“Lazy,” “Pretentious,” and “Greatest work of all time” read the headlines for a smattering of my fellow critics reading of “A.A.A” by “Aaaaaa Aaaaaa” which is, if anything, controversial. However, to my mind, it represents that we as a society have completed art and in a perfectly ironic turn of fate “A.A.A.” is the most disturbing, funny, terrifying, and charming piece of catharsis the species has ever created. Before we look at the work itself, we must explore the creator of the piece: “Aaaaaa Aaaaaa”. The chosen nom de plume of VR-auter DoneITAgain bizarrely immediately revealed that it was they that produced the work. One would have assumed that to intentionally obscure the creator was to add credence to the message of the work, however DoneITAgain chose to announce and launch the piece using their own public webspace. It is rare, if not unheard of, to talk about the promotional tour when reviewing a piece of media but A.A.A. is a rare piece of art. In every interview DoneITAgain proudly wears a t-shirt emblazoned with “I am not Aaaaaa Aaaaaa,” and when asked replied, “You figure it out”. Which, it would appear, fans of the book have. In the, now viral, episode of BookSlut’s “W.I.R.T. Squirts” (What I’m Reading Today), BookSlut breaks down and “ugly cries” during her review: “Of course when I first opened the book I saw the prose and laughed out loud at it’s absurdity…But… I had to finish it for this video. DoneITAgain has created a work that is a contradiction, [sobs] a history of their entire career and a prediction of their future. It is a perfect juxtaposition [blows nose] of what COULD be created and what IS created. It created in me a desire to read more just so I could read this book again, and to never read anything else other than this book. It is the Alpha, it is the omega. It is everything, it is nothing”. The social sphere blew up with memes of BookSlut’s last two lines; from celebrating their love of cheesecake, to the atrocities currently being committed in the Australias. It is precisely this ubiquitous-ness of the work that makes it so interesting and valuable to the world. For example the book opens: *“a.* *aa.* *aaa.* *aaaa aaaa a aaaa, aaaaa aaaaa a aaaaa aaaaa…”* At first glance, it is absurd. A repetition of a single letter. One may (or at least this critic) chuckle and then desperately flick through the rest of the book’s 345 pages to see if they have gotten the joke (and indeed if the book is worth reading). At first, it seems like the statement of DoneITAgain is clear, a literal “Ceci n’est pas une pipe”. Despite looking like a book and reading like a book, it is not a book. It is the same letter repeated, seemingly at random. Is it an epistemological discussion piece? Perhaps, but then we must question DoneITAgain’s t-shirt; “I am not Aaaaaa Aaaaaa”. What is meant by this? Margritte only claimed that a painting of a thing was not the thing, he never claimed to not be Margritte. And as we delve deeper into the book, we realise that the letter’s may not be so random after all. Take the “exchange” that introduces the second chapter: *“‘aa… aaaa aaaaaaa aaa?’ aaaa aaa.* *‘a aaaa aaaa,’ aaaaaaa aaa.”* You realise that the work has had an intelligence guiding it, molding it, shaping it. Therefore the piece must have some meaning beyond a joke about the nature of reality… but what? “What could this text be saying?” Rupert Gascoine’s recent column in The Times argues: “*What is the point of art or anything if some Internet hippy can write nothing and set the world on fire! Even my daughter has read the damn thing and tells me that it’s some kinda of ‘omni-fiction’... what little plot there is in the book, I didn’t care for it. The book is a travesty and a punch in the face of real literature.*” The question and answer are clear. Even in the absurdity of the work, how did Gascoine find a plot? And, most importantly, despite clearly not “getting” it Gascoine was able to construct a narrative. How? To which this review comes full circle. *“I am not Aaaaaa Aaaaaa”.* Indeed, how could DoneITAgain be? They have constructed an incomprehensible work consisting of a single repeated letter. The narrative created is that which the reader prescribes to the work. With DoneITAgain’s gently guidance of timing and variation of the length of words, punctuation, and chapter length, the reader “sees” (and in this reader’s experience, feels) an entirely new story. Even upon repeat readings of A.A.A. the story, characters, and plot change. Like the greatest works in human history, increased and repeated exposure reveals something new. Unlike everything else created, DoneITAgain has created an ever morphing piece that’s unfliching stacitiy ironically maximises the dyancism. Through the banality of a single letter, we are forced to imprint our own interpretation of the piece. And it is within this hijacking of our own imagination we realise that, indeed, all stories are open to our interpretation. Star Wars doesn’t have to be a film about a plucky group of rebels taking down a corrupt system, instead it could be a heart-breaking meditation about why a totalitarian government may never succeed. Jurassic Park doesn’t need to be a film about the perils of corporate greed when it comes to scientific breakthroughs, it could be read as a piece about why humans will inevitably make themselves extinct. A.A.A. represents the End of Art because it is truly the everything novel, containing within it every story ever created (and indeed countless stories that haven’t been). It is a million monkey’s with typewriters. It is both poignant and jubilant, nihilistic, absurd, and existential. However, don’t take my word for it. Aaaaaa Aaaaaa sums it up neatly (spoilers ahead): *“aaa aa aaaa aaaaaaaaa aaaaa aa aa aaa, aa aaaa aaaa aaaaa.* *aaa aaa.”* May [[2022]] #writing #modernculture #books