E-Book Overview
In much the same way that photography forced painting to move in new directions, the advent of the World Wide Web, with its proliferation of easily transferable and manipulated text, forces us to think about writing, creativity, and the materiality of language in new ways. In Against Expression, editors Craig Dworkin and Kenneth Goldsmith present the most innovative works responding to the challenges posed by these developments. Charles Bernstein has described conceptual poetry as "poetry pregnant with thought." Against Expression, the premier anthology of conceptual writing, presents work that is by turns thoughtful, funny, provocative, and disturbing. Dworkin and Goldsmith, two of the leading spokespersons and practitioners of conceptual writing, chart the trajectory of the conceptual aesthetic from early precursors including Samuel Beckett and Marcel Duchamp to the most prominent of today’s writers. Nearly all of the major avant-garde groups of the past century are represented here, including Dada, OuLiPo, L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, and Flarf to name just a few, but all the writers are united in their imaginative appropriation of found and generated texts and their exploration of nonexpressive language. Against Expression is a timely collection and an invaluable resource for readers and writers alike.
E-Book Content
Against Expression
Against Expression An Anthology of Conceptual Writing E D I T E D C R A I G
B Y
DWO R K I N
K EN NET H
Northwestern University Press Evanston Illinois
A N D
G O LD S M I T H
Northwestern University Press www.nupress.northwestern.edu Copyright © by Northwestern University Press. Published . All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America
The editors and the publisher have made every reasonable effort to contact the copyright holders to obtain permission to use the material reprinted in this book. Acknowledgments are printed starting on page .
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Against expression : an anthology of conceptual writing / edited by Craig Dworkin and Kenneth Goldsmith. p. cm. — (Avant-garde and modernism collection) Includes bibliographical references. ---- (pbk. : alk. paper) . Literature, Experimental. . Literature, Modern—th century. . Literature, Modern—st century. . Experimental poetry. . Conceptual art. I. Dworkin, Craig Douglas. II. Goldsmith, Kenneth. .A .—dc
o The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, .-.
To Marjorie Perloff
Contents Why Conceptual Writing? Why Now? xvii Kenneth Goldsmith The Fate of Echo, xxiii Craig Dworkin
Monica Aasprong, from Soldatmarkedet Walter Abish, from Skin Deep Vito Acconci, from Contacts/Contexts (Frame of Reference): Ten Pages of Reading Roget’s Thesaurus from Removal, Move (Line of Evidence): The Grid Locations of Streets, Alphabetized, Hagstrom’s Maps of the Five Boroughs: . Manhattan Kathy Acker, from Great Expectations Sally Alatalo, from Unforeseen Alliances Paal Bjelke Andersen, from The Grefsen Address Anonymous, Eroticism David Antin, A List of the Delusions of the Insane: What They Are Afraid Of from Novel Poem from The Separation Meditations
Louis Aragon, Suicide Nathan Austin, from Survey Says! J. G. Ballard, Mae West’s Reduction Mammoplasty Fiona Banner, from The Nam Derek Beaulieu, from Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions Samuel Beckett, from Molloy from Watt Caroline Bergvall, VIA ( Dante Translations) Charles Bernstei