I, for one, am devastated (devastated!) to learn that Kenny Koontz is not, in fact, a real and distinct personage. I liked the cut of his jib, and now I learn that the jib was a lie! All that I thought to be real and solid in the world is called into question.
Now that my axis mundi is lost, I shall wander about aimlessly for a time and finally lie down on the ground and wait for death to overtake me.
May seem offtopic, but somehow it is not and it may be that, given you are well connected to the Romanian space, you have already seen this movie. But if not, I hope you will find some day the time (2 hours) to watch this aesthetically majestic film.
Oh thanks so much for this, Laruca! I know some of Lucian Pintilie's work, and I even knew a woman, who has since passed on, who in the early 1970s was detained by the Securitate while trying to take some film reels of his out of the country. But I've never seen this particular film before and will certainly watch it when there's a chance. The Caragiale quote at the beginning, “Simţ enorm şi văz monstruos”, certainly sets a nice tone...
OK, I had Helene and (obviously) Kenny Koontz figured out, but Mary Cadwalladr had me fooled. I am, frankly, crestfallen....Now you are honor-bound to have "Mary" write about Merle Travis...
Oh yes, thank you for catching that! I had meant to give him credit, and then I forgot. I'll wait to confirm with him whether he wants his name revealed, but in the meantime I'll just confirm that you're right, the old Colonel was indeed a character written by someone else under a pseudonym.
Very cool, thanks for putting the effort, you took us on a wild ride. It was quite funny to see these new writers with odd names calling themselves witches and the like. I would never have said the "musurgy" series were metafiction, besides the question of authorship it sounded just like one of your essays on the topic. Enjoyed the denouement too, long live the Sodality!
i thoroughly enjoyed this, even if i wasn't totally clear on what was going on! it was clear to me that kenny wasn't real and i had significant doubts about mary but i didn't understand the deal with helene at all, sadly. so it goes
As an addendum to your third footnote, not only are some lyres Cretan, but if you have never heard the sound of a Cretan lyra in action I urge you to seek them out on YouTube, for example this one:
I admit I am a little disappointed that the ruse is revealed, and so comprehensively and unceremoniously. It’s been clear what’s going on for some time (you are unmistakably you, even when wearing a mask) however I enjoyed the surface ambiguity and hoped you’d continue the game. But it was great fun—thank you for daring to ask a little of your readers!
Serious answer, and I'm sorry if it sounds a bit terse, but here goes: I did read Borges once... when I was 17. I liked his work well enough, as I recall, but as far as I can tell it didn't make much of an impression. Over the past few years the name of Borges has come up countless times in the comments section here, and I've started to see his position relative to The Hinternet somewhat like that of Harry Potter relative to the internet as a whole 10-15 years ago. Whenever he comes up, I feel like saying: could you please, please, for once, invoke someone, anyone else?! (I got a Pessoa comparison not long ago, and that seemed somewhat closer to the target, but there are *so many* other people I would be even happier to see mentioned. Some of them are on our Masthead under the “Eternal Editors” heading.) All that said, thanks for reading ❤️.
Sorry the question proved predictable and irritating! There's just a certain Romance of the Very Apparatus of Scholarly Discourse - in the age of the book (important qualification), which seems characteristic in its flagrancy. As I understand it, though, you're seeking to make an epistemological point / rescue mission which I'm not sure Jorge-Luis had in mind. I will continue to read with interest, skipping some of the more tangled citation structures as I have to work for a living.
fwiw, I was looking forward to seeing the rebellion of Justin Smith-Robot, and in time, the triumphant return of his organic namesake!
I was surprised to see people fooled by the election post, but if I had to speculate as to the causes, alongside "internet brain" I would add "prestige tv brain". Pseudonymy and pretense at nonfiction are apt to confound if the fiction one has become used to has no place for them.
I, for one, am devastated (devastated!) to learn that Kenny Koontz is not, in fact, a real and distinct personage. I liked the cut of his jib, and now I learn that the jib was a lie! All that I thought to be real and solid in the world is called into question.
Now that my axis mundi is lost, I shall wander about aimlessly for a time and finally lie down on the ground and wait for death to overtake me.
First, though, I could really go for some nachos.
So happy to see that you are “doing the work,” and I for one say that the work must go on, readers be damned!
