Tao Lin
Encyclopedia
Tao Lin is an American writer. He was born of Taiwanese
parents and grew up on the East Coast of the USA.
He is the author of two novels, Eeeee Eee Eeee (2007) and Richard Yates
(2010); a novella, Shoplifting from American Apparel
(2009); a short story collection
, Bed (2007); and two poetry collections, you are a little bit happier than i am, and cognitive-behavioral therapy (2008). Melville House Publishing
published all his books except his first poetry collection and his forthcoming third novel, which will be published by Vintage
.
He began a weekly column titled "Drug-Related Photoshop Art" for Vice Magazine in May 2011. It ended after 13 weeks so that Lin could, as he said on his blog, "focus on [his] third novel."
L Magazine
said, "We've long been deeply irked by Lin's vacuous posturing and 'I know you are but what am I' dorm-room philosophizing..." Sam Anderson, in New York Magazine, wrote, "Dismissing Lin, however, ignores the fact that he is deeply smart, funny, and head-over-heels dedicated in exactly the way we like our young artists to be."
An article in The Atlantic described Lin as having a "fairly staggering" knack for self-promotion. The same article said "there's something unusual about a writer being so transparent, so ready to tell you every insignificant detail of a seemingly eventful day, so aware of his next novel's word count, yet also remaining so opaque, mysterious..."
Lin's work has increasingly been praised in the UK, including positive reviews from The Guardian
and a career overview from London Review of Books
.
They were ignored by most mainstream media but have since been referenced in The Independent
(who called Eeeee Eee Eeee "a wonderfully deadpan joke") and The New York Times
who called Lin a "deadpan literary trickster" in reference to Eeeee Eee Eeee.
Eeeee Eee Eeee has been translated to Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Serbian, and German.
A French translation will be published by Au Diable Vauvert in 2013.
, was published to mixed reviews. The Guardian
said, "Trancelike and often hilarious… Lin's writing is reminiscent of early Douglas Coupland, or early Bret Easton Ellis, but there is also something going on here that is more profoundly peculiar, even Beckettian." The Village Voice
called it a "fragile, elusive book." Bookslut said, "it shares an affected childishness with bands like The Moldy Peaches
and it has a put-on weirdness reminiscent of Miranda July
's No One Belongs Here More Than You." Time Out New York said, "Writing about being an artist makes most contemporary artists self-conscious, squeamish and arch. Lin, however, appears to be comfortable, even earnest, when his characters try to describe their aspirations (or their shortcomings) [...] purposefully raw." San Francisco Chronicle
said, “Tao Lin's sly, forlorn, deadpan humor jumps off the page [...] will delight fans of everyone from Mark Twain to Michelle Tea.” Los Angeles Times
said, "Camus' The Stranger or sociopath?" while Austin Chronicle
called it "scathingly funny" and said that "it might just be the future of literature." Another reviewer described it as "a vehicle...for self-promotion."
In an interview aired December 2009 with Michael Silverblatt
on KCRW's Bookworm
Silverblatt called the novella "the purest example so far of the minimalist aesthetic as it used to be enunciated" and Lin described the novella's style as deliberately "concrete, with all the focus on surface details, with no sentences devoted to thoughts or feelings, and I think that results in a kind of themelessness, that, in its lack of focus on anything else, the theme becomes, to me, the passage of time."
In December 2009 clothing retailer Urban Outfitters
began selling Shoplifting from American Apparel
in its stores.
As of Summer 2011, a film adaptation of Shoplifting from American Apparel is in the works by Sangha Films, starring Noah Cicero
and Jordan Castro.
is Tao Lin's second novel.
In England, papers such as The Daily Telegraph
and The Guardian
ran pieces on him.
In the United States, Lin was mentioned on the blogs of New York Magazine, The New Yorker
, The New York Times
, and Poets & Writers
.
In a book review in The New York Times, Charles Bock described the book as "more interesting as a concept than as an actual narrative", and summarized "By the time I reached the last 50 pages, each time the characters said they wanted to kill themselves, I knew exactly how they felt."
Clancy Martin
said of it: "Richard Yates is hilarious, menacing, and hugely intelligent. Tao Lin is a Kafka for the iPhone generation. He has that most important gift: it’s impossible to imagine anyone else writing like he does and sounding authentic. Yet he has already spawned a huge school of Lin imitators. As precocious and prolific as he is, every book surpasses the last. Tao Lin may well be the most important writer under thirty working today."
It has been translated to Spanish (Alpha Decay) and is forthcoming in Italy (Saggiatore) and France (Au Diable Vauvert).
