Meming a Literary Scene into Existence?

(And a Modest Proposal about Men's Neckwear)

From The Art of Tying the Cravat, by H. Le Blanc

***

ARX-Han posted a thoughtful essay entitled What does it take to make a successful literary scene? It was a follow-up to an earlier post from him entitled New Wave fiction: escaping the energy suck of the culture war in literary fiction.

He starts with the rhetorical question:

Can you meme a literary scene into existence?

He does not give an unambiguous answer to his question.

Maybe yes.

I’ll come back to it.

What he does do is assert that any new literary scene must not be homogeneous. It should be diverse — artistically diverse, diverse in style, diverse in subject matter, not fake diverse:

Perhaps the meta problem here is the aesthetic dominance of any one group within an artistic field like film, literature, or music. That group can be demographically homogenous, politically homogenous, class homogenous, ideologically homogenous, or aesthetically homogenous. But the core problem is the homogeneity, not the message.

In this regard, it’s not so much that we’re optimizing for diversity of opinion or aesthetic orientation, but for chaos.

Chaos is the thing that’s missing from modern literature and its professionalization, over-credentialism, sensitivity readers, and pastel-covered pablum.

Chaos. Yes. OK.

I like the sound of this.

Things are a little bit stale, or so I am told.

The current literary scene is barely on my radar.

I mostly read old books.

But we need new books, too.

I like where ARX-Han is going with all this.

Notably, ARX-Han has standing to say these things, because he actually wrote a terrific book, which he published as recently as 2023, called Incel, which you should buy and read if you haven’t yet.

He did it his way.

Money and the traditional rules of the game be damned.

When money and fame and success happen anyway, for some people, groovy.

And, when they do … Don’t forget your old pals, man.

But it’s not for that.

It is because the Muse is beating the door down, shaking you by the collar, demanding that you write and capture this moment, the world you are seeing and hearing and feeling, because you, just you, only you, can do it.

Do you feel that?

Are you reading, writing, thinking, and typing all the time?

Do you fight against all the stuff in your life that is in the way?

Do fight the resistance?

Then you’re in. Or, no. To be accurate, you are potentially in.

You — I — need to actually write things, and overcome all the obstacles, internal and external, as real as they are, and publish what we write, and take the risks.

But that is all standard admonitory stuff.

We all know that. Easy to say, hard to do.

But what ARX-Han has done is notice out loud that there does seem to be a shift in the breeze.

Do you feel it, too? Cool things may be happening.

Don’t you want to get in on it? I do.

That is what ARX-Han put his finger on.

And that hopeful feeling adds a little extra impetus to things we all already know.

***

Some (many?) of the people reading this have already done many great things, including writing and publishing a book, or multiple books, even some good ones, or founding literary magazines, or founding a publisher, or getting (and deserving) a pack of paid subscribers on Substack, or even one or more rare cases of already (deservedly) being a legend.

Such people need no advice or encouragement from me.

Good, if that’s you.

Bravo.

Unironically.

The rest of you — us — we — may benefit from just noticing the vibe shift and being a little more hopeful — and motivated — than usual.

***

On this business of a literary scene, Hyun Woo Kim wisely said: “maybe it will be better to let my novel do the talking.”

Wise words, and I eagerly await his novel.

I have proceeded here — unwisely — nonetheless.

And further to the notion of letting a novel do the talking …

“Where’s yours, Contarini? Eh? You’re a big talker. Where is it?”

I am working on it.

It is slow. Very slow. Too slow.

Other things … . The job …. . The money … .

But I am. Really.

***

The foregoing is the semi-serious part.

Now for the facetious thing that popped into my head, and got me thinking about this.

How will we know who is in this hypothetical, hoped-for diverse scene?

One proposal occurs to me, for the men, at least.

Unusual neckwear.

A visual cue. A cravat? A neckerchief? An accot?

Wear more or less normal clothes, but throw this in.

Note: This proposed scheme will require IRL activities, including going outside, personally visiting places where there are other people, moving about and doing things where they can see you, and where you might have to interact with them.

I know that’s hard.

I don’t like it either.

But, maybe, it will be worth it.

It may even meme something into existence.

***

Scenario:

You see someone at a coffee shop, perhaps someone who, like you, lives under a deep layer of operational security, a guy who is scrupulously anon.

And you will see his neckwear.

Maybe that guy is in the scene …?

And then he will see your neckwear.

And he will pretend to look at his phone for a while, then he will look both ways, and then, nonchalantly, he will walk up, and says:

“Hey, man, cool cravate.”

And you say, “Thanks. Yours is cool too.”

Then, sotto voce, he says:

“Ah … So, are you by any chance, part of the ah … — this is not a gay thing, OK? —but, I mean, you know … ?”

And here he trails off.

You respond, just audibly:

“Dude. Yeah. So, to answer your question: Yes. Well, actually, OK, not gonna lie. Sort of? I guess, maybe yes? I don’t want to claim too much. Honestly, I am faking it. At least until I finish my book.”

And he says:

“Yeah. No worries. Same here. Totally get it. Me too.” He points to his cravate. “It is sort of more aspirational, right? Working on my book today, actually. Hey, stick with it, bro.”

And you give him a little salute with your mostly empty cup of tepid coffee, and you say:

“Thanks, man, you too.“

***

Some exemplars and role models:

Syd Barrett

Keith Richards

Brian Jones

Jimi Hendrix

Lord Byron

Edgar Allen Poe

Isidore Ducasse, Comte de Lautréamont

Contarini