In which Trefry finally lets his hair down and writes about dicks.
I am an avid reader of Inside the Castle publications. I own many of them. While I may enjoy some more than others, they are always interesting. Of course, that is thanks to the authors, but a key element is Trefry’s curation and his vision for what makes a book an interesting object. However, it’s Trefry’s own work that speaks the most to his vision. Duh. But I think his curation and thought process is important to getting the most out of the books he writes. I’ve “read” Plats (the x5 version) and MASSIVE. And I put read in those scare quotes because I haven’t read them cover to cover. I’m not sure they’re meant to be. It’s more like I’ve dipped in and out of them. Carried along by the concept, the layout, and then cutting in somewhere else to see what’s going on. All of this to say, I respect those books. Are they entertainment? Well, no. I think they deliberately aren’t. So, it’s hard to say I enjoyed them so much as I appreciate the vision. Did I enjoy Finnegan’s Wake? That’s another discussion. Okay, where the fuck am I going with this?
TOTAL DESTRUCTION is the book of Trefry’s that I’ve enjoyed most. Easily. Legitimately had fun with. I’m a sucker for conceptual art and that’s how I categorize Trefry’s work. I respect the concept. I respect the taking of the baton from Robbe-Grillet and moving “the novel” if such a thing exists anymore forward and stretching it to fit the modern consciousness. TOTAL DESTRUCTION is closer to a page turner, though it is very much not a novel. It’s a book by happenstance. If the same material showed up in a box full of index cards, it’d all be the same to me. After all, this material consists of phone notes given some kind of book-like structure. I won’t go into the book report-esque details of the circumstances surrounding how TOTAL DESTRUCTION came to be. You can read the back cover. But, I think the distance between the time spent writing MASSIVE, a period of inactivity following health issues and seemingly one impactful book review of that tome, has given Trefry a new perspective.
So, what we have is a book advertised as cultural criticism, which it is, but also one that really captures the possibility of a media overload stream of consciousness writing. To that end, I think it’s a piece of work that actually captures the moment in a way many other books that try to fail. What is modern reading? Well, one such interpretation is addressed in the text itself. Text written while distracted by other media, other thoughts. Reading while distracted by other media, other thoughts. Connections made between different cultural outputs. Following the hyperactive line of logic from topic to topic before abruptly switching to something else entirely. Gags repeat throughout. For example, the actor Roy Scheider reappears in increasingly ridiculous castings in movies he never starred in. It all becomes something of a postmodern soup of cultural reference points. The last 90 or so pages of the book is an index of all the art, people, etc. referenced throughout. There’s even the fictionalization of the self referred to in the third person. Trefry becomes Johnny Turgid. MASSIVE becomes THICC. Self-deprecation abounds. There’s a section of the book that admits it was added just to get to a nice round word count. I had a good laugh. I’ve picked out a few key things about what the book contains, but you really need to read it yourself because I can’t do the scatterbrained appeal justice here. Just trust me. TOTAL DESTRUCTION is probably the most enjoyable dose of venom I’ve had in some time.