Just because I brought it up on the episode, I call the new readers' attention to a book I wrote in 1993, Tripe. You can get it for free here. I also blogged in 2010 about the first few chapters. I had a few purposes in writing this, one of which was to explore the thesis that what makes something funny is the unexpected. As mentioned on the episode, one of my early Continue Reading …
Tripe, the full PDF
Just right click this here link to and choose "save target as" or whatever your browser's version of that is to get the full book: Tripe, the full and naked PDF. (The commentary starts here. Its ending is forever indistinct.) -Mark Linsenmayer Continue Reading …
Tripe, the full PDF
Just right click this here link to and choose "save target as" or whatever your browser's version of that is to get the full book: Tripe, the full and naked PDF. (The commentary starts here. Its ending is forever indistinct.) -Mark Linsenmayer Continue Reading …
Tripe, Part Seven
Start at the beginning. In the Seventh Sitting of Tripe, it's made clear that as soon as the goal of the book's being an organic growth-in-itself is stated, it dissolves, following the pattern of self-transcendence that the book has set up. If the purpose of an endeavor is to evade all purposes, then to succeed, the book must transcend its own goal of transcendence and Continue Reading …
Tripe, Part Six
Start at the beginning. We are now up to the sixth and sixth and a half sittings. Today's excerpt puts the connection between tripe (the non-humor forming the bulk of this book) and self-consciousness in terms of our attitudes towards free will: The form and shape of the supposedly humorous is predictable, though the content is not. Unfortunately, form is part of content, Continue Reading …
Tripe, Part Four
By the "fourth sitting" of Tripe, the references to previous bits come quickly and constantly enough that it's really not advisable to start at this point, but instead, like an ordinary book reader, start at the beginning. New topics covered in this section include goat suet, the supposedly fictional holiday of San Juan de la Cruz Day (which I have just now discovered is Continue Reading …
Tripe, Part Three
Start at the beginning. In the "third sitting" of Tripe, Mr. Wolf seems to provide us with a self-deprecating back-handed apologetic of the sort that makes me tired but dresses this up as a rejection of quality standards a la the Taoist. In other words, our esteemed author apologizes for his bad writing with the excuse that "good" vs. "bad" as a distinction is just a trap Continue Reading …
Tripe, Part Two
Dear kind and patient readers, The burden of stewardship is great, and though it is with hesitation that I here link to the "Second Sitting" of Cliffson Wolf's masterwork Tripe, given that interested parties could have easily clicked through from the first chapter to this document, it is incumbent upon me through the terms of Wolf's will (in which he left me some snacks, Continue Reading …
Tripe, Part One
In the spirit of Kierkegaard, I will now reveal that I am the beneficiary of one of the great thinkers of our time, Cliffson Wolf, who entrusted me upon his death to publish and publicize his great work of philosophical, autobiographical, anarchist, dadaist, anti-neo-Hegelianism: Tripe. Marvel if you will upon this mind-bending work of unadulterated genius. (Later edit: I have Continue Reading …
Tripe, Part One
In the spirit of Kierkegaard, I will now reveal that I am the beneficiary of one of the great thinkers of our time, Cliffson Wolf, who entrusted me upon his death to publish and publicize his great work of philosophical, autobiographical, anarchist, dadaist, anti-neo-Hegelianism: Tripe. Marvel if you will upon this mind-bending work of unadulterated genius. (Later edit: I Continue Reading …