Advanced Topics in Writing

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Writing from its beginnings has always transcended the conventional borders of genre. From Egyptian hieroglyphs, ancient Greek pattern poems, Medieval illuminated books to the experimental forms of the 20th-century Avant Garde to reggae Dub Poetry, the mixing of the word with other forms of representation has enjoyed an enduring appeal. In this course we will study and (attempt to) practice the poetics of hybridity, the ways in which verbal art is amplified, invaded, distorted, refashioned, and restaged in the fusion with other arts—the arts of sound and noise, the arts of graphic expression and visuality, the arts of digital media. The course will be run as an experimental workshop and reading group. Works by Johanna Drucker, Susan Howe, Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer, Anne Carson, Emmett Williams, Kurt Schwitters, Apolinnaire, and many others.