Reading Experimental Writing

273 Pages·2019·10.857 MB·English

by  Georgina Colby

Reading Experimental Writing
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for Yves
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Reading Experimental
Writing
Edited by
Georgina Colby
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Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. We publish
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© editorial matter and organisation Georgina Colby, 2020
© the chapters their several authors, 2020
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
The Tun – Holyrood Road
12(2f) Jackson’s Entry
Edinburgh EH8 8PJ
Typeset in 11/13 Adobe Sabon by
IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd, and
printed and bound in Great Britain.
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 4744 4038 7 (hardback)
ISBN 978 1 4744 4040 0 (webready PDF)
ISBN 978 1 4744 4041 7 (epub)
The right of Georgina Colby to be identifi ed as the Editor of this work has been asserted
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and the Copyright and
Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI No. 2498).
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Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgements ix
Preface x
Charles Bernstein
Introduction: Reading Experimental Writing 1
Georgina Colby
1. ‘Fog is My Land’: A Citizenship of Mutual Estrangement
in the Painted Books of Etel Adnan 15
Jennifer Scappettone
2. Reading Happily with John Cage, Lyn Hejinian
and Others 51
Alex Houen
3. Experiment, Inscription and the Archive: Kathy Acker’s
Manuscript Practice 74
Georgina Colby
4. Rereading Race and Commodity Form in Erica Hunt’s
Piece Logic 99
Chris Chen
5. Contemporary Experimental Translations and
Translingual Poetics 123
Sophie Seita
6. On Joan Retallack’s Memnoir: Investigating
‘the Experience of Experiencing’ 145
erica kaufman
7. A Queer Response to Caroline Bergvall’s Hyphenated
Practice: Towards an Interdependent Model of Reading 163
Susan Rudy
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vi Contents
8. Reading Language Art in Digital Media: Reconfi gurations
of Experimental Practices 185
John Cayley
9. Charles Bernstein’s Walter Benjamin, Among
Other Things 205
Peter Jaeger
Notes on Contributors 227
Bibliography 231
Index 251
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List of Illustrations
1.1 Etel Adnan, Rihla ila Jabal Tamalpais (Journey to Mount
Tamalpais), 2008. Watercolour and Indian ink on Japanese
book, 30 x 10.5cm x 54 pages : 30 x 567cm. Private
Collection. Copyright Etel Adnan. Courtesy of Galerie
Claude Lemand, Paris. Donation Claude and France
Lemand, Musée, Institut du monde arabe, Paris. 16
1.2 Etel Adnan, Al-Sayyab, Mother and Lost Daughter,
1970. Ink and watercolour on a Japanese notebook. Signed,
dated and titled by the artist. Closed, 33 x 25.2cm x 24
pages. Open, 33 x 612cm. Private Collection. Copyright
Etel Adnan. Courtesy of Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris.
Donation Claude and France Lemand, Musée, Institut
du monde arabe, Paris. 28
1.3 Mohammed Melehi, covers of the quarterly review Souffl es
4 (1966), 5, 6, (1967), 10–11, 12 (1968), 13–14 (1969). 30
1.4 Etel Adnan, opening of Poem I of The Arab Apocalypse
(Sausalito, CA: Post-Apollo Press, 2006), p. 7. 35
1.5 Etel Adnan, from Poem XII of The Arab Apocalypse
(Sausalito, CA: Post-Apollo Press, 2006), p. 30. 37
1.6 Etel Adnan, from Poem XXIV of The Arab Apocalypse
(Sausalito, CA: Post-Apollo Press, 2006), p. 43. 39
3.1 Kathy Acker, page from the original artwork for Blood
and Guts in High School. Box 29, Folder 1. Kathy Acker
Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript
Library, Duke University. 86
3.2 Kathy Acker, page from ‘The World’, original artwork
for Blood and Guts in High School. Box 29, Folder 1.
Kathy Acker Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book &
Manuscript Library, Duke University. 88
3.3 Kathy Acker, page from ‘The World’, original artwork
for Blood and Guts in High School. Box 29, Folder 1.
Kathy Acker Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book &
Manuscript Library, Duke University. 90
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viii List of Illustrations
3.4 Kathy Acker, page from ‘The World’, original artwork
for Blood and Guts in High School. Box 29, Folder 1.
Kathy Acker Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book &
Manuscript Library, Duke University. 91
3.5 Kathy Acker, page from ‘The World’, original artwork
for Blood and Guts in High School. Box 29, Folder 1.
Kathy Acker Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book &
Manuscript Library, Duke University. 93
3.6 Kathy Acker, page from ‘The Journey’, original artwork
for Blood and Guts in High School. Box 29, Folder 1.
Kathy Acker Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book &
Manuscript Library, Duke University. 94
5.1 Uljana Wolf, ‘Annalogue on Oranges’, in Subsisters:
Selected Poems, trans. by Sophie Seita. Belladonna, 2017. 128
5.2 Uljana Wolf, ‘Tatting’, in Subsisters: Selected Poems,
trans. by Sophie Seita, Belladonna, 2017. 129
5.3 Uljana Wolf, ‘Tatting’, in Subsisters: Selected Poems,
trans. by Sophie Seita, Belladonna, 2017. 130
7.1 Caroline Bergvall, Ragadawn at the Estuary Festival,
Southend, September 2016. Photo credit: Benedict
Johnson, 2016. 177
7.2 View of Caroline Bergvall, ‘Alpabet’ [sic] and
‘For Walls’ at the Arnolfi ni Gallery 3, Bristol.
Photo by Jamie Woodley. 179
9.1 Veil (detail). Bernstein 1987: n.p. 217
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Acknowledgements
This book is indebted to the contributors, Charles Bernstein, John
Cayley, Chris Chen, Alex Houen, Peter Jaeger, erica kaufman, Susan
Rudy, Jennifer Scappettone and Sophi Seita, who have generously
given their time and commitment to produce the chapters that com-
prise this collection. It has been an honour to work with scholars
whose critical approaches open the fi eld and offer new forms of criti-
cism that complement the avant-garde works they are addressing.
I would like to thank Caroline Bergvall, not simply for the cover
image from the remarkable work Drift that points to new literary
forms in the contemporary period, but for posing to me critical ques-
tions regarding the nature of the term ‘experimental’. ‘Experimental’
sits uncomfortably and intentionally paradoxically with the word
‘reading’. The unease yielded by the title is an affectual mark of a ten-
sion this book seeks to explore. The two readers’ reports for this col-
lection were indispensable. Both readers pointed to the signifi cance
of the collection in terms of its socio-political reach, and encouraged
the approach to editing that highlighted the relation between the
contemporary condition and new ways of reading. Michelle Hous-
ton at Edinburgh University Press has been especially patient and
generous, offering exceptional editorial guidance. As always I’d like
to thank Robert Hampson for his friendship and support. I am grate-
ful to my partner, whose support has been inexhaustible – without
it, this book would not have been fi nished in a timely fashion. Over
the course of editing the work, two people became three. This book
is dedicated to our child.
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