Anarchists in the Academy. Machines and Free Readers in Experimental Poetry

297 Pages·2018·4.92 MB·English

by  Dani Spinosa

Anarchists in the Academy

Anarchists in the Academy
Anarchists in the Academy
Anarchists in the Academy
Anarchists in the Academy
Anarchists in the Academy
Dani Spinosa
Dani Spinosa
Machines and Free Readers
in Experimental Poetry
1
The University of Alberta Press
Published by All rights reserved. No part of this publication
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Copyright © 2018 Dani Spinosa The University of Alberta Press supports
copyright. Copyright fuels creativity,
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Spinosa, Dani, 1986–, author laws by not reproducing, scanning, or
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Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats. The University of Alberta Press gratefully
isbn 978–1–77212–376–0 (softcover).— acknowledges the support received for its
isbn 978–1–77212–405–7 (pdf) publishing program from the Government of
  Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, and
1. Experimental poetry—21st century— the Government of Alberta through the Alberta
History and criticism. 2. Anarchism in Media Fund.
literature. 3. Semiotics and literature. 
6 7
4. Poetics. 5. Criticism. I. Title.

pn1059.e94s65 2018 809.1’911
c2018–900806–7
First edition, first printing, 2018.
First electronic edition, 2018.
Copyediting by Lesley Peterson.
Proofreading by Kirsten Craven.
Indexing by Siusan Moffat.
Book design by Alan Brownoff.
For my mother, who made our house a taz,
complete with communal garden, basement grocery co-op,
renegade theatre company, independent fashion and costume design,
a radical sense of wonder, and the knowledge that
no matter how different we all became,
we could get ice cream together.

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction xi
Postanarchism, Experimental Poetry, and the Academy
1 Precursors to Digital Writing 1
Jackson Mac Low Is Something Something 3
John Cage Making Excessive Noise 14
Robert Duncan Plagiarizing 25
bpNichol for the Curious Viewer/Reader 35
2 Feminism, Print, Machines 51
Susan Howe Sleeping in the Library 54
Erín Moure’s Name in Quotation Marks 71
[Juliana Spahr Prefers Both 84
Harryette Mullen Making Kimchee in a Museum 95
3 Easy Concepts 107
Kenneth Goldsmith Talking to Himself 111
Vanessa Place Without Serifs 124
Christian Bök Obsolesces the Avant-Garde 134
Darren Wershler andor Any Number of Readers 142
4 Digital Interventions 153
Jim Andrews Drifts Apart 156
W. Mark Sutherland Puts the Cedar in Abecedarian 166
Brian Kim Stefans Alphabetizes Dreams 177
Andy Campbell, Mez Breeze, and the Constrict(l)ure of Code 186
Conclusion 199
Notes 205
Works Cited 215
Permissions 233
Index 235
Acknowledgements
this book exists because Andy
Weaver played “Ursonate” one day in
his Introduction to Poetry lecture,
and then let me bother him for
another decade. Without his guidance, advice, reading lists, and alcohol-
fuelled rants, I could never have written this—first as a dissertation, and
then again as a book. Thank you to his wife Kelly and his beautiful babies,
Duncan and Hugh, for letting me occupy so much of his time and atten-
tion. I also want to thank Stephen Cain, Art Redding, Richard Telekey, David
Goldstein, and Craig Dworkin for reading this work in its first iteration
and guiding it so generously and thoughtfully to its current state. I also
thank Juliana Spahr, W. Mark Sutherland, and Jesse Cohn for responding
to personal correspondences and talking words and anarchy with me.
I also owe a huge thank-you to my partner, Jesse, for reading through
this work in its many forms and for tiptoeing through my office when
he knew I was in writing mode. Thank you to early readers of the blog,
Kate Siklosi, Matt Carrington, Caitlin O’Kelly, and Sean Braune, and to
the generous and fabulous members of my writing workshop, Melissa
Dalgliesh, Samantha Bernstein, Jonathan Vandor, and Thom Bryce.
Thank you to the team at the Electronic Literature Organization and the
Electronic Literature Directory, especially Dene Grigar, Davin Heckman,
and Joseph Tabbi, for bringing me into the wonderful world of electronic
ix