On August 15, 2011 Wall Street Journal reported that Lin's third novel had been sold in an auction to Vintage
.
in late 2008. Its first two publications were debut poetry-collections by Ellen Kennedy and Brandon Scott Gorrell. A debut poetry-collection by Megan Boyle
is forthcoming in late 2011.
Nylon published a spread about Muumuu House in early 2009. In July, 2011 The Morning News published an extensive profile of Muumuu House.
and two feature films titled MDMA and Mumblecore."
Filmmaker Magazine
said "there is a raw humanity to films like Bebe Zeva and mumblecore, made all the more pronounced precisely because of, not despite, the weird tension between self-conscious artifice and, as the French say, jouissance, or pleasure."
Taiwanese people
Taiwanese people may refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on the island of Taiwan and/or Taiwan Area which have been governed by the Republic of China since 1945...
parents and grew up on the East Coast of the USA.
He is the author of two novels, Eeeee Eee Eeee (2007) and Richard Yates
Richard Yates (novel)
-Plot:Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning are friends who initially met over the internet and converse with each other regularly through Gmail chat...
(2010); a novella, Shoplifting from American Apparel
Shoplifting from American Apparel
Shoplifting from American Apparel is Tao Lin's first novella, fifth book, and first published fiction since the May 15, 2007 simultaneous publication of his debut novel, Eeeee Eee Eeee, and debut story-collection, Bed...
(2009); a short story collection
Short story collection
A short story collection is a book of short stories by a single author, as distinguished by an anthology of fiction by more than one author. The stories in a collection can share a theme, setting, or characters and sometimes can also include work of poetry. Notable collections include Nine Stories...
, Bed (2007); and two poetry collections, you are a little bit happier than i am, and cognitive-behavioral therapy (2008). Melville House Publishing
Melville House Publishing
Melville House Publishing is an independent publisher of literary fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The company was founded in 2001 by the husband and wife team of Dennis Loy Johnson and Valerie Merians in Hoboken, New Jersey, a location Johnson jokingly called "the Left Bank" of New York City...
published all his books except his first poetry collection and his forthcoming third novel, which will be published by Vintage
Vintage (publisher)
Vintage Books is a publishing imprint founded in 1954 by Alfred A. Knopf. Its publishing list includes world literature, fiction, and non-fiction...
.
He began a weekly column titled "Drug-Related Photoshop Art" for Vice Magazine in May 2011. It ended after 13 weeks so that Lin could, as he said on his blog, "focus on [his] third novel."
Critical response
His writing has attracted both negative and positive attention from various publications. Gawker once referred to him as "maybe perhaps the single most irritating person we've ever had to deal with", though he was later "pardoned". After the "pardon", Gawker published a piece Lin had written.L Magazine
L Magazine
The L Magazine is a free bi-weekly magazine in New York City featuring investigative articles, arts and culture commentary, and event listings...
said, "We've long been deeply irked by Lin's vacuous posturing and 'I know you are but what am I' dorm-room philosophizing..." Sam Anderson, in New York Magazine, wrote, "Dismissing Lin, however, ignores the fact that he is deeply smart, funny, and head-over-heels dedicated in exactly the way we like our young artists to be."
An article in The Atlantic described Lin as having a "fairly staggering" knack for self-promotion. The same article said "there's something unusual about a writer being so transparent, so ready to tell you every insignificant detail of a seemingly eventful day, so aware of his next novel's word count, yet also remaining so opaque, mysterious..."
Lin's work has increasingly been praised in the UK, including positive reviews from The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and a career overview from London Review of Books
London Review of Books
The London Review of Books is a fortnightly British magazine of literary and intellectual essays.-History:The LRB was founded in 1979, during the year-long lock-out at The Times, by publisher A...
.
you are a little bit happier than i am (2006)
In November 2006 Lin's first book, a poetry collection, you are a little bit happier than i am, was published. It was the winner of Action Books' December Prize. It has consistently been a small press bestseller.Eeeee Eee Eeee & Bed (2007)
In May 2007 Lin's first novel, Eeeee Eee Eeee, and first story collection, Bed were published simultaneously.They were ignored by most mainstream media but have since been referenced in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
(who called Eeeee Eee Eeee "a wonderfully deadpan joke") and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
who called Lin a "deadpan literary trickster" in reference to Eeeee Eee Eeee.
Eeeee Eee Eeee has been translated to Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Serbian, and German.
cognitive-behavioral therapy (2008)
In May 2008 Lin's second poetry collection, cognitive-behavioral therapy was published.A French translation will be published by Au Diable Vauvert in 2013.
