Contemporary Explorations of the Textual Condition
Through our feminist and media archaeology approach to nonstandard textuality, we have been building a history of writing that is not exclusionary but rather is inclusionary. This history has included examination of graphic textiles such as women’s needlework (Karen Kruger), memorial engravings, weavers and circuit builders (Lisa Nakamura), wearable tech (Susan Elizabeth Ryan), the cultural circulation of tattoos, and today we turn to twentieth and twenty-first century media ecologies that are independent of traditional publishing institutions–specifically the podcast series Secret Feminist Agenda and the ebook collective Troll Thread. To frame our discussions we will have also read chapters from Kenny Goldsmith’s Uncreative Writing, which unsettles the notion of a single author genius and the enshrined trope of originality.
Tactical Media Poetics as Digital Publishing Praxis Troll Thread, discussion with the editor and poet Dr. Holly Melgard and Dr. Hannah McGregor (Simon Fraser University), host of the podcast Secret Feminist Agenda .
Please listen to “BONUS EPISODE: PODCASTING, PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP, AND ACCOUNTABILITY” and read Dr. McGregor’s editorial statement on Scholarly Podcasting Open Peer Review and in preparation for speaking with Dr. Melgard, read “Holly Melgard Reads Holly Melgard” from the Essays for a Cancelled Anthology series, which is a meta-discussion about Dr. Melgard’s practice with web/self-publishing: http://www.lulu.com/items/volume_78/20644000/20644811/2/print/TT_Canceled_Anthology_Melgard_for_lulu.pdf and (read/browse) the following Troll Thread book: Money by Maker, which is mentioned in the essay, http://trollthread.tumblr.com/post/25903051525/maker-money-troll-thread-2012-purchase-color
Kenneth Goldsmith “Introduction” and chapters “Revenge of the Text,” “Why Appropriation?” and “Uncreative Writing in the Classroom: A Disorientation” from Uncreative Writing PDF
Textual Practice: Katie TP on uncreative writing. Here is a link to her slides:
Katie writes, “Uncreative writing, a term coined by Kenneth Goldsmith, finds its roots in the avant-garde art movement of the late 1800s and the art and poetry produced by the Dadaists after World War I. Of particular influence is collage art in which artists utilized existing materials to produce a new work of art. This practice inspired writing practices like cut-ups, a technique developed by William Burroughs and his artist partner Brion Gysin, and patchwriting, both of which utilize the process of appropriating existing media to create something new. Goldsmith’s uncreative writing, a form of conceptual poetry, is an appropriation of these textual practices in which pen, paper, scissors, and glue are replaced by word processing software, texts available on the internet, and copy/paste shortcuts. As we engage in the textual practice of uncreative writing, we will reflect on the materiality of language in online environments, the concepts of originality and authorship, and what it feels like to be both an appropriator and an appropriatee.”