sotos

[Balor/SS1535]

Does anyone know the origin of this quote that is supposedly from Sotos?

Further, I'm obsessed with how language contorts and creates bodies.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[theotherjohn]

Does anyone know the origin of this quote that is supposedly from Sotos?

Further, I'm obsessed with how language contorts and creates bodies.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

This interview with Void Books, released around the time of Selfish, Little:

Alex Kasavin: You often extract pornographic content from material that most of us find tragic or appalling. Do you believe there's an overt or conscious eroticism in this sort of information?

Peter Sotos: Fuck, I wish.

I think there's a problem with a lot of the reviews I've had in the past. There are those that want me to be seen as a deconstructive commentator or jobbing artist that tries to point out the ugly hypocrisies of contemporary culture. Picking out the prurience and then explaining it to you. I'm not denying that my work may do that. But it is not a focus or something I'm particularly interested in. I've always tried to include transcripts and cuttings and grabs in my work to go much deeper than that. I'm including bits that have extremely personal resonance to me. Further, I'm obsessed with how language contorts and creates bodies. Desperate, seething less-thans. Crawling hopefuls. And, more than that, I create favorites. I'll trust that a lot of you really do find much of this material appalling. Honestly, I try very hard to see that and feel it as well.

[Balor/SS1535]

Does anyone know the origin of this quote that is supposedly from Sotos?

Further, I'm obsessed with how language contorts and creates bodies.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

This interview with Void Books, released around the time of Selfish, Little:

Alex Kasavin: You often extract pornographic content from material that most of us find tragic or appalling. Do you believe there's an overt or conscious eroticism in this sort of information?

Peter Sotos: Fuck, I wish.

I think there's a problem with a lot of the reviews I've had in the past. There are those that want me to be seen as a deconstructive commentator or jobbing artist that tries to point out the ugly hypocrisies of contemporary culture. Picking out the prurience and then explaining it to you. I'm not denying that my work may do that. But it is not a focus or something I'm particularly interested in. I've always tried to include transcripts and cuttings and grabs in my work to go much deeper than that. I'm including bits that have extremely personal resonance to me. Further, I'm obsessed with how language contorts and creates bodies. Desperate, seething less-thans. Crawling hopefuls. And, more than that, I create favorites. I'll trust that a lot of you really do find much of this material appalling. Honestly, I try very hard to see that and feel it as well.

Thank you very much---Google was no help in this matter for me.

[tiny_tove]

I think Add To Cart is only for US domestic orders as it's only charging $4 shipping, but I guess Chip could contact you to request additional shipping costs if you went ahead that way. Probably better to stick with email though whilst it's still seemingly available.

sorted :))) my two copies are preordered

[RuthlessBabysitter]

A very patient and technically apt gentleman is helping me digitize my Sotos collection. Our goal is to create high quality PDFs of all the books not yet available online. We're looking for a few proofreaders to look over the texts before they're released publicly. All of the major texts are in hand and will be done eventually. Currently, we have Show Adult ready for review.

As a supplemental project, I'm working on a PDF which collects tertiary texts, interviews, forewords and the like. Things that I know are missing include any Waitress material not on Soulseek, the Frank Bauer foreword, the Pornocracy afterword, the student interview on censorship, and his correspondence with James Mason (currently held at the University of Kansas). Less common texts which are already covered include Bodyguard, the additional texts from the Collected volumes, and anything from both Timeless editions. If you are unsure how, I can provide instructions to quickly and non-destructively capture high quality images of any material you'd like to contribute.

If you have some time or material to volunteer, or are just curious to see how the project is progressing (I don't want to clog up this thread with further updates or replies), you can PM me here or email me at ruthlessbabysitter@protonmail.com. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[theotherjohn]

Not sure how Sotos would feel about this, but I suppose it would be inevitable at some point and enough of his work has already slipped out through scans or even leaked print quality pdfs. I only just recently read about his correspondence with Mason via a 4chan post (possibly that you made?) - a photo of them together is in Art That Kills and online.

3 copies left of Kee MacFarlane by the way according to the 9BB website.

[cantle]

What was/ is the Mason connection all about then?

[Balor/SS1535]

A very patient and technically apt gentleman is helping me digitize my Sotos collection. Our goal is to create high quality PDFs of all the books not yet available online. We're looking for a few proofreaders to look over the texts before they're released publicly. All of the major texts are in hand and will be done eventually. Currently, we have Show Adult ready for review.

As a supplemental project, I'm working on a PDF which collects tertiary texts, interviews, forewords and the like. Things that I know are missing include any Waitress material not on Soulseek, the Frank Bauer foreword, the Pornocracy afterword, the student interview on censorship, and his correspondence with James Mason (currently held at the University of Kansas). Less common texts which are already covered include Bodyguard, the additional texts from the Collected volumes, and anything from both Timeless editions. If you are unsure how, I can provide instructions to quickly and non-destructively capture high quality images of any material you'd like to contribute.

