Just finished reading Tom McCarthy’s Remainder.

Years ago I invited Tom McCarthy to do a lecture at the Mediamatic symposium on emulation – as I liked the essays he wrote for Mute. He often wrote about technology and literature: Pynchon, DFW’s Infinite Jest, that sort of stuff. He came and gave a great lecture that I remember was mostly on Shakespeare’s Sonnets…

Remainder made a litte ‘row’, because it was first published by a small art press in Paris (sic), managed to catch attention, and subsequently was published in England too – and was very well received.

Remainder is a novel, amusing, intelligent, well-written, thoughtful, and full of great ideas. It is required reading for anybody interested in contemporary art, re-enactment and authenticity. And certainly for artists who deal with the issues of re-enactment and authenticity in their work.

(Btw: I loved it).