Fidget

Kenneth Goldsmith

• Publisher: Coach House Books
• Year: 1994
• ISBN:
  9781770560642
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Canadian Poetry
• Index: Literature

The follow-up to the critically acclaimed No. 111, Fidget ruthlessly documents every movement made by Goldsmith's body on Bloomsday (June 16) 1997 from 10 am to 11 pm. Literary critic Marjorie Perloff compares Fidget to 'a Beckett prose text, ' and says many witty and intelligent things about it in her afterword.

22:00

.etarapes regniferof dna bmuht thgiR .flac thgir sehctarcs dnah thgiR. .ydob dniheb tsiF .regnif elddim thgir fo pit yb del ,swercskroc dnah thgiR..sllup woblE .esir skcottuB .nethgiarts seenK .thgir petsediS .tnorf ni sevom mrA .snepo dnah tfeL .tnorf sehcniP .petS .drawkcab teeF .tfel snruT .ydob morf sevom dnaH .esolc sregniF .ydob ot sevom dnah tfeL.petS .petS .petS .petS .petS .spets toof thgiR .taorht fo kcab morf dehsup sucuM .sdnetxe toof thgiR .nethgiarts seenK .llab yb deL .sesir leeH .drawkcab petS .dnuorg stih toof thgiR .tfel stfihs thgieW .sllaf toof tfeL .leeh no thgieW .stih llab thgiR .petS .petS .llab ta sdnE .leeh ta snigeB .spets toof tfeL .swollof toof tfeL .tfel sgniws toof thgiR .tfel snrut ydoB .dniheb seyE .stfil toof tfeL .dneb seenK .deb stih gel tfeL .thgiew ydob stroppus toof thgiR .dnuorg ffo stfil leeh thgiR .revo sdneB .osrot morf sdneB .ydob sdneb dnah tfeL .sdneb kcaB .ydob sleporp gel tfeL .sesiar toof fo llaB .drawkcab seenK .tfil eot eiknip ,eot htruof ,eot driht ,eot dnoceS .spord eot gib fo piT .roolf morf stfiL .stcartnoc toof thgiR .deb fo egde morf sevom eenk thgiR .snettalF .snethgiartS .tfel spilF .elpmet ta stratS .egacbir reppu ta sdne hctertS .tcartnoc seenK .nwaY .elkna separcs gel tfeL .sesir ylleB .sllaf ylleB .sesir ylleB .levan morf sllaf ylleB .sesir ylleB .sllaf ylleB .sesir ylleB .tcartnoc sgnuL .seitpme ylleB .slliF .gel ni doolB .hgiht tfel ni ssenllitS .deb ffo stfil gel tfeL .taorht morf dehsup sucuM .dnuorg ffo stfil eenk fo edis thgiR .gel tfel fo sriah sehsurb leeh thgiR .eenk thgir fo edisrednu morf evom seot tfeL .snethgiarts gel tfeL .scra kcaB .snethgiarts gel thgiR .wollip otni sknis daeH .tfel ot thgir pil reppu skcil eugnoT .avilas sdiovA .ecaf morf sevom dnah tfeL .staerter sivleP .sesneT .stcartnoc gel tfeL .sneffits osroT .nwaY .nwod seyE .thgir seyE .eson eliforp seyE .pu seyE .tfel seyE .xaler selcsum daeheroF .pord sworbeyE .esolC .tfel ot eson eliforp seyE .snepO .wodahs yb decnahne noisiV .thgir ot eliforp eson sweiV .snepO .elgnis esoN .nepo seyE .eson seyE .wollaws fo o dnuor smrofed htuoM .spil seyE .wollawS .sdneB .snethgiartS .llits gel tfeL .sehcrA .deb morf sevom eenk thgiR .snethgiartS .trapa seenK .stcatnoc mra tfeL .daeh fo tnorf ni evom sdnaH .snethgiarts gel tfeL .selgnaD .spord gel thgiR .nwaY .elahnI .stcartnoc hcamotS .stcartnoC .stsurht sivleP .snettalf kcaB .daeh tnorf ni kcolnu smrA .sepiW .lirtson ot sucum dekac sdda regniF .lirtson tfel fo epahs ot