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Topic: The State of Words
Replies: 109 Pages: 8 Last Post: Dec 14, 2005 8:32 PM by: jaime longoria

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Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

The State of Words
Posted: Apr 13, 2005 12:12 PM

Please join us here Wednesday April 27, 7-8:30pm for a discussion on the state of literature in the midst of contemporary economic pressures, technological developments, and cultural shifts. The forms and formats that words take in our society have changed significantly and then not at all in past decades.

This forum will take stock what is being written and current methods of distribution. Guests include Marya Horbacher, author of Wasted and The Center of Winter; University of Minnesota English professor, Maria Damon; Royal Roads University professor of Applied Communication, Gilbert V. Wilkes; and a surprise guest.

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

Re: The State of Words
Posted: Apr 27, 2005 6:57 PM

Hi Everyone,

We are few minutes away from the discussion. To begin, I have a couple of house keeping notes. First, we will keep the discussion to the single thread. Second, you will have to refresh the page manually to notice new posts. Just click on the Refresh or Reload button at the top of your browser. Last, but not least, sometimes the system crashes from having too many people online. Please wait a few minutes and login again. The server automatically reboots if there is a problem.

Best,
Colin

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

Re: The State of Words
Posted: Apr 27, 2005 7:00 PM

Hi Everyone,

It's 7pm. Let's get started. First, I want to thank our panelists for joining us. I am going to start with a warm up question.

What are you reading right now?

Colin

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

Re: The State of Words
Posted: Apr 27, 2005 7:02 PM

I am also going to throw out another question as well.

Which area of literary activity is most vibrant? i.e. Where is the exciting work? Who is doing it?

Maria Damon

Posts: 18
Registered: Apr 24, 2005

Re: The State of Words
Posted: Apr 27, 2005 7:03 PM

hello all. let's see now, one of the questions was (to paraphrase): what verbal art form(s) is/are flourishing right now?
Two forms come to mind. One is spoken word poetry, which is far more versatile and varied than the stereotype would have it. It is really inspiring to see the kind of energy that can be generated and shared at multiple-person readings, open mike, slams, and other displays of poetry in performance.
The other is electronic poetry; and by that i mean not only poetry that relies on the net for distribution, but poetry that avails itself of the medium as *content* or *theme* --one practitioner, Alan Sondheim, has coined the term "codework" for this kind of poetry. Blogs, too, are thriving and sprouting up all over like weeds in springtime; some are great, some not, but each blog seems to belong to a network of like-minded blogs and their interconnections provide the basis for a thriving community.
How's that for starters?

Maria Damon

Posts: 18
Registered: Apr 24, 2005

Re: The State of Words
Posted: Apr 27, 2005 7:06 PM

oops, i can see i jumped the gun by answering the second question first. also i only mentioned one practitioner, alan sondheim. there are many others.
as for what i'm reading, i'm finally getting around to reading David Remnick's book on Muhammad Ali, The King of the World. It's wonderful, but very sad, as boxing is a tragic sport. I'm drawn to Ali because of his compulsive and ebullient rhyming; he's a skilled rapper avant-la-lettre. And i just finished Sholem Aleichem's autobiography, which started out charming and ended also fairly sadly.

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

Re: The State of Words
Posted: Apr 27, 2005 7:07 PM

Maria that's a great start. I am curious to hear more about electronic poetry/codework. I am not sure I understand what it is. Can you give me an example?

Also, Gil, I know you've done some work with Spoken Word artists. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

Colin

Marya Hornbacher

Posts: 16
Registered: Apr 24, 2005

Re: The State of Words
Posted: Apr 27, 2005 7:07 PM

Hello there,

I would agree with Ms. Damon that poetry in both those forms is flourishing right now. However, it's my impression that the current spoken word is not in fact as vital or really as good as it was in the early to mid-nineties. For my money, the most happening form is the good old novel. It doesn't have the bells and whistles, but there's exciting new work that's taking an incredibly broad approach to cultural thought and linguistic execution.

