Significant Objects - Softcover

Various Arstists

 
9781606995259: Significant Objects

Synopsis

The long-awaited book collection of the acclaimed online literary prose experiment.

SignificantObjects.com, founded by Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker, has published an extraordinary series of 200 stories and counting ― by William Gibson, Curtis Sittenfeld, Sheila Heti, Colson Whitehead, Nicholson Baker, Meg Cabot, Gary Panter, Ben Katchor, Lydia Millet, Jonathan Lethem, and other talented writers ― about ordinary stuff like novelty items, discarded souvenirs, and tasteless kitchenware picked up cheap at thrift stores and yard sales. The goal: To see if commissioning great stories about these insignificant things would increase their value ― as measured in actual eBay auctions. The experiment, in short, was a smash hit, raising money for youth-tutoring organizations. Significant Objects is a hardcover collection of the best one hundred short prose stories, published by Fantagraphics.

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Review

To those who don t believe in the transcendent power of a good story behold: the Significant Objects project.

Like a Salvation Army staffed by brilliant writers...

One of the most life-affirmingly cheeky studies I have seen for ages.

Significant Objects combines one of the oldest of all media the near-improvised short story with the reinvigorated writer-reader relationship afforded by Web 2.0.

Finding magic in unexpected things.

Significant Objects is an incredibly fun, if curious, success, one that toys with the disparity between an object s financial and emotional values, and speaks to our wonderfully human propensity to believe in nonsense.

The short stories are lovely. Some allude to an object s brush with fame; others suggest heartache, loneliness and the occasional bar fight. Each story casts a strange spell on the objects, and on our perception of them.

Finding magic in unexpected things.

To those who don't believe in the transcendent power of a good story ... behold: the Significant Objects project.

Finding magic in unexpected things. "

About the Author

Joshua Glenn is editor of the website HiLobrow; in the '90s he published the independent zine/journal Hermenaut. He's co-authored and co-edited several books, including The Idler's Glossary, The Wage Slave's Glossary, and the kids' field guide to life Unbored (October 2012). In 2011, he produced a brainteaser iPhone app, KER-PUNCH!. In 2012, HiLoBooks will serialize and reissue six overlooked classics of science fiction. He lives in Boston.

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