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The Source

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 18 ratings · 2 reviews

Poetry. Part theoretical treatise on the ethics of origination, part assemblage-art investigation of the dissemination of public knowledge, THE SOURCE is a book-length conceptual essay, a polemic in defense of constrained bibliomancy and ambient research as authentic means to illuminate truth in all its messy vectors. "Gordon has convincingly shown us that writing still ha...more

Paperback, 128 pages

Published February 15th 2011 by Futurepoem (first published February 1st 2011)

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Aug 02, 2012 Ty rated it 3 of 5 stars

interesting. here's the concept, as explained by the author (at the end of the collection):

"From January of 2008 to September of 2009, I read only page 26 of nearly ten thousand books at the Denver Public Library, culling from them bits of language, which I then fused together, altering some nouns to read 'the Source' so they become reflective of the parameters of the project. At its core, the book is a prose centro, a continuation of a practice dating from the Homeric song stitchers of antiquit...more interesting. here's the concept, as explained by the author (at the end of the collection):

"From January of 2008 to September of 2009, I read only page 26 of nearly ten thousand books at the Denver Public Library, culling from them bits of language, which I then fused together, altering some nouns to read 'the Source' so they become reflective of the parameters of the project. At its core, the book is a prose centro, a continuation of a practice dating from the Homeric song stitchers of antiquity to current trends in hip-hop culture and electronic music; however, it's also a testament to the interconnectedness and mutability of all writing, as well as an exploration of the notion of origins, both textual and spiritual. The choice of page 26, while obviously corresponding to the amount of letters present in the English language, is also important in Kabbalist terms; it represents the numerical value of the Tetragrammaton, the four Hebrew letters that form the name of God. Additionally, according to the Talmud, the Torah would have been revealed during the 26th generation of the history of the world; thus, it is Moses who, 26 generations after Adam, receives the Torah transmitted by God. Interestingly, by using a correspondence table, where each letter is given in ascending order a numerical value (A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.), the name of God in English has a total value (G=7, O=15, D=4) of 26. The problems of numerology aside, I undertook this project in order to investigate whether or not constraint-based, conceptual writing might have a spiritual dimension. It is now my belief that rigid and systemic modes of writing can embody an emotionally charged engagement with the world."

the poetry reads like walter benjamin, where every sentence conveys the whole meaning. as a piece of theory it fails to make sense to me, and as a piece of poetry it fails to give me too much good feeling. it may be spiritual. but there were parts that were cool, and the concept made me think quite a bit about the crazed concepts "bibliomancy" and "ambient research."(less)

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Apr 04, 2011 Dennis rated it 5 of 5 stars

You do not need to be a Kabbalist to know this book is amazing! I appreciate the effort of each page 26--the collage of looking for what is in each book. If you want to know more, just ask.

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