I was reading a book the other day and I accidentally turned two pages at once but for about two lines it still made grammatical sense so I didn't initially realise that I'd missed a page. This made me think at first of writing a book with 'trap' pages that can be effectively missed out entirely without affecting the flow of the book at all, but may offer something that makes you consider an alternate idea or viewpoint if read, there would be no indication as to whether the pages were meant to be left out or not so it would let readers interpret it more uniquely. After drafting for a bit the idea the evolved into a book where absolutely any page or number of pages can be skipped or omitted whilst still maintaining a prose that makes logical sense. In order to get something like this to work I would have to limit myself to a certain set of stock page beginnings and endings, only changing a few key words each time. This made me realise that the pages could then be read in any order that the reader desired as long as they started at the beginning finished at the end, allowing for an an exponentially greater number of permutations and therefore interpretations.
Do you think a book like this could ever conceivably be written or am I just spouting post-modern bullshit? I realise that it would be very difficult to keep any sort of narrative going if the pages could be read in a random order, and it would be very important to have something actually going on or else it would be nothing but a gimmick and pointless to read, which is not at all what I want. I still intend it to be a book that anyone remotely intelligent could read without specialist knowledge.
Lastly has anything like this ever been attempted before at any level? I'm not familiar with anything if it has but I haven't done any research and I'm by no means extensively well read as far as post-modern literature is concerned.
Pic entirely unrelated
>>7518852
There was that one book, can't remember the name, don't care to search, where you could read any chapter in any order and it would still make coherent sense.
I think it would be cool if you kept both style and substance. The post-modern has neither.
Also, if you take out the limitation of needing to fill a whole page, you could make it more coherently incoherent.
Cortazar's Hopscotch does something similar. There are ~56 chapters that compound the main plot, and about a hundred "dismissible" chapters that can be ignored completely, followed at a certain order indicated at the beginning, or in any order you want. They tend to be quite digressive tho.
I read somewhere that Invisible Monsters Remix by Palahniuk does something similar but I read the regular Invisible Monsters and am not interested in reading more of it. Also, there was mention in the Wikipedia article of Hopscotch of a book that consisted of a box filled with randomly ordered pages that could be read in whatever order. Maybe this last book fits your description further, but I don't have a precise reference.
Finnegan's Wake sucked
>>7518900
>The post-modern has neither.
confirmed illiterate
>>7518852
>>7518900
Cortazar's Rayuela (Hopscotch) was writen with this in mind
If anon can read it in spanish, ONLY do it from the 'Cátedra' editorial, the black cover edition. It's filled with footnotes, to help european readers into Argentinian culture (even if most of it happens in Europe).
It's one of the best books I've ever read, both versions (the straight one and the alternating chapters one).
>>7518937
Is it still worth reading in tranlation?
>>7518852
House of Leaves may be relevant, but I haven't read it. There are several treasure books in Kickstarter, but the joy of the book you propose realys in not knowing/discovering/being told later.
Maybe you could get an edition that has glued/miscut pages intentionally.
Maybe the chapter pages have temperature-sensitive ink (I can see people leaving it in the oven for a while... it'd be fun to have a book whose letters can be seen only below -5°C
Photos of snow covered fans... you can start a meme with way less than that
>>7518958
It's worth it.
There are some play on words that can't be translated, but if after chapter 7 you aren't sick of it, go ahead (Chapter 5 and 7 can be read alone, both are about love and sex and still surprise me that a single human can write as different as those two).
A warning: Read the straight version and STOP at chapter 53, where the first book ends.
Read a book or two before restarting the alternate version.
And beware, it's not a book to read, it's a book to fall into. You will love La Maga.
>>7518972
I've actually read house of leaves and I hadn't considered reading it in a different order. I can't really see that making much sense since Johnny's parts only really work in sequence if I remember correctly. Temperature sensitive ink is a very interesting idea but it may be one gimmick too far and could end up detracting from the original concept.
>>7518988
Totally agree, I was mentioning it as a trick book, since it's not meant to be read straigthforward. I'm playing by ear because a friend told me how it was, not a firsthand experience.
There's even books like Palahniuk's Rant, or La Casa de Asterión (short Borges tale), that change the second time you read it because you ::know:: an are looking FOR the cues.
Or Hopscotch, as mentioned.
>>7518987
Hmm thanks, I'll definitely check that out then before I seriously start planning anything. Is there a definitive translation that I should look for or will any do?
>>7519001
Yeah that makes sense actually, House of Leaves was a more interesting read second time around for that reason. I'll definitely check out that Borges story too, I've been meaning to get into him for a while. Do you know if it appears in any of the compilations?
>>7519019
Borges tales: "Ficciones" and "El Aleph". That's where you start, and they are pretty good.
Those Rayuela's chapters are 3 or 4 pages each, if you have any friend with the book (or you can stand reading from the PC), they are quite short and representative.
Cortázar was a translator and helped to translate Hopscotch, I ignore who did it to English, but it should be easy to find out.
It sounds like a book within a Borges story, conceivable but difficult to execute, it'd take many years but hey go for it, I know I'd love to see it happen.
>>7519081
Like "El Libro de Arena", Borge's short story
>>7518852
Two words, Raymond Queneau.
I haven't read it, but "Love and Other Games of Chance" by Lee Siegel can be read by playing snakes and ladders with the chapters.
>>7518852
I think that unless you give some symbolic meaning to it it is pointless and shouldn't be done. Too many people do random shit for no other reason than "it's cool."
>>7518900
>where you could read any chapter in any order and it would still make coherent sense.
you mean Naked Lunch
