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Monday, June 16, 2008

Insomnia





















For anyone in the habit of sitting bolt upright in the wee small hours wondering what ‘the healthiest single phenomenon’ to occur in poetry ‘in several decades’ might be, wonder no more. Silliman:

I was thinking about the debate, to call it that, between flarf & conceptual writing, and specifically thinking that such a debate was in many respects the healthiest single phenomenon I’ve seen regarding poetry in several decades.

Now roll over and go back to sleep. You’ve probably got an early start.

1 comment:

Mark Granier said...

I noticed that little gem myself earlier today and was thinking of opening a discussion thread on it on POF.

I had never even heard of 'google-sculpting', which, as I understand it, is another name for flarf (which I have heard of but probably don't understand). Duchamp's 'Fountain' is very apt, certainly if flarf really is “deliberately awful” writing. Personally, I've always found honestly godawful writing (writing whose awfulness has no designs on me) more amusing.

I notice there are already 17 comments on that post. Clearly many people didn't have an early start.