John Bomer Laura

Ever curious,

I think I could name 1000 great experimental books, off the top of my head. And someone like Stephen Moore could probably list 10,000. The question becomes: why list any of them? (And why 100?) (And of course, it says “important,” not “great”—what does “important” mean?)

If the goal is to list “important ones,” then this list probably won’t be all that new; i.e., it probably already exists elsewhere. Surely others have listed 100 important experimental books.

I also just noted that the above post says “texts.” Is this to include all texts; e.g., would hypertext novels be available for consideration?

Questions, questions…

Mainly, I’m trying to define the terms of the inquiry. Now, if Lance were asking, “What do you think are the most interesting experimental novels of the past five years?”, that would be quite another thing entirely…

A

As a frequent book reviewer, your question comes up, not all the time, but because of certain texts. Do I think Mati Unt will be read in such a way that the culture–whatever the heck that means–will accept him, or more to the point, his books, or do I want that and therefore delude myself?

For me, it’s best to just say: hey, this is a book worth considering, for these reasons (that is to say, the words on the page, and at times the silences, plus the ideas hovering over the text that are generated by the author, and those generated by me as I read and make connections), and maybe a review reader (and therefore posterity) will like these also, or find more than I found (always possible), to continue its life beyond a year after its publication date.