Reality Hunger: A Manifesto
Authors: David Shields, David Shields
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Overview
Reality Hunger: A Manifesto explores the changing nature of art and literature in the digital age, arguing for a more fluid and fragmented approach to storytelling that embraces appropriation, collage, and the blurring of traditional genre boundaries. I argue that our culture’s obsession with “reality” stems from a sense of alienation and a desire for connection in an increasingly mediated world. I challenge conventional notions of authorship and originality, suggesting that all creative work is inherently a remix or reimagining of existing cultural materials. The book is aimed at artists, writers, and anyone interested in the future of storytelling, and provides a provocative manifesto for navigating the complexities of art and reality in the digital age. My book is structured as a series of fragmented essays, aphorisms, and quotations, reflecting the fragmented nature of experience itself. It’s a book about appropriation, so it appropriates freely. My book examines how technology is reshaping our relationship with information and storytelling, anticipating many of the debates surrounding AI and creativity that are now central to our culture. It’s an exploration of the self in the digital age, grappling with questions of identity, authenticity, and the search for meaning in a world saturated by information.
Book Outline
1. Mimesis
Mimesis, the act of imitation, has been central to art since the beginning of writing. I trace the use of “reality” in art from ancient lists and account-keeping through the development of the novel and into modern forms.
Key concept: “Art is theft.” - Picasso. This quote embodies the book’s central argument about the changing nature of art and the blurring lines between creation and appropriation in the digital age.
2. Books for People Who Find Television Too Slow
Our current cultural moment craves the “real.” Examples of reality-bending art forms range from reality TV and hip-hop to literary collage. This hunger compels artists to incorporate fragments of reality, blurring lines between genres and challenging traditional notions of authorship.
Key concept: Reality Hunger is “a wake-up call that is a pleasure to hear and respond to.” This captures the book’s provocative challenge to conventional artistic boundaries.
3. Trials by Google
The James Frey scandal and similar controversies highlight our culture’s obsession with authenticity and the anxieties surrounding the blurring lines between memoir and fiction. The rise of the Internet and social media has further complicated notions of identity and self-representation.
Key concept: “Identity has always been a fragile phenomenon.” This quote highlights the book’s exploration of the constructed nature of identity and the role of self-deception in memoir.
4. Reality
The concept of “reality” itself is increasingly unstable. We are bombarded with information, much of it unreliable, leading to a crisis of truth and an increasing reliance on subjective experience. Our relationship with facts is shifting, necessitating new artistic approaches.
Key concept: “These are the facts, my friend, and I must have faith in them.” This statement ironically introduces the section’s exploration of the subjective and fluid nature of “facts.”
5. Memory
Memory itself is a form of fiction, shaped by emotion, self-interest, and narrative strategies. Memoirs, then, are not records of objective truth but rather constructions of personal reality.
Key concept: “Memory: the past rewritten in the direction of feeling.” This emphasizes the role of emotion in shaping our memories.
6. Blur
The line between fiction and nonfiction is increasingly blurred. “Nonfiction” is best understood as a wide spectrum, with varying degrees of imagination and invention. I am most interested in work that embraces ambiguity and blurs generic boundaries.
Key concept: “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant” - Emily Dickinson. This quote introduces the discussion of how to approach truth indirectly.
7. Now
Our contemporary moment is characterized by an overwhelming amount of information and a blurring of boundaries between art and life, reality and fiction. We crave the “real” but struggle to find it in a world saturated by media and technology.
Key concept: The contemporary vogue of not tucking in your shirttail (which I dutifully follow): a purposeful confusion of the realms.
8. The Reality-Based Community
The relentless news cycle and the 24/7 media environment create a sense of urgency and crisis, further blurring lines between reality and fiction.
Key concept: We’re living in a newsy time.
9. Hip-Hop
Hip-hop, with its embrace of sampling and appropriation, exemplifies the book’s argument about the changing nature of art and creativity in the digital age. Hip-hop is a form of collage, remixing and repurposing existing materials to create something new.
Key concept: “Art is theft.” - Picasso. Hip-hop exemplifies this principle through sampling, creating new art from fragments of existing music.
10. Reality TV
Reality TV blurs the lines between reality and fiction, reflecting our own fragmented and mediated experience.
Key concept: My big-picture philosophy is that with shows like this, I don’t think our viewers necessarily differentiate between what’s scripted and what’s not.
11. Collage
Collage, as a literary and artistic form, offers a powerful way to represent the fragmented nature of experience and the fluidity of meaning in the contemporary world. Collage embraces discontinuity and challenges the conventions of traditional narrative.
Key concept: “I am quite content to go down to posterity as a scissors-and-paste man.” - James Joyce
12. Contradiction
Contradiction and paradox are inherent in human experience and in the nature of art. Embracing contradiction can lead to deeper understanding.
