Q
Apr 3 2006
has anyone read "Q" yet by Luther Blisset? (its a pseudonym) I just started it and so far its fucking amazing. 
Apr 3 2006
#2
revolution rugger search this forum or jump to the last page, there is a thread on Q
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Apr 5 2006
#3
Excellent book. I recommend 54, written by members from the same collective. You can get an english pdf version from the wu-ming foundations website. 
Apr 5 2006
#4
got it, read about five pages and left it to collect dust...i gotta get back to it sometime
Apr 6 2006
#5
Lab Rat wrote:
got it, read about five pages and left it to collect dust...i gotta get back to it sometime
same thing as i did... i just wasn't in the mood for all that historical stuff... i might well pick it up again soon tho...
the main interest for me is whether a novel jointly authored by 4 people is actually coherent, or if you can "see the joins"...
Apr 6 2006
#6
rebel_lion wrote:
the main interest for me is whether a novel jointly authored by 4 people is actually coherent, or if you can "see the joins"...
yes it is, and no you can't. it's awesome.
Apr 6 2006
#7
rebel_lion wrote:
Lab Rat wrote:
got it, read about five pages and left it to collect dust...i gotta get back to it sometimesame thing as i did... i just wasn't in the mood for all that historical stuff... i might well pick it up again soon tho...
the main interest for me is whether a novel jointly authored by 4 people is actually coherent, or if you can "see the joins"...
I couldn't get into it at all. Dull and complicated.
Apr 6 2006
#8
Its hardly dull!!! Its just hard to keep track of what isnt going on cos its so detailed. But dull is the right word... there is a hell of a lot going on!
Apr 6 2006
#9
i just ordered this the other day ... 30p second hand but £3 incl P&P, theres labour theory of value for you. i haven't read much fiction lately (some Kafka short stories only) and it looks mad from the bits i've read online (someone gets decapitated on the first page!?). i'm looking forward to it, i'll report back 
Apr 6 2006
#10
oh it's the shizzle alright.
I find myself bored by most fiction as they always have wanky plots and mundane bollox.
This however is like a huge hollywood epic with communist politics and self awareness.
Apr 6 2006
#11
revol68 wrote:
This however is like a huge hollywood epic with communist politics and self awareness.
8) maybe we can pursuade some liberal film-maker to make a bigscreen version, like Danny Boyle's obviously anarchist '28 Days Later'
Apr 6 2006
#12
F. M. Dostoyevsky The Devils
Apr 10 2006
#13
thought Q ruled, but 54 was lame
Apr 10 2006
#14
if yr interested & intrigued by the historical period, i suggest you read 'the Pursuit of the Millenium' by Norman Cohn.(It was a favourite of the situationists.) And then compare it to Q. Cohn is using the same historical material but comes up with a completely different interpretation.
From memory, Cohn sees the religious & social upheaval of the time as a result of a few prophets of doom, madmen & lunatics who wanted the apocaplyse brought down upon earth (that is, a final great battle between good and evil which would allegedly cleanse the world of evil in an orgy of killing). Sure Cohn's interpretation is way flawed, but I'm very uncomfortable with this type of religious cleanse the world of evil thinking, and unfortunately its present in some of the left and anarchism.
I think Q is a rollicking good read, but reading Cohn's book makes me feel like they (Blissett) distorted things a little, and present a rosier picture of the period. Is it like they wanted to turn conservative interpretations like Cohn's on their head (fair enuf) and present the true communist and anarchist tendencies of the period but maybe got a little carried away.
Besides, in my view they put too much emphasis on Munster and overlooked other groups of the time like the Taborites of Bohemia, who sound to me far more communistic and anarchistic than the Munsterites (who did, after all, believe that anyone who wasn't baptised an anabaptist should be exterminated).
Yeah I thought it was wicked.