Creative Process, The Community of Imagination

An interview with Levi Bryant of Larval Subjects. 

I don’t really think of philosophy as a solitary activity. I’m not even sure if I’m the one doing the philosophy. In Anti-Oedipus Deleuze and Guattari talk about a schizophrenic unconscious that’s haunted by a sort of glossolalia. It’s filled with all sorts of tribes, national myths, history, discourses, images, expressions, and so on. This seems right. I’m often unsure as to just why I have certain things in my head or where they came from. I experience them as if they came from elsewhere. They’re snippets of philosophy that I’ve read, television documentaries, newspapers, novels, films, and so on. I just try to pass them along a little. I gave up trying to be original long ago. To me it seems that the moment you strive to be original nothing happens. Originality is always retroactive. Instead I’ve authorized myself to repeat, to share what I’ve found beautiful, fascinating, frightful, and so on. I want others with whom I can discuss these things and share them.

How misleading, the folklore of the lonely artist/thinker. I can't begin to express how important the community of Philly poets has been for me these past three years. I've never in my life been so productive. The many readings I've been to are so much more than supplements to my private reading--they are its life blood. I like to begin each day reading poetry--as a part of my morning meditation, but I don't feel as though I'm removed from the world, but in the cacophonous echo chamber of all those readings, conversations, discussions--the serendipitous meetings in bars & park benches, & my writing is really a continuation of all that.