Surveys: A Novel (Semiotext(e) / Native Agents) - Softcover

Stagg, Natasha

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1584351780 ISBN 13: 9781584351788

Publisher: Semiotext(e), 2016

Synopsis

A bored twenty-three-year-old woman suddenly leaves her dull suburban job for L.A., becomes Internet-famous, and falls in love―Zelda to a semi-famous Scott.

One day, I was not famous, the next day, I was almost famous and the temptation to go wide with that and reject my past was too great. When I was legit famous, it was hard to tell when the change had occurred... If I had been born famous, the moment I would have started engaging in social media, I would have seen this fame, not the rise of it. But first I saw the low numbers, and later, the high ones.
―from Surveys

Wryly mirroring the classic, female coming-of-age narrative, Natasha Stagg's debut traces a few months in the life of Colleen, a twenty-three-year-old woman with almost no attachments or aspirations for her life. Working at an unsatisfying mall job in Tucson, Colleen sleepwalks through depressing office politics and tiresome one-night stands in a desultory way, becoming fully alive only at night when she's online. Colleen attains ambiguous Internet stardom when she's discovered by Jim, a semi-famous icon of masculinity and reclusiveness.

When Colleen quits her job and moves to meet Jim in Los Angeles, she immediately falls in love and begins a new life of whirlwind parties and sponsored events. The pair's relationship, launched online, makes them the Scott and Zelda of their generation, and they tour the country, cashing in on the buzz surrounding their romance. But as their fame expands, Colleen's jealousy grows obsessive.

About this title

About the Author

Natasha Stagg is the author of Surveys: A Novel (Semiotext(e)). Her work has appeared in Artforum, Bookforum, Texte Zur Kunst, n+1, Spike Art, Flash Art, Dazed, V, Vice, 032c, and other publications.

Review

Stagg's slim novel deftly explores the shifting landscape of celebrity through the story of a young woman's rise from obscurity to Internet stardom―the 'low numbers' to the 'high ones'―after an online flirtation with a semifamous social media personality.

―New York Times Book Review

Stagg is a fearless writer, and she plays with stream of consciousness diatribes and obsessive inner thoughts to create a compelling and addictive story that explores contemporary understandings of jealousy and love through social media.

―Vice Magazine

Bored of her life working in a Tucson, Arizona, mall, 23-year-old Colleen takes the life-changing plunge that so many millennials often consider―becoming an internet celebrity. Colleen posts updates about her life online, gaining followers and forming a double life teetering between young adult normalcy and the uncanny phenomenon of being sort of, kind of famous on the internet. The coming-of-age story offers a psychological dissection of the logic behind sharing your every thought with a mass of anonymous strangers, exploring the strange terrain where the personal and performative overlap and bleed into one another. Without altogether celebrating or condemning the contemporary obsession with online sharing, Stagg explores the roles we play and the selves we inhabit, online and IRL.

―Huffington Post

I had never read a good piece of fiction that featured internet culture as a predominant part of its plot until I read Surveys.

―Rookie

Edition details

• Publisher: Semiotext(e)
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1584351780
• ISBN 13: 9781584351788
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 176