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

Re: The State of Words
Posted: Apr 27, 2005 7:11 PM

I tend to agree with Marya about spoken word as a performance form. I have not seen much compelling work in a while. But, hip hop is bigger than ever, even if a bit diluted.

Susannah McNeely

Posts: 83
Registered: Aug 18, 2004

Re: The State of Words
Posted: Apr 27, 2005 7:12 PM

Hi all. I think I'm the surprise guest--I edit Ruminator magazine. I'd echo what Maria has said about the vitality and flexibility offered by online writing. Certainly, the democratization of journalism, media and cultural criticism has enlivened the conversation. Sometimes, when I'm reading blogs, I do miss a good editor thrown into the mix (but, maybe that's just an occupational hazard).

We've been experimenting in modest ways with using the advantages of hypertext and layers of commentary to find imaginative ways of showcasing short stories. And while I still love print, I have to admit--newspapers and magazines, the more ephemeral forms of publishing, have got to take advantage of a multimedia approach to reaching their audience. I don't find that disheartening at all, it's actually really exciting. But I do think it's inevitable.

Gilbert V. Wilkes

Posts: 22
Registered: Apr 24, 2005

Re: The State of Words
Posted: Apr 27, 2005 7:13 PM

I was about to argue that poetry was dead. I did a study using slam poets as participants--the 2002 team from Pittsburgh, who ranked 11th in the US at the National Slam. They all assured me in interviews that spoken word was already over, all played out, its themes--largely drawn from early 90s identity politics--either appropriated by the dominant culture or no longer relevant etc., etc.

I think I'll let that go and find another point to make.

http://www.arts.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/03/10/bocam10.xml&sSheet=/arts/2005/03/10/bomain.htm

Maria Damon

Posts: 18
Registered: Apr 24, 2005

Re: The State of Words
Posted: Apr 27, 2005 7:14 PM

so, back to q. 2.
Exciting practictioners of sound poetry/spoken word are: Tracie Morris, Edwin Torres, Carl Hancock Rux. "and others too numerous to mention." Wonderful readers-aloud are Charles Bernstein, Rodrigo Toscano, the Twin Cities' very own Mark Nowak, Eileen Myles, Kamau Brathwaite, and "others too etc." If you get a chance to see these folks, do not miss. Locally, John Colburn is another charming reader.

As for electronic poetry, some of the most compelling practitioners are Talan Memmott, Alan Sondheim, Brian Kim Stefans, Peter Howard, mIEKAL aND, giselle beigelman (one of many interesting brazilians), reiner strasser, and i'll think of others in the course of the evening.

I notice i'm embarrassingly short on women in the above listings, but i hope to make up for that in the course of the evening.

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

Re: The State of Words
Posted: Apr 27, 2005 7:16 PM

Hi Susannah,

I'm glad you could make it. And yes, you are the 'surprise and always welcome guest.' I would love to hear a bit about the changes in Ruminator Magazine/Review in the past year and how you are integrating multimedia with the print format.

Gilbert V. Wilkes

Posts: 22
Registered: Apr 24, 2005

Re: The State of Words
Posted: Apr 27, 2005 7:17 PM

The democratization of journalism. Open source journalism. Blogs etc. Interesting stuff, surely. Since I discovered RSS and aggregators I read more 'blogs than anything. At the moment US bloggers are creating huge news in Canada, where I am marooned at the moment. They keep exposing Canadian corruption etc., beyond the jurisdictional reach of any Canadian jurist's gag order.

Most irritating for our Canadian brothers and sisters who like to believe that corruption is a US innovation.

Susannah McNeely

Posts: 83
Registered: Aug 18, 2004

Re: The State of Words
Posted: Apr 27, 2005 7:19 PM

I have a question about poetry collections in book form: How broad is the audience for written, rather than spoken, poetry? Seems to me to be tiny, with a few rare exceptional crowd-pleasers like Billy Collins or Mary Oliver.

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