In a recent review of a work of contemporary video art, the novelist and poet Ben Lerner made a bizarre admission:
I’ve always thought of artworks as a kind of CAPTCHA test that I might not pass. Am I feeling the right things at the right pitch of intensity? What if I’m discovered to be lacking in some fundamental capacity—what if I’m the avatar or replicant? [reference to Blade Runner]
Are these the words of a neurotic adolescent or a highly successful writer, the recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships and a Distinguished Professor, about whose works four-day academic conferences in Paris are held?
Read Full Article »
