TAO LIN | BLOG

11/28/07

by tao lin in the stranger

22 Comments:

BLAKE BUTLER said...: that was excellent.; 7:57 PM
Ali said...: i agree with blake butler, it was excellent and funny and true

i found your blog 2 days ago and i really like your writing and the way you think and work things out

i would like to be honest like your writing is some day. this is a goal for me now; 8:10 PM
Miles Newbold Clark said...: In 50 years no one will remember Philip Roth unless this is truly the point in American history at which America's innate solipsism, purposeful ignorance and unrelenting arrogance proved a microcosm for why the rest of the world despises us.

That said, it's still highly possible that he'll win the Nobel. I'd liken that event to Michael Chabon's pulitzer for "Cavalier and Clay": The Establishment's reactionary nod for a geniune development in fiction that probably belonged more rightly to Wallace, Evenson, or Eggers. Somehow, everyone ignored the fact that the much-lauded opening description of Chabon's abortion was a flat-out theft from Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude." Though stealing isn't a bad thing in and of itself, Chabon steals badly, clogging the elegant, mysterious rhythm of the former with his reminiscnce and his guilt.

Roth is similar in this regard. He contributes absolutely nothing to American literature that wasn't already treated by Singer and Bellow with more universality, tenderness and care. But those Nobel prizes came in earler, happeir times, when oil still bubbled deep in Texas and global warming was a distant ship on the horizon.

Maybe America deserves a laureate like Roth.; 8:43 PM
Noah Cicero said...: that was sweet; 9:09 PM
Zachary German said...: good; 1:14 AM
brandon said...: man

i laughed so much; 3:31 AM
chris killen said...: yep. that was really good. it made me feel excited.; 7:04 AM
Tao Lin said...: philip roth will never be forgotten

i'll probably forget noah cicero before i forget philip roth; 11:05 AM
Tao Lin said...: me: i am here for you noah
what do you need
some porn links

Noah: i did an interview
my life has improved
are you at home

me: let me see it
i'm tat the bilrary

Noah: it isn't my best performance
there were some good moments
when there was some feeling
but i couldn't maintain it

me: liek an erection
like philip roth's erection
it just couldnlt be maintained

Noah: roth won that award
why are they stikll giving that penis awards
i like sometimes to sound normal
to sound concerned

me: longest penis

Noah: then to suddenly switch and show that i hate people
and generally everythign

me: yes, keep them focused
the enigma of noah cicero
does he hate people or not

Noah: tao
we are really alone
are sentences
come out of a void
and crawl back
they are like centipedes

me: you're right
centipedes in the darkness
should be the name of our biogrpahies

Noah: would you draw me a pic
of a centipede in the darkness

me: yes noah

Noah: i thnk of interviews as art
this is not how people should do things
i tihnk that first interview we did together was realy good
i think that was the birth of something truly fucked on the internet

me: yes
we birthed one
we got pregnant over time
then it happened
i clicked publish and cut the umbiolical cord
then maud newton linked our baby

Noah: truly fucked
truly
fucked
thank you for the picture
it is emotional

me: alone
brown
someone shit on it

Noah: who
who is someone

me: foer

Noah: foer
he hasn't had a book out in a while
like thre years
are you mor famous than joe meno yet

me: no, he's pretty famous
his book sold 30,000

Noah: you've sold like 4000
you have 26 to go

me: i will never attain joe meno's status
he is my god

Noah: you will
believe

me: in interviews i will say i can only hope to aspire to joe meno's greatness

Noah: machiko will reivew your next book

me: i posted pictures of joe meno as my background
so when i turn on the computer i can be inspired

Noah: she will say "Tour De Force" and Joe Meno status

me: tao lin has achieved joe meno status

Noah: That is stupid you are not as famous as joe meno
joe meno is like a bad joke
i'm not luaghing

me: i'm going to blog a chart
the levels of greatness a writer can achieve
you'll be on there

Noah: im laughing

me: steve almond
will be on there

Noah: this sounds good

me: is almond below joe meno

Noah: joe meno is america's best alternative writer; 11:46 AM
ryan said...: good job, i think. i enjoyed reading about the levels of greatness a fiction writer can achieve in america. thank you.; 12:50 PM
Stephen Daniel Lewis said...: thats was great.
i like the titles.; 1:07 PM
Kendra Grant Malone said...: you are funny.

i like your new drawing at the top of your blog. its mega cute.; 1:58 PM
Tonyoneill said...: im still laughing. that was really good.

i dont want noah to die of syphilllis and i am sending him antibiotics right now in case of an emergency.; 2:59 PM
Dobbs said...: i hurt my penis laughing; 3:34 PM
Dobbs said...: my penis learned to laugh

a new film starring adam sandler and billy bob thorton; 3:35 PM
cory said...: I want everyone to die of syphilis, sweet sweet syphilis; 6:06 PM
jillian said...: i would feel meaningless somehow if i filled a pocket-sized moleskine with books i wanted to read, that is what scrap paper is for

'roth' sounds like somebody trying to say some other word, and then feeling awkward about it

i feel afraid that you will make up a conversation between you and i and post it in the comments section of your blog

so afraid; 8:23 PM
throwingroses said...: Fucking great.; 12:18 AM
Pirooz M. Kalayeh said...: Fantastic.; 11:21 AM
MadisonGlass said...: I love you.; 3:23 PM
MadisonGlass said...: I love you too Noah.; 3:24 PM
Kathy said...: this is so funny. i love the used honda civics in "great" condition.; 4:18 PM

TAO LIN | BLOG

11/28/07

the levels of greatness a fiction writer can achieve in america

22 Comments: