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Amerifil.txt

a commonplace book

 

Thought-provoking and perfect for fidgety moments is Amerifil.txt, Douglas Crase’s commonplace book of unfamiliar and exhilarating quotations from the writers in his personal pantheon. Consider this, from Wallace Stevens: “For nine readers out of ten, the necessary angel will appear to be the angel of the imagination and for nine days out of ten that is true, although it is the tenth day that counts.”

– Katha Pollitt, The Nation

 

In his use of found texts, Crase’s AMERIFIL.TXT shares something with the conceptual writings of Robert Fitterman, Kenneth Goldsmith and Vanessa Place. However, it would not occur to many critics to see what is in front of their eyes. Crase’s writing occupies an expansive, complex space that needs to be recognized.

– John Yau, Hyperallergic

 

Reads more like poetry than a commonplace book, the motley of the quotations hanging together like the stanzas of one epic soliloquy.

– Michael Schiavo, Tin House