The alter ego post is the first I've read which has given me some sense
of what ambient prose might be like. Much of this list of late has been
dedicated to (everyone knows this) dog and the silly "missing" tracks on
the AI2 comp. That's fine: this is the ambient/intelligent dance forum,
and both those threads bore on the subject somehow. I'm not saying these
discussions don't belong here. However, I am looking for something
more. I've not read anything here yet which creates in me a feeling
comparable to that of the best ambient records. I find many things to
criticize in DOG's approach, but bad grammar isn't one of them. We need
new forms, not in music (that's handled nicely with instruments, not
mailing lists) but in writing. Jack Kerouac was influenced by bebop,
Lester Bangs by noisy garage rock--what writing will come out of
ambient? Is it possible? Can you lose yourself in writing the same as
in music? The two are very different forms--losing oneself in music can
mean a complete letting go, a surrender of consciousness. Reading and
writing aren't typically such passive pastimes. I think of someone like
Gertrude Stein, where every prase is a complete moment, where we don't
read to understand, but to be in the presence of language. That sort of
non-goal oriented freedom might be a good direction for ambient prose. I
think there is a potential to create a lasting, viable art form on this
list, a style of writing that might become just as moving, intoxicating,
and important as ambient music. Any takers?
--Mark Frank