Purloined: A Novel
Joseph Kosuth
2000
Purloined: A Novel
Purloined: A Novel
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Joseph Kosuth’s conceptual practice is impregnated with Wittgenstein’s philosophy: The meaning of a word is its use in language, says the British thinker. Through intricate strategies of appropriation, Kosuth shifts the rules of semantics according ...
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Purloined: A Novel
Joseph Kosuth
2000
Cologne: Salon Verlag
120 pages
22 × 14 cm
Edition of 750; numbered 272/750

Joseph Kosuth’s conceptual practice is impregnated with Wittgenstein’s philosophy: The meaning of a word is its use in language, says the British thinker. Through intricate strategies of appropriation, Kosuth shifts the rules of semantics according to the context in which words are used. In this tautological exercise, Purloined – a term meaning to steal, filch, or take something dishonestly, often through stealth or a breach of trust – becomes both the title and the method. Kosuth uses 60 sheets from 60 different books to “write” a new novel: a fluid and seemingly coherent narrative assembled entirely from pre-existing texts.


 


This veritable work of para-literature constitutes an ultimate act of appropriation: a piece of literature written in rigorously conceptual terms. Displaced from their original contexts, the sparse pages become the new “words” of a Kosuthian language, in which meaning is neither fixed nor intrinsic, but produced through juxtaposition and context.

Cologne: Salon Verlag
120 pages
22 × 14 cm
Edition of 750; numbered 272/750

Joseph Kosuth’s conceptual practice is impregnated with Wittgenstein’s philosophy: The meaning of a word is its use in language, says the British thinker. Through intricate strategies of appropriation, Kosuth shifts the rules of semantics according to the context in which words are used. In this tautological exercise, Purloined – a term meaning to steal, filch, or take something dishonestly, often through stealth or a breach of trust – becomes both the title and the method. Kosuth uses 60 sheets from 60 different books to “write” a new novel: a fluid and seemingly coherent narrative assembled entirely from pre-existing texts.

 

This veritable work of para-literature constitutes an ultimate act of appropriation: a piece of literature written in rigorously conceptual terms. Displaced from their original contexts, the sparse pages become the new “words” of a Kosuthian language, in which meaning is neither fixed nor intrinsic, but produced through juxtaposition and context.

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Joseph Kosuth’s conceptual practice is impregnated with Wittgenstein’s philosophy: The meaning of a word is its use in language, says the British thinker. Through intricate strategies of appropriation, Kosuth shifts the rules of semantics according to the context in which words are used. In this tautological exercise, Purloined – a term meaning to steal, filch, or take something dishonestly, often through stealth or a breach of trust – becomes both the title and the method. Kosuth uses 60 sheets from 60 different books to “write” a new novel: a fluid and seemingly coherent narrative assembled entirely from pre-existing texts.

 

This veritable work of para-literature constitutes an ultimate act of appropriation: a piece of literature written in rigorously conceptual terms. Displaced from their original contexts, the sparse pages become the new “words” of a Kosuthian language, in which meaning is neither fixed nor intrinsic, but produced through juxtaposition and context.

Cologne: Salon Verlag
120 pages
22 × 14 cm
Edition of 750; numbered 272/750

Joseph Kosuth’s conceptual practice is impregnated with Wittgenstein’s philosophy: The meaning of a word is its use in language, says the British thinker. Through intricate strategies of appropriation, Kosuth shifts the rules of semantics according to the context in which words are used. In this tautological exercise, Purloined – a term meaning to steal, filch, or take something dishonestly, often through stealth or a breach of trust – becomes both the title and the method. Kosuth uses 60 sheets from 60 different books to “write” a new novel: a fluid and seemingly coherent narrative assembled entirely from pre-existing texts.

 

This veritable work of para-literature constitutes an ultimate act of appropriation: a piece of literature written in rigorously conceptual terms. Displaced from their original contexts, the sparse pages become the new “words” of a Kosuthian language, in which meaning is neither fixed nor intrinsic, but produced through juxtaposition and context.

MORE BOOKS

Joseph Kosuth’s conceptual practice is impregnated with Wittgenstein’s philosophy: The meaning of a word is its use in language, says the British thinker. Through intricate strategies of appropriation, Kosuth shifts the rules of semantics according to the context in which words are used. In this tautological exercise, Purloined – a term meaning to steal, filch, or take something dishonestly, often through stealth or a breach of trust – becomes both the title and the method. Kosuth uses 60 sheets from 60 different books to “write” a new novel: a fluid and seemingly coherent narrative assembled entirely from pre-existing texts.

 

This veritable work of para-literature constitutes an ultimate act of appropriation: a piece of literature written in rigorously conceptual terms. Displaced from their original contexts, the sparse pages become the new “words” of a Kosuthian language, in which meaning is neither fixed nor intrinsic, but produced through juxtaposition and context.

MORE BOOKS