If you have some time or material to volunteer, or are just curious to see how the project is progressing (I don't want to clog up this thread with further updates or replies), you can PM me here or email me at ruthlessbabysitter@protonmail.com. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Where do you plan to host this collection?

[planetary:defence]

requesting for current updates/ news? i'm so unbelievably out of the loop with current sotos news despite being an obsessive consumer with everything about his work, music, writing, interviews, whatever, i'm infatuated with him- apologies for the begging but i'm kind of desperate for any input around upcoming reissues and publishing (amphetamine sulphate?) etc. also if anyone has a pdf/ scan they'd be willing to share with me for more recent publishings and specifically pure filth? cannot find a pdf online for it at all. i have various news article/ interview scans, pure 1-3, all in the proxy comp, lordotics, selfish little, comfort and critique as pdfs i've found through digging through the internet equivalent of the trash if anyone's after those id be happy to email/ put up somewhere if that's worth anything lol.

[theotherjohn]

This thread is as good a place as any for all current updates/gossip!

Kee MacFarlane is now sold out. Chip of 9BB recently shared on Twitter/X a reading list relating to KM:

https://twitter.com/NineBandedBooks/status/1751537276931178541#m
(alternatively, use this Nitter link)

You Had To Be There: Rape Jokes - Vanessa Place
The Guilt Project: Rape, Morality and Law - Vanessa Place
Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study - Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Allison Unchained: One Woman's Quest to Find Love, Faith, and Forgiveness - Allison Wolf
Most Outrageous: The Trials and Trespasses of Dwaine Tinsely and Chester the Molester - Bob Levin
A Long, Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity - Allyn Walker
Freedom to Fail: Heidegger's Anarchy - Peter Trawny

[Balor/SS1535]

This thread is as good a place as any for all current updates/gossip!

Kee MacFarlane is now sold out. Chip of 9BB recently shared on Twitter/X a reading list relating to KM:

https://twitter.com/NineBandedBooks/status/1751537276931178541#m
(alternatively, use this Nitter link)

You Had To Be There: Rape Jokes - Vanessa Place
The Guilt Project: Rape, Morality and Law - Vanessa Place
Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study - Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Allison Unchained: One Woman's Quest to Find Love, Faith, and Forgiveness - Allison Wolf
Most Outrageous: The Trials and Trespasses of Dwaine Tinsely and Chester the Molester - Bob Levin
A Long, Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity - Allyn Walker
Freedom to Fail: Heidegger's Anarchy - Peter Trawny

In mentioning books of reference, I can't tell which are Sotos' sources and which are recommended by the publisher.  I'm curious, though, about the book on Heidegger especially.  I don't recall any engagement with Heidegger in the past, on Sotos' part (but that could just be my own ignorance)?

That said, the very fact that this link is now made is very exciting/interesting---it also vindicates a sense that I have had for a long time that Heidegger is probably a better theoretical approach to thinking about what Sotos is doing over other "more obvious" ones (like psychoanalysis or some such thing, which I think will primarily miss the point).

[theotherjohn]

In mentioning books of reference, I can't tell which are Sotos' sources and which are recommended by the publisher.

Chip refers to them as books of relevance, not reference in the Twitter thread I linked to (do try reading via the Nitter link if you're not on X, though with all privacy alternatives these services can be erratic at times). The Heidegger book is one that Chip mentions specifically for his part, but all will be revealed in due time I suppose. I'm looking forward to what Chip has to write, and I'm glad to see him publish an authored work himself (albeit as a tie-in pamphlet). Not sure if he's got any books of his own out there.

I first became aware of Place's work when reading Kenneth Goldsmith's book Uncreative Writing some years ago; he focuses on her professional job and her trilogy Tragodia, a three volume work made up entirely of court transcripts plagiarised (or "repurposed", as Goldsmith would call it) from the sex offender cases she's handled. I wonder if Sotos has read those books too, especially as he's continued to mine (geddit?) similar raw material in his later works?

[RuthlessBabysitter]

Not sure how Sotos would feel about this, but I suppose it would be inevitable at some point and enough of his work has already slipped out through scans or even leaked print quality pdfs.

If I had any way of knowing that he was strongly opposed to these works being publicly accessible, then I would respect his wishes. Not without raising an eyebrow, of course. Show Adult is on its third printing, with the most recent being (seemingly) print-to-preorder-demand. That kind of hampers the believability of any supposed desire for privacy, by my measure anyways.

I only just recently read about his correspondence with Mason via a 4chan post (possibly that you made?)

Not my post, but that is where I first heard about it as well.

