<nettime> Seppuku!

[Luther Blissett <luther@syntac.net>]

S e p p u k u ! 


'The question obsessing me is: have I kept my promise? Without doubt, by my
refusal and my critique I made some kind of promise. I am not a politician,
by keeping my word I would not dispense any real benefit to anybody, and
yet I am haunted night and day by the feeling that I have failed to keep a
promise, one that is more important and necessary than those of
politicians. Sometimes I am tempted to sacrifice literature itself, if only
I could keep that promise. Maybe it is a mere repercussion of "male pride",
however, there is no doubt that having lived in peace through the past
twenty-five years of democracy - even getting advantages out of it in spite
of my dissent - has long hurt my soul.'
(Mishima Yukio, 1970) 

'When the enemy is frightened, his combativeness weakens, which creates a
loss of timing. Even simple, ordinary gestures can be used to distract the
enemy's attention. For example, throwing one's sword to the ground is part
of the art of war. If you are really able in swordless fight, you will
never be disarmed.'
(Munenori Yagyu, XVIIth century)


Many subjectivities of the Luther Blissett Project Italian columns have
decided to greet the new millennium by committing seppuku, a ritual
suicide. Suicide is the practical demonstration that Blissett gives up
mere survival as a territorial, identitarian logic. Suicide is the
ultimate and most extreme 'take to the bush' of this folk hero. 

We are not advocating nihilism or relinquishment; rather, we are choosing
life. Seppuku is not *the* course of action, Luther Blissett is a name
that anybody can keep adopting also after next New year's Day. There are
countries where the fight has just begun, and we surely hope it goes on. 
Seppuku is our suggestion for those who have used the name for at least
the past five years, so that they look for new styles of this martial art,
and let the "newcomers" free to develop their own plans. We should be
strangers in nameless lands: to someone else, this can be accomplished by
adopting the LB multi-use name; to us "veterans", it is quite the
opposite. 

The Seppuku is not the end of Luther Blissett. It is the beginning of a
new phase, a new way of using his face and name. For those who will commit
it, Blissett's suicide will consist in giving up that signature and moving
on to new conflicts. It is quite the contrary of what usually happens to
suicides: they don't go anyplace, while their names are more oft-mentioned
than before their death. 

Seppuku is not a defensive move, to avoid the Multiple's spectacular
recuperation or something like that. What has non identity cannot be
recuperated. Blissett's purpose has always been infiltrating "mainstream
culture" as a trojan horse and opening the city's doors to multifarious
experiences. They owe a plenty of money to all of us, now we are entering
the vault. 

Thinking of Buddhist belief in reincarnation: the followers of the
Awakened One do not believe in an immortal soul; none the less, they think
that a person can reach the Nirvan once s/he's gone through several lives. 
Reincarnation without soul (as well as without identity) may seem a
contradiction in terms, and yet it is conceivable, because every action of
living beings leaves a trace, some sort of potentiality which, once the
individual's earthly body is dead, produces the birth of another being. 
Analogously, so that the tension which Blissett produced in the past years
can become incarnate in other experiences, the corpse must release spores
that are both infective and thaumaturgical. Never the less, the Multiple
has numberless bodies, many of them will stay alive notwithstanding the
death of some others. 

Thanks to the Seppuku, "Luther Blissett" will go through different
rebirths, all of them disengaged from the strict adoption of a name, for a
name cannot help producing an identity. Whether this identity is singular
or collective, real or virtual, historical or mythological is certainly
not without consequences, but after a while it become something you need
to get rid of. 

As Zhuangzi reminds us: "The perfect man has no ego, the inspired man has
no works, the wise man has no name".  And, as the matchless Cary Grant
once put it: "It is better to leave a minute earlier, leaving people
wanting more, rather than a minute too late, when people are getting
bored." 

Luther Blissett Project - Bologna, September 1999


<http://www.syntac.net/lutherblissett>
A clear, thorough LB primer - last update: August 1999 - English

<http://www.LutherBlissett.net>
The (in)Complete Archives 1994-99 - Italian/English

<http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Leftbank/6815>
Luther Blissett and the "Huelga de Arte"(Art strike 2000-2001) - Spanish

<http://www.contrast.org/kg>
Luther Blissett and Kommunikationsguerilla - German


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