Key concept: “This sentence is a lie.”
13. Doubt
Doubt is central to thinking and creativity. The essay, as a form, embraces doubt and uncertainty, offering a space for exploration and questioning. Embracing doubt, not shying away from it, is crucial for creative and intellectual exploration.
Key concept: There is something heroic in the essayist’s gesture of striking out toward the unknown, not only without a map but without certainty that there is anything worthy to be found.
14. Thinking
Thinking is not just about finding answers; it’s about asking questions and exploring the world through language.
Key concept: “My daughter, sick, at six: ‘My thinker isn’t thinking.’”
15. Persona
The “self” is a construct, a persona that we create to navigate the world. Autobiography is not pure self-revelation but rather a form of fiction, shaped by memory, narrative, and the desire to make meaning of experience.
Key concept: “I’m not interested in myself per se. I’m interested in myself as theme carrier, as host.”
16. Manifesto
This manifesto calls for a new kind of literature that reflects the realities of our fragmented, information-saturated world. It advocates for blurring generic boundaries, embracing appropriation and collage, and prioritizing emotional truth over narrative convention.
Key concept: “Is it possible that contemporary literary prizes are a bit like the federal bailout package, subsidizing work that is no longer remotely describing reality?”
17. Coda
This coda reiterates the central argument for embracing remixing and repurposing culture.
Key concept: Part of what I enjoy in documentary is the sense of banditry. To loot someone else’s life or sentences and make off with a point of view… is exciting and dangerous.
Essential Questions
1. How has the digital age transformed our relationship with reality and the nature of art?
Shields argues that the digital age, with its easy access to information and media, has fundamentally altered our relationship with reality. The constant bombardment of images, sounds, and stories blurs the lines between what is real and what is constructed, leading to a cultural “reality hunger.” This hunger drives artists to incorporate fragments of “reality” into their work, blurring the lines between fiction and nonfiction, art and life. This challenges traditional notions of authorship and originality, raising questions about who “owns” culture and how we define creativity in the digital age.
2. What is the relationship between fiction and nonfiction in the digital age, and how should artists approach genre?
Shields challenges the traditional distinction between fiction and nonfiction, arguing that all creative work involves some degree of imagination and invention. He suggests that the most interesting art exists at the “generic edge,” where the boundaries between forms become blurred. He advocates for embracing appropriation, collage, and other techniques that challenge conventional narrative structures and allow artists to incorporate more of what they perceive as “reality” into their work.
3. How has technology, particularly the internet and social media, shaped our understanding of self and identity?
The “self” in the digital age is fragmented, fluid, and constantly being constructed and reconstructed through social media, personal narratives, and interactions with technology. Shields explores the challenges of representing the self in a world saturated by information and mediated experience, questioning the very notion of authenticity and the possibility of truly knowing oneself or others.
4. How has technology affected the mimetic function in art, and what are the implications for creativity?
Shields argues that the mimetic function in art, the attempt to represent reality faithfully, has been eclipsed by a new emphasis on manipulation and appropriation. He suggests that in a world where information is readily available and easily manipulated, the focus has shifted from representing the “real” to creating new meanings and experiences from existing materials. This remixing and repurposing of culture, exemplified by hip-hop’s use of sampling, becomes a new form of creativity.
5. How should we approach memoir and other forms of nonfiction in an age of increasingly fluid and subjective storytelling?
Shields suggests that memoir is not a record of objective truth but rather a construction of personal reality, shaped by memory, emotion, and narrative strategies. He challenges readers to approach memoir with a critical eye, questioning the reliability of the narrator and the degree of truthfulness being presented. This skepticism extends to other forms of nonfiction as well, urging us to be more aware of the subjective nature of storytelling and the ways in which narrative shapes our understanding of the world.
1. How has the digital age transformed our relationship with reality and the nature of art?
Shields argues that the digital age, with its easy access to information and media, has fundamentally altered our relationship with reality. The constant bombardment of images, sounds, and stories blurs the lines between what is real and what is constructed, leading to a cultural “reality hunger.” This hunger drives artists to incorporate fragments of “reality” into their work, blurring the lines between fiction and nonfiction, art and life. This challenges traditional notions of authorship and originality, raising questions about who “owns” culture and how we define creativity in the digital age.
2. What is the relationship between fiction and nonfiction in the digital age, and how should artists approach genre?
Shields challenges the traditional distinction between fiction and nonfiction, arguing that all creative work involves some degree of imagination and invention. He suggests that the most interesting art exists at the “generic edge,” where the boundaries between forms become blurred. He advocates for embracing appropriation, collage, and other techniques that challenge conventional narrative structures and allow artists to incorporate more of what they perceive as “reality” into their work.