Shoplifting from American Apparel (2009)
In September 2009 Lin's novella, Shoplifting from American ApparelShoplifting from American Apparel
Shoplifting from American Apparel is Tao Lin's first novella, fifth book, and first published fiction since the May 15, 2007 simultaneous publication of his debut novel, Eeeee Eee Eeee, and debut story-collection, Bed...
, was published to mixed reviews. The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
said, "Trancelike and often hilarious… Lin's writing is reminiscent of early Douglas Coupland, or early Bret Easton Ellis, but there is also something going on here that is more profoundly peculiar, even Beckettian." The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
called it a "fragile, elusive book." Bookslut said, "it shares an affected childishness with bands like The Moldy Peaches
The Moldy Peaches
The Moldy Peaches was an indie group founded by Adam Green and Kimya Dawson. Leading proponents of the anti-folk scene, the band has been on hiatus since 2004...
and it has a put-on weirdness reminiscent of Miranda July
Miranda July
Miranda July is a performing artist, writer, actress and film director. Born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger, she works under the surname of "July," which can be traced to a character from a "girlzine" Miranda created with high school friend Johanna Fateman, called Snarla.- Background :Miranda...
's No One Belongs Here More Than You." Time Out New York said, "Writing about being an artist makes most contemporary artists self-conscious, squeamish and arch. Lin, however, appears to be comfortable, even earnest, when his characters try to describe their aspirations (or their shortcomings) [...] purposefully raw." San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
said, “Tao Lin's sly, forlorn, deadpan humor jumps off the page [...] will delight fans of everyone from Mark Twain to Michelle Tea.” Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said, "Camus' The Stranger or sociopath?" while Austin Chronicle
Austin Chronicle
The Austin Chronicle is an alternative weekly, tabloid-style newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demographic...
called it "scathingly funny" and said that "it might just be the future of literature." Another reviewer described it as "a vehicle...for self-promotion."
In an interview aired December 2009 with Michael Silverblatt
Michael Silverblatt
Michael Silverblatt is the host of Bookworm, a nationally syndicated radio program about books and literature, originating from Los Angeles public radio station KCRW. A graduate of SUNY Buffalo, Silverblatt created the half-hour interview show in 1989 to share his love of literature, poetry and...
on KCRW's Bookworm
Bookworm
Bookworm may refer to:* Bibliophile or bookworm, an avid reader and lover of books* Bookworm , a popular generalization for any insect which supposedly bores through books...
Silverblatt called the novella "the purest example so far of the minimalist aesthetic as it used to be enunciated" and Lin described the novella's style as deliberately "concrete, with all the focus on surface details, with no sentences devoted to thoughts or feelings, and I think that results in a kind of themelessness, that, in its lack of focus on anything else, the theme becomes, to me, the passage of time."
In December 2009 clothing retailer Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters, Inc. is a publicly traded American company that owns and operates five retail brands: Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN....
began selling Shoplifting from American Apparel
Shoplifting from American Apparel
Shoplifting from American Apparel is Tao Lin's first novella, fifth book, and first published fiction since the May 15, 2007 simultaneous publication of his debut novel, Eeeee Eee Eeee, and debut story-collection, Bed...
in its stores.
As of Summer 2011, a film adaptation of Shoplifting from American Apparel is in the works by Sangha Films, starring Noah Cicero
Noah Cicero
Noah Cicero is an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. He lives in Youngstown, Ohio, and is the author of six books of fiction:...
and Jordan Castro.
Richard Yates (2010)
Published September 7, 2010 by Melville House Publishing, Richard YatesRichard Yates (novel)
-Plot:Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning are friends who initially met over the internet and converse with each other regularly through Gmail chat...
is Tao Lin's second novel.
In England, papers such as The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
ran pieces on him.
In the United States, Lin was mentioned on the blogs of New York Magazine, The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, and Poets & Writers
Poets & Writers
Poets & Writers, Inc. is one of the largest nonprofit literary organization in the United States serving poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers...
.
In a book review in The New York Times, Charles Bock described the book as "more interesting as a concept than as an actual narrative", and summarized "By the time I reached the last 50 pages, each time the characters said they wanted to kill themselves, I knew exactly how they felt."
