Uncreative Writing Response

Not really sure what to make of kenneth goldsmith. Although his wardrobe and several of his comments in interviews are interesting, the whole of uncreative writing seems kind of like some bizarre joke. I understand the intellectual purpose of it but once again, like Flarf, there seems to be little or no overarching value to uncreative writing. i understand the idea and methodology behind creating (or exposing) rhythm in things like weather reports or creating writing so uncreative and boring that it becomes interesting and avant-garde, but...who the hell reads this stuff? does anybody pay money for it? sometimes it seems to me that people like Goldsmith are either lazy or bored with their jobs, and therefore decide to create something like uncreative writing to fuck with people. again, i support this practice, but let him inflict it on his own students and those foolish enough to pay attention to him; i don't think this practice or theory needs to be spread any farther than it already has.

i suppose it all goes back to the original idea of 'what is art' and that whole semantic masturbatory seesion, but anyone that starts invoking the nature of art itself in a discussion about something has essentially lost the argument from point of view, as they retreat down the long, comforting birth canal of semantics, making it easy for their debate opponent to get lost, bored, or pissed off. the point that i suppose i'm trying to make is that there are obviously forms of art out there that cross the gap into intellectual excercises and do not actively require any emotional connection, but this practice makes art more divisive than it does inclusive, which is ultimately defeating the point of art. it's not about making obscure intellectual divisions that serve to alienate and annoy and then provide elitist plateaus from which can look down and laugh, saying "hahaha, you don't understand Flarf? you peasant!", it's about making us feel less fucking alone when we look at a piece of art and recognizing how that artist is mired in the same shit we all are, but look what they did to alleviate that pain a little bit. i don't think that when i read uncreative writing, i think about how i want a sandwich and some well-written poetry to read. kenneth goldsmith is missing one of the prime points about life; to become good at something (in this case creativity), first you have to really suck at it, and then get a little bit better by imitating the creativity of others, and then after a long and arduous slog in which you produce a whole lot of crap, you gradually become better at it. and that's life, really.