3. How has technology, particularly the internet and social media, shaped our understanding of self and identity?
The “self” in the digital age is fragmented, fluid, and constantly being constructed and reconstructed through social media, personal narratives, and interactions with technology. Shields explores the challenges of representing the self in a world saturated by information and mediated experience, questioning the very notion of authenticity and the possibility of truly knowing oneself or others.
4. How has technology affected the mimetic function in art, and what are the implications for creativity?
Shields argues that the mimetic function in art, the attempt to represent reality faithfully, has been eclipsed by a new emphasis on manipulation and appropriation. He suggests that in a world where information is readily available and easily manipulated, the focus has shifted from representing the “real” to creating new meanings and experiences from existing materials. This remixing and repurposing of culture, exemplified by hip-hop’s use of sampling, becomes a new form of creativity.
5. How should we approach memoir and other forms of nonfiction in an age of increasingly fluid and subjective storytelling?
Shields suggests that memoir is not a record of objective truth but rather a construction of personal reality, shaped by memory, emotion, and narrative strategies. He challenges readers to approach memoir with a critical eye, questioning the reliability of the narrator and the degree of truthfulness being presented. This skepticism extends to other forms of nonfiction as well, urging us to be more aware of the subjective nature of storytelling and the ways in which narrative shapes our understanding of the world.
Key Takeaways
1. Meaning is created through juxtaposition
Shields emphasizes how montage, by juxtaposing disparate elements, creates meaning through their relationship rather than their individual content. This concept can be applied to user interface and experience design, where elements presented together create new meanings beyond individual element functionality.
Practical Application:
An AI engineer designing a recommendation engine could draw inspiration from montage by presenting users with a diverse array of content, rather than just items similar to their past preferences. The unexpected juxtapositions could spark new interests and enhance the user’s experience.
2. Embrace imperfection and rawness in storytelling.
Shields argues against traditional, polished narratives, advocating for fragmented, experimental works that reflect the chaos and ambiguity of life. This has implications for AI-generated content, suggesting that imperfection and experimentation might be more truthful.
Practical Application:
Instead of trying to create perfect, polished narratives, AI could be used to generate more experimental, fragmented stories that reflect the complexities and contradictions of human experience. This could lead to new forms of storytelling that are more engaging and relevant to contemporary audiences.
3. Creativity lies in remixing and repurposing.
Shields champions appropriation and remixing as a powerful source of creativity. This suggests that AI can play a role in creating art, not by generating something “original,” but by curating and recombining existing materials in new and interesting ways.
Practical Application:
AI algorithms can be designed to personalize content recommendations, not by simply replicating past preferences, but by offering unexpected connections and juxtapositions that challenge the user’s assumptions and broaden their horizons. This aligns with Shields’s emphasis on the creative potential of appropriation and remix culture.
4. Prioritize emotional truth.
Shields highlights the importance of emotional truth in art and memoir. This is valuable in designing emotionally intelligent AI systems, prioritizing the understanding and expression of emotions.
Practical Application:
In designing AI systems, engineers could prioritize emotional responses, using data to understand and respond to human feelings. This could lead to the creation of more human-centered and emotionally intelligent AI.
5. Recognize memory as constructive.
Shields explores the subjective and constructive nature of memory, showing how our personal narratives shape our reality. This has implications for how AI could be used to personalize and enhance memory and learning experiences.
Practical Application:
AI could be used to create personalized “memory palaces” for individuals, helping them to organize and retrieve information in more meaningful and memorable ways. This could also be used to generate interactive narratives that explore personal histories and experiences.
1. Meaning is created through juxtaposition
Shields emphasizes how montage, by juxtaposing disparate elements, creates meaning through their relationship rather than their individual content. This concept can be applied to user interface and experience design, where elements presented together create new meanings beyond individual element functionality.
Practical Application:
An AI engineer designing a recommendation engine could draw inspiration from montage by presenting users with a diverse array of content, rather than just items similar to their past preferences. The unexpected juxtapositions could spark new interests and enhance the user’s experience.
2. Embrace imperfection and rawness in storytelling.
Shields argues against traditional, polished narratives, advocating for fragmented, experimental works that reflect the chaos and ambiguity of life. This has implications for AI-generated content, suggesting that imperfection and experimentation might be more truthful.
Practical Application:
Instead of trying to create perfect, polished narratives, AI could be used to generate more experimental, fragmented stories that reflect the complexities and contradictions of human experience. This could lead to new forms of storytelling that are more engaging and relevant to contemporary audiences.
3. Creativity lies in remixing and repurposing.
Shields champions appropriation and remixing as a powerful source of creativity. This suggests that AI can play a role in creating art, not by generating something “original,” but by curating and recombining existing materials in new and interesting ways.
Practical Application:
AI algorithms can be designed to personalize content recommendations, not by simply replicating past preferences, but by offering unexpected connections and juxtapositions that challenge the user’s assumptions and broaden their horizons. This aligns with Shields’s emphasis on the creative potential of appropriation and remix culture.
