January 18: Language Arts & Combinatory Poetics

Read:

• Genres of Electronic Literature and Combinatory Poetics, Rettberg
• Taroko Gorge, Nick Monfort

Blog: Read the first two chapters of Rettberg’s book, Electronic Literature. View 2-3 versions of Taroko Gorge and look at the source code of each. Write a blog post about how you think these works were “authored”. What do you take to be the meaning of these texts? What is the effect of combinatory processes on the reader? 

IN-CLASS TOPICS/ACTIVITIES:

Discuss Readings, Taroko Gorge

TALK: collage, procedural & combinatory writing and language art

Combinatory Digital Texts:

• Love Letters, Christopher Stratchey
• Stir Fry Texts, by Jim Andrews with Brian Lennon and Pauline Masurel
• The Jews Daughter, Judd Morrissey
• Sea and Spar Between, Nick Montfort, Stephanie Strickland

Bots:

• endless screaming
• bot or not
• Pentametron
• Galaxy Kate
• Cheap Bots Done Quick
• Zack Whalen, Bots

Big Data:

• Big Data Poetry, David Jhave Johnston

Tools:

• Generating Random Text
• Exquisite Corpse
• Cut-up Machine
• Shuffle Text Lines
• N+7

Combinatory Templates

• Twine Template with Variability
• Taroko Gorge