Prehistoric digital poetry : an archaeology of forms, 1959-1995 PDF
Preview Prehistoric digital poetry : an archaeology of forms, 1959-1995
Prehistoric Digital Poetry MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY POETICS Series Editors Charles Bernstein Hank Lazer Series Advisory Board Maria Damon Rachel Blau DuPlessis Alan Golding Susan Howe Nathaniel Mackey Jerome McGann Harryette Mullen Aldon Nielsen Marjorie Perloff Joan Retallack Ron Silliman Lorenzo Thomas Jerry Ward Prehistoric Digital Poetry An Archaeology of Forms, 1959–1995 C. T. FUNKHOUSER THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS Tuscaloosa Copyright © 2007 The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380 All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Typeface: Minion ∞ The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Funkhouser, Chris. Prehistoric digital poetry : an archaeology of forms, 1959–1995 / C. T. Funkhouser. p. cm. — (Modern and contemporary poetics) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8173-1562-7 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8173-1562-4 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-8173-5422-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8173-5422-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Computer poetry—History and criticism. 2. Computer poetry—Technique. 3. Interactive multimedia. 4. Hypertext systems. I. Title. PN1059.C6F86 2007 808.10285—dc22 2006037512 Portions of I-VI by John Cage have been reprinted by permission of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, pp. 1, 2, 5, 103, 435. Copyright © 1990 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. To my comrades in the present and to cybernetic literary paleontologists of the mythic future “The poem is a machine,” said that famous man, and so I’m building one. Or at least I’m having it built, because I want something big and impressive and automatic. You see, people will stand in front of it and insert money, dimes or quarters, depending upon the poem’s locus. Yes the whole thing will clank and hum and light up and issue a string of words on colored ticker-tape. Or maybe the customers will wear ear-phones and turn small knobs so the experience will be more audile-tactile than old fashioned visual. In any case they will only get one line at a time, This being the most important feature of my design which is based on the principle that, In poetry, “one perception must immediately and directly lead to a further perception,” And therefore the audience will be compelled to feed in coin after coin. Now I admit that the prototype model that you see on display is something of a compromise, as it has a live poet concealed inside. But I assure you that this crudity will eventually be eliminated Because each machine, I mean each poem, is to be fully computerized And so able to stand on its own feet. —Lionel Kearns, “Kinetic Poem” (1968) Contents List of Illustrations xi Foreword xv A Chronology of Works in Digital Poetry, 1959–1995 xix Introduction: Evolving Circuits of Digital Poetry 1 1. Origination: Text Generation 31 2. Visual and Kinetic Digital Poems 85 3. Hypertext and Hypermedia 150 4. Alternative Arrangements for Digital Poetry 199 5. Techniques Enabled: (Pro)Fusions after Poetry Computerized 221 Appendix A: Codeworks 257 Appendix B: Holography 265 Acknowledgments 271 Notes 275 Bibliography 325 Index 341
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