4. Prioritize emotional truth.
Shields highlights the importance of emotional truth in art and memoir. This is valuable in designing emotionally intelligent AI systems, prioritizing the understanding and expression of emotions.
Practical Application:
In designing AI systems, engineers could prioritize emotional responses, using data to understand and respond to human feelings. This could lead to the creation of more human-centered and emotionally intelligent AI.
5. Recognize memory as constructive.
Shields explores the subjective and constructive nature of memory, showing how our personal narratives shape our reality. This has implications for how AI could be used to personalize and enhance memory and learning experiences.
Practical Application:
AI could be used to create personalized “memory palaces” for individuals, helping them to organize and retrieve information in more meaningful and memorable ways. This could also be used to generate interactive narratives that explore personal histories and experiences.
Suggested Deep Dive
Chapter: Blur
This chapter delves into the increasing difficulty of distinguishing between fiction and nonfiction, a core idea that reverberates throughout the entire book.
Memorable Quotes
Opening. 9
Art is theft.
3. 12
An artistic movement, albeit an organic and as-yet-unstated one, is forming.
72. 27
The lyric essay asks what happens when an essay begins to behave less like an essay and more like a poem.
176. 57
Freud: we have no memories from our childhood, only memories that pertain to our childhood.
213. 71
Genre is a minimum-security prison.
Opening. 9
Art is theft.
3. 12
An artistic movement, albeit an organic and as-yet-unstated one, is forming.
72. 27
The lyric essay asks what happens when an essay begins to behave less like an essay and more like a poem.
176. 57
Freud: we have no memories from our childhood, only memories that pertain to our childhood.
213. 71
Genre is a minimum-security prison.
Comparative Analysis
Reality Hunger stands out for its relentless focus on the changing landscape of art and storytelling in the digital age, anticipating many contemporary debates around remix culture, appropriation, and the blurring of creative boundaries. While Susan Sontag’s “Against Interpretation” explores similar themes of art and its relationship to reality, Shields’s book delves more specifically into the implications of new technologies and the increasing dominance of digital media. Similarly, though W. G. Sebald’s “The Rings of Saturn” incorporates fragments of reality and history into its narrative structure, Reality Hunger offers a more explicit manifesto for appropriating and repurposing existing cultural materials. Furthermore, unlike traditional literary criticism, which often focuses on analyzing individual works within established genres, Reality Hunger challenges those very genre classifications, pushing for a more fluid and experimental approach to art and literature.
Reflection
Reality Hunger functions as both a cultural critique and a personal exploration of artistic creation in the digital age. While Shields’s emphasis on the blurring of genre lines and the embrace of appropriation feels prescient, his complete dismissal of traditional narrative forms like the novel may be overly pessimistic. While it is true that access to infinite information creates an environment of “too muchness,” which many find overwhelming, and that there is great appeal in the apparently unmediated or the ostensibly “real” (especially given how much of life is increasingly mediated), there are still countless readers who take pleasure in experiencing well-crafted stories and narratives that offer escape, catharsis, and meaning-making within structured forms. Despite its polemical tone, Reality Hunger raises important questions about the future of art and literature, particularly in relation to technology and the changing nature of reality itself. It’s a valuable read for anyone seeking to understand the evolving landscape of creativity in the digital world.
Flashcards
What is the act of imitation, central to art?
Mimesis
What defines reality-based art?
A blurring of the lines between fiction and nonfiction, art and life, incorporating fragments of reality.
What is Abstract Expressionism, according to Shields?
The manipulation of reality through the spontaneous creation on canvas
What is memory, according to Shields?
The past rewritten in the direction of feeling.
What art form does Shields champion as the most important innovation of the 20th century?
Collage
Did everything happen the way a memoirist claims?
Yes, but its essence is true, or a shade of true.
What is forming, in Shields’s view?
An organic and as-yet unstated artistic movement defined by unartiness, randomness, openness to accident and serendipity, spontaneity, artistic risk, emotional urgency and intensity, etc.
What is the act of imitation, central to art?
Mimesis
What defines reality-based art?
A blurring of the lines between fiction and nonfiction, art and life, incorporating fragments of reality.
What is Abstract Expressionism, according to Shields?
The manipulation of reality through the spontaneous creation on canvas
What is memory, according to Shields?
The past rewritten in the direction of feeling.
What art form does Shields champion as the most important innovation of the 20th century?
Collage
Did everything happen the way a memoirist claims?
Yes, but its essence is true, or a shade of true.
What is forming, in Shields’s view?
An organic and as-yet unstated artistic movement defined by unartiness, randomness, openness to accident and serendipity, spontaneity, artistic risk, emotional urgency and intensity, etc.