Table of Contents
Week 12
Monday
Short Essay
Evaluating a poem. Questions?
Gallery of Modernist and Postmodern poems
- How to effectively integrate a quotation.
- Titles (poem's and yours)
- Works Cited (at end); quotes/paraphrases attributed by author name.
Introducing E-Poetry / Born Digital Literature
Born Digital, Stephanie Strickland. Poetry Foundation, Feb 2009. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69224/born-digital
Concept
E-poetry or born-digital literature seems to aspire to some of the qualities commonly associated with good literature; but it may also recall some of the “modernist” tendencies that Eagleton highlights and others like Duchamp and Cage prize (innovation, novelty, challenge). According to Strickland, e-poetry aspires to do some things differently, perhaps more like performances, visual art or even games. What “traditional” literary criteria can be applied to E-lit AND what new or altered criteria might be called for?
- Final draft of short, evaluative essay: Due, Tuesday 11/8 - class time.
- E-poetry: read either:
- Dreamlife of Letters Brian Kim Stefans
- Carving in Possibility Dene Larsen
- Galatea by Emily Short.
- And share your reaction, questions, or tips in the class MS Teams channel. E-poetry on Teams
Tuesday
Born Digital, Stephanie Strickland.
Introduction to some aspects of E-poetry
See: Nanette Wylde Storyland. Screencast; original Flash page via ELC. Wylde's documentation Plain version Version 1.0 (Must use Ruffle as as a “flash” emulator). Story generation code. Criticism and overviews via ELMCIP, E lit directory, and I love E-poetry
- What makes “Storyland” literature?
- How is it like a conventional story or poem?
- How is it different?
- How do we experience, interact with, interpret or evaluate it?
- What “traditional” literary criteria can be applied to E-lit AND what new or altered criteria might be called for?
Mapping E-lit Exemplars to Strickland
Groups: discuss the piece you read with at least two classmates. Decide which of Strickland's elements of e-poetry most resonates with the example. How does it help you think about the text? What questions does it raise?
- Stefans
- Larsen
- Short
Homework for Thursday will be to choose an E-lit work
- Explore the Electronic Literature Collection (Vol 4), an online anthology. Read the About page, skim the glossary
- Use the glossary or index to choose one text that interests you.
- Sign up for the work here E-Poetry Choices from ELC4 (No duplicates! If someone else chooses your favorite, find an alternate.)
- Makes notes in the Homework/An Elit Work from ELC 4 page in the Onedrive notebook. Be prepared to explain the work and demonstrate how it is read/played/operated to a classmate during class.
Thursday
Group Discussion of Larsen and Short
Walkthrough and discussion: Which of Strickland's elements of e-poetry most resonates with the example. How does it help you think about the text? What questions does it raise?
Larsen
- Carving in Possibility Dene Larsen
Short
- Galatea by Emily Short.
Friday
Exploring Works from ELC4
What is the Electronic Literature Collection? Why do critics and academics produce anthologies? How does this relate to value and evaluation? Is it significant that the ELC4 invited submissions AND charged a team with identifying varied E-lit candidates not submitted by the works' makers? What do you infer from their genre categories (cf Dodd, Cage, Duchamp)? What do you make of their definitions of E-lit? Do they offer (implicit or explicit) criteria for their choices?
Tip: Note that all ELC works include both a brief “author” statement and an editorial statement on the work page.
Pair Discussion, genres, questions about E-lit and ELC4
- Spreadsheet of Individual E-Poetry Choices from ELC4
- Write-ups in Onedrive notebook.
- Discuss your work with a partner and then jointly decide which of the works the two of you have explored is a contender.
- (If both works are absolutely brilliant and you can't possibly choose one, you can appeal to the commissioner to help you decide or to allot one of them a wildcard slot.)
Tournament Explanation and Preparation
Choosing works, preparing to “compete” (informing and persuading)
After choosing and discussing a work with your team. You'll use the process of writing several specific paragraphs about the work and then the preparation of three, succinct slides – to focus our thinking and prepare to advocate for your piece in the contest next week.
I have done this tournament twice before, with some modifications. To give you an idea of how we will put it together, have a look at the 2021 Contest. (Some of the writing and slides are great, some are OK. Use your judgement in selecting models! Paragraphs,Slides, and bracket.
Activity: Teams
Working in pairs, discuss, explore and begin developing the case for your work. Review each proposer's original write-up, explore the work further, and reflect on how it intersects with our discussions / readings on value.
- Choose your shared candidate
- List it here E-Poetry Choices from ELC4 | on the red tab “Team Choices”.
- Begin to work on the three-paragraph, pair write-up. First edit the Group name (keep Heading 2) work title, and address(es). Tournament Teams - Group Writing Space. Consider the specific elements of the piece (bearing Strickland's 11 aspects of E-lit in mind) in describing and explaining; reference critical sources, as appropriate, in establishing criteria and asserting the work's value in the third paragraph (Smith or Eagleton, but maybe even Duchamp, Cage, or Dodd).
Tournament Teams - Group Writing Space
Slide Space (3 slides per team)
Homework:
Work with your classmate to fully draft 3 effective paragraphs about your chosen work and share it in the Tournament Teams - Group Writing Space. You may edit synchronously in the shared doc; meet outside class; edit while talking via Zoom etc. See the model above from 2021.
If you miss class on Friday, you should email me so that I can pair you with a classmate.