mrofnoc ton seod regnif fo epahS .regnif fo epahs ot mrofnoc ton seod lirtson tfel fo epahS .lirtson edisni segdir sdiova regnif fo piT .sevaeL .lirtson morf sevom regniferoF .stfil dnaH .snethgiarts woblE .nwaY .stcartnoc mrA .skcottub otni dna xyccoc htaeneb sedilg regniF .pitregnif yb deilppa erusserp thgilS .suna dna skcottub fo kcarc morf sedecer regnif xednI .llits slianregniF .skcottub morf stfiL .kcab morf sevoM .spord dnaH .snesool elpmet tfeL .reppu morf etarapes hteet mottoB .stsurht sivleP .snepo waJ .xaler hteeT .nettalf seoT .nethgiarts seenK .hctertS .nwaY .edis no ydoB .hctertS .sgel neewteb sdnaH .stsurhT .eye tfel yawa sevom regnif elddiM .worbeye tfel segassam regnif xednI .eye sbur eikniP .ecaf morf sevom dnah thgiR .sucum sretslob avilas yretaW .wollawS .hteet morf yawa eugnot sehsup riA .elahxE .nesool selcsum kceN .wollawS .lrucnU .avilas kciht secudorp eugnoT .swollawS .htuom fo tnorf ot hsuP .hteet fo wor pot sesnaelc eugnoT .keehc thgir fo hcuop morf slepsiD .htuom fo tnorf sdoolF .taorht morf eson ot dehsup sucuM .snethgiarts woblE .rae thgir morf straped dnah tfeL .tfel spilf ydob san nethgiarts seenK .seenk morf sevom mra thgiR .noitisop latef morf sdnapxe ydoB .enilriah ot worbeye morf sevom regniF .semit ruof sehctI .daeherof ot enilriah morf sevom regnif xedni thgiR .warD .elahnI .lirtson srevocnu bmuht thgiR .eson morf sevom dnah thgiR .wollawS .sucum dna avilas slepsid eugnoT .eson otni taorht fo kcab morf dehsuP .tcartnoc skcottub tfel dna hgiht thgir ni selcsuM .deb morf stfil eenk thgiR .stcartnoc pih thgiR .sdrawkcab ydob sleper toof thgiR .stsiwt dnah thgiR .ehtaerB .bmuht fo roiretni sesserac regniferoF .esolc sregniF .stcartnoc woblE .elahnI .lirtson thgir morf sevom regnif xednI .sepiW .sesrepsid sucuM .daerps regniferof dna bmuhT .pil no sucum sdragersiD .sgnul ot nward eson morf riA .esolc sregniF .daerpS .eson morf sevom woblE .snepo dnah thgiR .stcartnoc gel tfeL .deb morf sesir eenk thgiR .deb morf sesir eenk tfeL .tfel stsurht sivleP .seenk ta nethgiarts sgeL .ni smrA .stcartnoc redluohS .lruf sregniF .stcartnoc smrA .sliart sbmuhT .spit sessim riaH .daeh fo edis diova sregnif fo spiT .srae revocnU .swaj morf evom sdnaH .gnirps sbmuhT .kcen esaeler sregniF .spord woblE .waj morf yawa hsup sdnah fo sleeH .kcen morf evom sdnah fo kcaB .lruf sdnaH .kcen fo edis morf evom selkcunK .stsurht woble thgiR .redluohs thgir morf sevom tsiF .selkcunk sbur bmuhT .snepo dnah thgiR .drawnwod snrut woblE .kcen sdiova tsiF .specib morf sevom bmuhT. .redluohs morf sevom bmuhT .snethgiarts woblE .nepO. esaeler sregniferoF .sexaler bmuhT .swercskroc mlaP .htuom fo tuo sedils eugnoT .hteet hguorht gnissap ,htuom fo roiretni sretne eugnoT .gniliec morf yawa woble stsurht tsiwt esiwkcolcretnuoC .sdneb mrA .daeh fo kcab morf yawa wollip sehsurb mra thgir thgiartS .spord daeH .wollawS .tcartnoC .dnirG .xaler swaJ .wollawS .pil fo cra gniwollof tfel ot htuom fo edis thgir morf gnivom pil reppu ssorca snur eugnoT Eyelids close.

