Second Person

by Gabi Losoncy

"I have wanted, I think, sincerely but in futility, to make this book a sort of guide, a replicable guide for other people to direct their thoughts and feelings that are or feel worthless into a manifestable material substance, because I strongly wish for others to be able to direct their thoughts and feelings in a way that makes life worth living without facile stumbling blocks or with a feeling of non-manifestation or terror at death without production of substance, with the understanding that production of substance also involves an emotional exactitude that even most production does not do, but I am realizing that by my own standards such a book doesn't speak to the total ductility of ideas that makes me feel so truly happy and comfortable and capable in relation to the world, and so to enforce such a concept on the book would be sort of sick."

44 pages, Booklet

First published October 1, 2017

Reviews

[Caroline Kopko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always known there was a common thread running through Gabi’s and my own life, not exactly a likeness but a familiar strain of individual feminine weirdness that can only be exacted through living and understood through obsessive cultural/hyper-specific studies. Second Person translates to me as (forgive the term) a self-help book of affirmative mental processes for a particular type of dysfunctional, analytical and likely artistic person. Beyond a desire for specialness, a person relegated to the arts by choice or by design, may find themselves affected by social ills or a general sense of imposed grief. Likely rejected by the natural process of assimilation. Being present while also being "kind" (not vacantly so) can enact a kind of forced participation. Even as you might enjoy yourself and your thoughts privately, any disruption in the algorithm of assimilation may alert the others and disconnection will be felt. Allowing yourself to engage positively with your interior world without guilt creates a more direct path between discourse and true understanding. This breaks down impulses toward performance, or my understanding of a "Second Person". To think about an uncomfortable reality, such as an irritant, of which I have many, mostly self-styled chemical terrorists in the form of intrusive thoughts. The more I sit with these irritants, an apply the ideas Gabi discusses, the less I feel an attachment to them, the more they feel freed from them. How this relates to "performance" has been one of positive temperance from compulsory art-making, a habit that can overwhelm and distort "quality". Quality of work but more so quality of life. Through this process of checks and balances, filler compulsions start to fall away and only what's most important is left.

[Kevin Svartvit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely insightful text that should be read almost like a manual for tranformative thoughts. Calling this self-help feels like it downplays the more phylosopical aspects present. However it manages in it’s shortness to be highly effective at instilling a sense of control within the reader.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://gnomeship.blogspot.com/2019/0...

[Josiah Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

"On the level of object, I offer nothing," Losoncy says about herself, in forging an object that sits within our hands. A strange & pleasant short text, full of contradiction and life.

[Pearson Robbins]

"When a structure is suggested, allow the structure to attempt to build itself. If it does not, it knows it cannot. It is about trust and respect. If it can, however, you get to see something new. That itself is to be cherished. Let itself build its own house."

[Talya Krupnick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dopeness

[sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

really something else altogether