Clancy Martin
Clancy Martin
Clancy W. Martin is a Canadian philosopher, essayist, translator and novelist. His debut novel How to Sell was a Times Literary Supplement "Best Book of 2009" , and a "Best Book of 2009" for The Guardian, Publisher's Weekly, The Kansas City Star.-Works:*Nietzsche's 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra': A...
said of it: "Richard Yates is hilarious, menacing, and hugely intelligent. Tao Lin is a Kafka for the iPhone generation. He has that most important gift: it’s impossible to imagine anyone else writing like he does and sounding authentic. Yet he has already spawned a huge school of Lin imitators. As precocious and prolific as he is, every book surpasses the last. Tao Lin may well be the most important writer under thirty working today."
It has been translated to Spanish (Alpha Decay) and is forthcoming in Italy (Saggiatore) and France (Au Diable Vauvert).
[Untitled Third Novel] (2013)
On August 4, 2011 New York Observer reported that Bill Clegg is representing Lin's third novel, which Lin described as such: "If forced to describe the novel by comparing it to other things I’d say it’s a combination of Lorrie Moore’s prose style and tone, Bret Easton Ellis’ sort of reckless and drug-using characters, and Siddhartha’s continually unsuccessful, earnest attempts at some kind of peace or transcendence." Lin stated to New York Observer that he plans to complete the novel by Fall 2012 and that he wants it to be "short...something [he] could almost memorize."On August 15, 2011 Wall Street Journal reported that Lin's third novel had been sold in an auction to Vintage
Vintage (publisher)
Vintage Books is a publishing imprint founded in 1954 by Alfred A. Knopf. Its publishing list includes world literature, fiction, and non-fiction...
.
Muumuu House
Lin founded the literary press Muumuu HouseMuumuu House
Muumuu House is an American publishing house founded in November 2008 by Tao Lin. It publishes writing online and in print. It has published work by Deb Olin Unferth, Ben Lerner, Rebecca Curtis, Noah Cicero, Matthew Rohrer, Michael Earl Craig, Ellen Kennedy, Brandon Scott Gorrell, Megan Boyle,...
in late 2008. Its first two publications were debut poetry-collections by Ellen Kennedy and Brandon Scott Gorrell. A debut poetry-collection by Megan Boyle
Megan Boyle
-Personal:She is married to NYC-author Tao Lin. The marriage was highly-publicized on the internet, receiving coverage from Thought Catalog, The Alt Report, Guest of a Guest, L Magazine. The New York Observer's senior editor Christian Lorentzen wrote: "Not only do they exhibit great affection for...
is forthcoming in late 2011.
Nylon published a spread about Muumuu House in early 2009. In July, 2011 The Morning News published an extensive profile of Muumuu House.
MDMAfilms
Lin co-founded, with Megan Boyle, the film company MDMAfilms in late 2010. Its feature-length releases, all shot on MacBooks, include a documentary on Bebe ZevaBebe Zeva
Bebe Zeva is an American model, essayist, fashion blogger and writer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was profiled by New York Times and Seventeen Magazine and Teen Vogue. She modeled for the brand I Am Carles associated with the Hipster Runoff blog...
and two feature films titled MDMA and Mumblecore."
Filmmaker Magazine
Filmmaker Magazine
Filmmaker is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis...
said "there is a raw humanity to films like Bebe Zeva and mumblecore, made all the more pronounced precisely because of, not despite, the weird tension between self-conscious artifice and, as the French say, jouissance, or pleasure."
External links
- Official site
- Author's Twitter account
- Author's site for Richard Yates
- Archive of author's work at Thought Catalog
- Profile in The StrangerThe Stranger (newspaper)The Stranger is an alternative weekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, USA. It runs a blog known as Slog.-History:The Stranger was founded by Tim Keck, who had previously co-founded the satirical newspaper The Onion, and cartoonist James Sturm. Its first issue came out on September 23, 1991...
- Career Overview] in London Review of BooksLondon Review of BooksThe London Review of Books is a fortnightly British magazine of literary and intellectual essays.-History:The LRB was founded in 1979, during the year-long lock-out at The Times, by publisher A...
- Profile in New York ObserverNew York ObserverThe New York Observer is a weekly newspaper first published in New York City on September 22, 1987, by Arthur L. Carter, a very successful former investment banker with publishing interests. The Observer focuses on the city's culture, real estate, the media, politics and the entertainment and...
- Profile in New York Magazine
- Essay about the future of the novel in New York ObserverNew York ObserverThe New York Observer is a weekly newspaper first published in New York City on September 22, 1987, by Arthur L. Carter, a very successful former investment banker with publishing interests. The Observer focuses on the city's culture, real estate, the media, politics and the entertainment and...
- Review of Richard Yates in New York Times Book Review
- Review of Richard Yates in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Excerpt of Richard Yates at Hipster Runoff