horsemouth also read large chunks of the observer review 25.01.15 and did a shopping run.
in the observer review a number of things (mainly) struck him - one was the phrase stuffocation (suffocation sic.) seemingly opposing minimalism - having less stuff - as too puritan, it offered the collection of experiences instead 'to have or to be' in a kind of reinvention of erich fromm, not that anyone was admitting it wasn't an entirely new thought that had dropped complete from out of the skies. horsemouth is a hoarder - downsizing and decluttering is unlikely to appeal to him - capitalism would like him to be more flexible, to be able to 'drop everything within fifteen seconds if you see the heat coming around the corner' but this isn't him. it would take him several years in the wilderness to read everything he hasn't read yet, re-read what he wants to re-read in his collection. this does not stop him from wanting to go out and buy more books.
in thinking inside the box sean o'hagan observes polly harvey recording a record in a box beneath somerset house and complains of how boring the music recording process is. he cites joan didion as evidence. but recording (for horsemouth at least) is much more like building a house (or painting a picture) than it is about the release of spontaneous seconds of musical performance and communication when the recording itself is played. for horsemouth it is about craftsmanship - about laying firm foundations, building solid walls, careful attention to detail and knowing when corners can be cut (and when they can't) - for people to feel free to emote they must be confident that the backing will not intrude (or that if it does intrude they can handle it) they must feel supported.
just as capitalism would have us streamline our lives to make us more flexible workers (whilst trying to sell us tat to compensate us for those losses) it also feels uncomfortable with the slowness care and skill that production actually takes (preferring magical spontaneous moments 'captured' on video). (this is of course a fantasy)
that said this weekend horsemouth did not attempt any music nor go and see any played.
'the automobile stands forth in my mind as the very symbol of falsity and illusion.'
henry miller grumps it around america (by car of course) unable to put pen to paper. horsemouth has also been reading (and desecrating in the manner of city am) ruin lust the pamphlet for the ruin lust exhibition (from whence the pleasure ruins portion of the title) - it is not the pleasure of ruins but their institutionalisation as pleasure gardens, the kind of garden presented to their neighbours in bouvard and pecuchet.
pittsburgh is no longer the industrial powerhouse it was when henry miller visited - it is the very heart of the rust belt (horsemouth would like to go), kenneth patchen becomes the symptom of the whole of ohio (anais nin couldn't stand to be near him).
horsemouth mainly reads for the story, he has to slow himself down (often to desecration speed, to the recomposition of the text from fragments) to read the text properly with due care and attention, to see how the text's effects have been achieved or have arisen. for this reason he finds only what is new in the marguerite duras wartime notebooks interesting. her work, her archives, her sayings, are recorded with the fidelity devoted to benjamin (his archives in facsimile).
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on the subject of his book stash neither e-bay nor e-readers (nor indeed sneaky pdf files) work for horsemouth - he needs the pleasure of browsing, of fortuitous discovery, the thrill of the chase, a bargain or a luxury, the book to glow in the stacks or to climb out of the bag and into his hands on the journey home. new covers make horsemouth want to buy the book afresh. one day, whilst bored, horsemouth reviewed some friend's bookshelves - he must admit he did rather enjoy this.
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