Where do you plan to host this collection?

I'll be hosting them on Soulseek and posting them on various private torrent trackers. Additionally, the guy I'm working with will be posting them on LibGen. I'm also happy to email them to any interested parties who can't work their way around the aforementioned services.

In mentioning books of reference, I can't tell which are Sotos' sources and which are recommended by the publisher.  I'm curious, though, about the book on Heidegger especially.  I don't recall any engagement with Heidegger in the past, on Sotos' part (but that could just be my own ignorance)?

That said, the very fact that this link is now made is very exciting/interesting---it also vindicates a sense that I have had for a long time that Heidegger is probably a better theoretical approach to thinking about what Sotos is doing over other "more obvious" ones (like psychoanalysis or some such thing, which I think will primarily miss the point).

I won't pretend to be some theory genius, as fun as that sounds. That said, I don't think he's engaged with Heidegger in the past. The only adjacent writer I can recall him evoking explicitly is Sartre (briefly, in Mine/Kept). Personally, I tend to see Deleuze in all things (who, yes, is in the room with me right now), and Sotos' work is no exception. Psychoanalysis also strikes me as a non-starter here (and everywhere). The thought of an oedipalized Sotos is very funny to me, however.

[Balor/SS1535]

In mentioning books of reference, I can't tell which are Sotos' sources and which are recommended by the publisher.

Chip refers to them as books of relevance, not reference in the Twitter thread I linked to (do try reading via the Nitter link if you're not on X, though with all privacy alternatives these services can be erratic at times). The Heidegger book is one that Chip mentions specifically for his part, but all will be revealed in due time I suppose. I'm looking forward to what Chip has to write, and I'm glad to see him publish an authored work himself (albeit as a tie-in pamphlet). Not sure if he's got any books of his own out there.

I first became aware of Place's work when reading Kenneth Goldsmith's book Uncreative Writing some years ago; he focuses on her professional job and her trilogy Tragodia, a three volume work made up entirely of court transcripts plagiarised (or "repurposed", as Goldsmith would call it) from the sex offender cases she's handled. I wonder if Sotos has read those books too, especially as he's continued to mine (geddit?) similar raw material in his later works?

Ok, reading the thread now, it definitely looks like it's just Chip's contribution.  Even still, I think it's an interesting direction to take the whole thing.  At this point, I am almost more curious to read Chip's thing than I am the book, just because it felt like an unexpected surprise.

[Balor/SS1535]

Not sure how Sotos would feel about this, but I suppose it would be inevitable at some point and enough of his work has already slipped out through scans or even leaked print quality pdfs.

If I had any way of knowing that he was strongly opposed to these works being publicly accessible, then I would respect his wishes. Not without raising an eyebrow, of course. Show Adult is on its third printing, with the most recent being (seemingly) print-to-preorder-demand. That kind of hampers the believability of any supposed desire for privacy, by my measure anyways.

I only just recently read about his correspondence with Mason via a 4chan post (possibly that you made?)

Not my post, but that is where I first heard about it as well.

Where do you plan to host this collection?

I'll be hosting them on Soulseek and posting them on various private torrent trackers. Additionally, the guy I'm working with will be posting them on LibGen. I'm also happy to email them to any interested parties who can't work their way around the aforementioned services.

In mentioning books of reference, I can't tell which are Sotos' sources and which are recommended by the publisher.  I'm curious, though, about the book on Heidegger especially.  I don't recall any engagement with Heidegger in the past, on Sotos' part (but that could just be my own ignorance)?

That said, the very fact that this link is now made is very exciting/interesting---it also vindicates a sense that I have had for a long time that Heidegger is probably a better theoretical approach to thinking about what Sotos is doing over other "more obvious" ones (like psychoanalysis or some such thing, which I think will primarily miss the point).

I won't pretend to be some theory genius, as fun as that sounds. That said, I don't think he's engaged with Heidegger in the past. The only adjacent writer I can recall him evoking explicitly is Sartre (briefly, in Mine/Kept). Personally, I tend to see Deleuze in all things (who, yes, is in the room with me right now), and Sotos' work is no exception. Psychoanalysis also strikes me as a non-starter here (and everywhere). The thought of an oedipalized Sotos is very funny to me, however.

Interesting.  If you don't mind me asking for more information, I would like to hear what connections you see between Sotos and Deleuze---which also seems like an apt and more robust conceptual approach.

At very least, what I could get from reading a brief review of that Heidegger book is that making the connection to Sotos sort of brings the discussion more in line with non-psychoanalytic interpretations of Sade (like Blanchot's), which frame the problematic as existing on the ontological more than (or at least just as much as) the sexual plane.

I also guess that Lacan, with a more robust notion of the symbolic than Freud, might actually get somewhere, but I am skeptical in general.