‘Vocable Scriptsigns’:
Differential Poetics in Kenneth Goldsmith’s Fidget

Marjorie Perloff

Eyelids open. Tongue runs across upper lip moving from left side of mouth to right following arc of lip. Swallow. Jaws clench. Grind. Stretch. Swallow. Head lifts. Bent right arm brushes pillow into back of head. Arm straightens. Counterclockwise twist thrusts elbow toward ceiling. Tongue leaves interior of mouth passing through teeth. Tongue slides back into mouth. Palm corkscrews. Thumb stretches¹

It reads at first like a section from a Beckett prose text: the late All Strange Away, for instance, with its graphic account of the movements made by an unspecified figure, confined in a small rotunda:

Head wedged against wall at a with blank face on left cheek and the rest the only way that arse wedged against wall at c and knees wedged against wall ab a few inches from face and feet wedged against wall bc a few inches from arse, puckered tip of left breast no real image but maintain for the moment, left hand most clear and womanly lightly clasping right shoulder ball …²

But Fidget, as Kenneth Goldsmith has titled his recent verbal/visual experiment, is not literary invention but poésie verité, a documentary record of how it actually is when a person wakes up on a given morning. If, in one sense, it recalls Beckett, it is also written under the sign of the photographer Edward Muybridge. As Goldsmith explains:

Fidget’s premise was to record every move my body made on June 16, 1997 (Bloomsday). I attached a microphone to my body and spoke every movement from 10:00 AM, when I woke up, to 11:00 PM, when I went to sleep. I was alone all day in my apartment and didn’t answer the phone, go on errands, etc. I just observed my body and spoke. From the outset the piece was a total work of fiction. As I sit here writing this letter, my body is making thousands of movements; I am only able to observe one at a time. It’s impossible to describe every move my body made on a given day. Among the rules for Fidget was that I would never use the first-person ‘I’ to describe movements. Thus every move was an observation of a body in space, not my body in a space. There was to be no editorializing, no psychology, no emotion – just a body detached from a mind.³

Telling the ‘truth’, Goldsmith quickly discovers, may be the biggest ‘fiction’ of all, it being humanly impossible to track all of one’s bodily movements. At this very moment, I am moving my fingers over the computer keyboard as I type, flexing my left foot, wiggling my left toes, and running my tongue over my upper lip from right to left. As I note those movements, I am making others that go unrecorded. Indeed, as Goldsmith admits, after five hours of the experiment in which he monitors his body as it gets out of bed and interacts with objects like coffee cups, he ‘began to go crazy’. The exercise becomes harder and harder, the verbal equivalents to physical motion more and more abbreviated. By 6:00 PM, ‘as a defense my body put itself to sleep’. When Goldsmith awakes and realizes he had another five or six hours to go, he panics:

I went out and bought a fifth of Jack Daniels, walked over to an abandoned loading dock by the West Side highway and drank the entire bottle, all the while continuing my exercise. Needless to say, I got trashed. I found my home and fell asleep by 11:00 PM, never once having stopped my narrative.

Later, when he plays the tapes, Goldsmith finds that in the drunk sequence, his words have become completely slurred and in the last chapter (22:00), quite incomprehensible. So, in a Beckettian move, ‘I ran the first chapter backwards, mirrored it, then reversed every letter.’ For example, ‘Tongue runs across lower lip, moving from right side of mouth to the left following arc of lip’, becomes

.pil fo cra gniwollof tfel ot htuom fo edis thgir morf gnivom pil rewol ssorca snur eugnoT.

The sentences from this last chapter were then put into reverse order with the last actions coming first, and the first coming last.⁴ The only exception is the very last line of the book, ‘Eyelids close’, which is printed in standard order, ‘creating a full circle of closure for the day’. And further: the tapes were then rigorously edited: all unnecessary words such as ‘the’ were removed as were all possible literary and art references. The aim was to make the text ‘very dry and very descriptive’ and ‘to divorce the action from the surroundings, narrative, and attendant morality’.

These statements must be taken with a grain of salt. For one thing, the ‘closure’ provided by the final sentence of the thirteenth chapter, ‘Eyelids close’, is called into question by the various versions in which Fidget exists. The piece, which exists as a plain text version⁵, was given a gallery installation at Printed Matter⁶, a performance at the Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris (16 June 1998)⁷, and a ‘fidgetty’ Java Applet website, made in collaboration with programmer Clem Paulsen⁸. But more important: the ostensibly ‘dry’ and‘descriptive’ report of successive body motions quickly takes on an air of surreality as the artist poses the question of what it would mean to be aware of every physical motion one makes. The more empirical and detailed the verbal transcript, the more absurd the attempt to ‘translate’ body motion begins to seem. Faced with a welter of ceaseless and simultaneous movements, the mind censors out about 99% of these movements and subjects the rest to increasing interpretat...