May seem offtopic, but somehow it is not and it may be that, given you are well connected to the Romanian space, you have already seen this movie. But if not, I hope you will find some day the time (2 hours) to watch this aesthetically majestic film.
https://youtu.be/Tx7rdkiADto?si=dG7hlUj03bbQIBZ8
Otherwise, I am sorry you had to ultimately explain the Work although you did it in a manner not hurting the Work. Hehe
So, apud Thomas More, I trust you continue to make yourself obscure. 🤞
Oh thanks so much for this, Laruca! I know some of Lucian Pintilie's work, and I even knew a woman, who has since passed on, who in the early 1970s was detained by the Securitate while trying to take some film reels of his out of the country. But I've never seen this particular film before and will certainly watch it when there's a chance. The Caragiale quote at the beginning, “Simţ enorm şi văz monstruos”, certainly sets a nice tone...
OK, I had Helene and (obviously) Kenny Koontz figured out, but Mary Cadwalladr had me fooled. I am, frankly, crestfallen....Now you are honor-bound to have "Mary" write about Merle Travis...
Oh don’t worry, Mary will still be writing for us, but now as an openly non-existent person.
I am deeply grateful to you for increasing the representation of non-existent voices.
I believe that Col. Francis Cecil Cholmondeley Haslam must be real, as I've already asked him to be the godfather of my next child.
Oh yes, thank you for catching that! I had meant to give him credit, and then I forgot. I'll wait to confirm with him whether he wants his name revealed, but in the meantime I'll just confirm that you're right, the old Colonel was indeed a character written by someone else under a pseudonym.
And what about Hélène's poor goats, no knit sweaters for Christmas this year? I think you should keep her on the payroll, whether she exists or not.
Je décèle l'influence suspecte de la « Pataphysique » d'Alfred Jarry.
There's more of the "AI" for you.
Very cool, thanks for putting the effort, you took us on a wild ride. It was quite funny to see these new writers with odd names calling themselves witches and the like. I would never have said the "musurgy" series were metafiction, besides the question of authorship it sounded just like one of your essays on the topic. Enjoyed the denouement too, long live the Sodality!
i thoroughly enjoyed this, even if i wasn't totally clear on what was going on! it was clear to me that kenny wasn't real and i had significant doubts about mary but i didn't understand the deal with helene at all, sadly. so it goes
Thanks QC!
For a while there, after the Harris thing, I thought that maybe Justin was writing the comments too, and that was part of the joke.
As an addendum to your third footnote, not only are some lyres Cretan, but if you have never heard the sound of a Cretan lyra in action I urge you to seek them out on YouTube, for example this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6tTDNkpYOo
or this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN8tyyEHX-c
Thank you for bothering 😅
I admit I am a little disappointed that the ruse is revealed, and so comprehensively and unceremoniously. It’s been clear what’s going on for some time (you are unmistakably you, even when wearing a mask) however I enjoyed the surface ambiguity and hoped you’d continue the game. But it was great fun—thank you for daring to ask a little of your readers!
Justin, why are you trying to be Jorge-Luis Borges? (Serious question.)
Serious answer, and I'm sorry if it sounds a bit terse, but here goes: I did read Borges once... when I was 17. I liked his work well enough, as I recall, but as far as I can tell it didn't make much of an impression. Over the past few years the name of Borges has come up countless times in the comments section here, and I've started to see his position relative to The Hinternet somewhat like that of Harry Potter relative to the internet as a whole 10-15 years ago. Whenever he comes up, I feel like saying: could you please, please, for once, invoke someone, anyone else?! (I got a Pessoa comparison not long ago, and that seemed somewhat closer to the target, but there are *so many* other people I would be even happier to see mentioned. Some of them are on our Masthead under the “Eternal Editors” heading.) All that said, thanks for reading ❤️.
Sorry the question proved predictable and irritating! There's just a certain Romance of the Very Apparatus of Scholarly Discourse - in the age of the book (important qualification), which seems characteristic in its flagrancy. As I understand it, though, you're seeking to make an epistemological point / rescue mission which I'm not sure Jorge-Luis had in mind. I will continue to read with interest, skipping some of the more tangled citation structures as I have to work for a living.
Had me duped
fwiw, I was looking forward to seeing the rebellion of Justin Smith-Robot, and in time, the triumphant return of his organic namesake!
I was surprised to see people fooled by the election post, but if I had to speculate as to the causes, alongside "internet brain" I would add "prestige tv brain". Pseudonymy and pretense at nonfiction are apt to confound if the fiction one has become used to has no place for them.