s definitely worth owning (it only takes up a little disk space), worth reading too if you’re into this kind of thing (and I am). Kenny would probably call it a poem. I’ll call it an overarching manifesto, begging to be remixed.

[Hugo Barine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lo leí en el computador del trabajo, en los miles de momentos muertos en los que no hacía nada, a un par de semanas de hacer efectiva mi renuncia. Nada más que agregar.


Ya, ahora tengo otra cosa que agregar: Estoy viendo un capítulo de Seinfeld con chistes que no se pueden traducir porque aluden a aspectos idiosincráticos. Y sí, Kenneth Goldsmith cambió mi percepción con respecto a eso, ahora me parece una maravilla el ingenio del traductor para generar algo que siga teniendo sentido a pesar de perder el contexto.

[Sara Uribe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Todo lo que está diciendo ya ha sido dicho por otros. No hay nada nuevo aquí, sólo remixes y refritos de ideas sucias y teorías que envejecieron bien.

[Stefano Da Rui · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highly frustrating and repetitive yet inventive as the medium used to develop this book (?) is a minimal ream of paper.

[⏺ · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was about time he did a book like this!

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, and much of it ignorable, I found it most interesting for its references to artwork with which I was not familiar.

[Janola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.
Thought-provoking. Interesting.
A bit pompous but that's ok.