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Date: 2015-10-23
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| Questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| Authors: How did you decide to use illustrations? Or if you didn't use them, why not? | From an editor's perspective, this has been a really interesting part of the series...seeing how and when the books benefit from illustrations, and when the prose is better off speaking on its own... We decided at some point not to impose a strict rule on this, and let each author make the decision more or less on their own (we weigh in, of course), but illustrations also get tricky because of copyright/permissions issues, so sometimes (I'm thinking of SILENCE) there were great images that just didn't make it in because it wasn't going to be easy enough to secure permission, etc. In other words, sometimes it's just a pragmatic issue, and other times we have more philosophical conversations about when an illustration is illuminating, or distracting. |
| How did you cook up the idea for the series? | A few years ago I was reading and teaching a few books that had come out on "object-oriented ontology" (a philosophy movement, basically), and I liked the practical implications of the ideas—particularly as they related to humanities scholarship. (I write about airports, so I've always had a material culture bent of sorts.) When my editor at what was then Continuum Publishing asked me to propose a new series of books, I thought of short books on single objects. The vision was crystal clear from the beginning. Then Ian and I joined forces and he helped me really refine and focus the idea. Then we launched, and the rest is history—so many authors, it turned out, liked the idea of writing short books on single things. |
| So with such variety what would you say connects the books together (beyond good writing, format, design, etc)? Would the books work as a piece if you put them together into one book, for instance, or are they too varied for that? | Sometimes I think about them this way: REMOTE CONTROL and PHONE BOOTH could be bundled together. Maybe even with GLASS. That'd be like a "media studies" bundle. Or...WASTE and GOLF BALL could be bundled together, maybe even with SILENCE. This could be an "environmental studies" bundle. Or you could just have random bundles of the books and appreciate each one's virtues and voice. It's a great question, and one that we think about all the time as we continue to shape the series and consider new ideas for topics and titles. |
| Dr. Bogost – First: thanks for everything. I'm currently teaching procedural rhetoric in my composition class and the students are coming along fantastically. Next semester I'm teaching a class called "Object Research" in which two of the required readings are from the Object Lessons series. It’s going to be great. Second: about myself. I’m a budding rhetorician entirely fascinated by Object Lessons and OOO. Looking into doctoral programs where I can feed this fascination. Do you have any program suggestions for a nascent academic looking to do research into OOO specifically? Do any such programs exist? Do you teach OOO classes at Georgia Tech? Etc. | This all sounds so great! (I'm poaching Ian's question here because he had to step away; he'll be back eventually.) Just wanted to say: I'm teaching a similar class right now at my university and it has been a blast. I've heard from several of our Advisory Board members that they are cooking up similar courses at their universities, too. It's a great 'field' or area of study because it can be so easily scaled up to graduate seminar level, or formatted as a first-year seminar, or creative nonfiction, or for an anthropology course, or for cultural studies...it's got so many opportunities for students and scholars to read, think, and write in a mode that is at once accessible and yet open to the great outdoors, the big zoom out. |
| The design definitely serves as an effective thread of the series. Any ideas on where the series is in answering that question? | I also think one working answer to that question has been each writer discovers a balance—sometimes an awkward or tense one—between the personal and the out-there, the objective or detached world of the thing. It can't simply be one way or the other: pure history (as if), or pure autobiography (also fraught). These books each gravitate toward a curious mesh of these aspects. |
| How do the books respond to each other as a series so far? Are they stand alone features or do they indirectly build on one another as they go? | Our books end up speaking to one another in completely surprising and unexpected ways. For example, GLASS talks about beach glass or sea glass, and WASTE ends up on the beach at one point, looking at similar detritus. But we don't plan it; it just happens as the writers get closer to their objects, or let the objects draw closer to them... |
| I have just finished writing my own book and I'm ready to find an editor. My problem is that since it is my first book, I'm not confident enough to justify spending $1000+ on an editor. Also, I'd rather not ask my friends and family for advice because I don't think they can be subjective enough to give me good feedback. What other options can you suggest for me? | I would focus on trying to find a publisher that specializes in whatever topic or genre fits your book. Then ask the publisher whether you can submit your manuscript directly or whether you need an agent to submit it for you. There are so many interesting small and big and medium-sized publishers out there; look hard enough and you will find one that's potentially a good fit. |
| What's the weirdest proposal you've received so far for the series? and what's the most boring? | We have an intriguing proposal on "EVERYTHING" in the works...which could either be the weirdest and best or the most boring! We'll see how it turns out... |
| Ian, I've read your book Alien Phenomenology and I really liked it. Can you talk about the link between OOO and object lessons? | (It's such a great book. When I first read AP it suddenly made me realize why I'd been obsessed with airports for so long, and what I was doing writing about them.) |
| Hello, how's you're day going? | My day is okay, thanks! It's balmy with low fast-moving clouds in New Orleans. Yours? |
| Weather is the best. Everybody likes talking about weather. It's like talking about nothing, except, it's everywhere. Maybe someone should do a book on weather. | Don't we have a book on WEATHER in the works? |
| It's 11 and 15 painfully hunger filled minutes til lunch, I'll probably get a pizza. It's around 75 degrees with high flying cirrus clouds here in nashville. I have no questions relating to your book since I've never read it yet. Buuut, I do have a question for you. What inspired you to be a writer? | Well on this series I primarily act as an editor, but I also write my own books and essays, and as for what inspired me to be a writer...well actually for me it's kind of like breathing: it's just happens, it's the best way I know to express myself and work out ideas. (And as with air quality, altitude, or if you're under water, sometimes it's still harder than at other times to write!) |
| What's the coolest thing you discovered about your object during the writing of your book? | This is a great question. I'm waiting for an answer! |
| That's it for me as I need to return to the conference I'm currently skipping. This was fun. Thank you questioners. Thank you other authors. Thank you again Ian and Chris. | Thanks Jonathan! PS a few of my students read & presented on REFRIGERATOR this week in my class, and they loved it! |
| Book trailers can be extremely effective and in my opinion could stand to be used more often. Phone Booth's trailer definitely has compelled me to have an interest in them. I love the idea of them being private places in public spaces. | Totally. We hope to see more and more book trailers for the OL books. I was blown away when I saw the first two, for PHONE BOOTH and SILENCE. |
Last updated: 2015-10-23 17:54 UTC | Next update: 2015-10-23 18:04 UTC
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Submitted October 23, 2015 at 11:24PM by tabledresser http://ift.tt/1OMEjyF tabled
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