Exercises in criticism : the theory and practice of literary constraint / Louis Bury.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bury, Louis.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature, Modern--History and criticism.

Literature, Modern.

Physical Description:

333 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Champaign : alkey Archive Press, 2015.

Summary:

Exercises in Criticism is an experiment in applied poetics in which critic and poet Louis Bury utilizes constraint-based methods in order to write about constraint-based literature. By tracing the lineage and enduring influence of early Oulipian classics, he argues that contemporary American writers have, in their adoption of constraint-based methods, transformed such methods from apolitical literary laboratory exercises into a form of cultural critique, whose usage is surprisingly widespread, particularly among poets and "experimental" novelists. More, Bury's own use of critical constraints functions as a commentary on how and why we write and talk about books, culture, and ideas. Book jacket.

Contents:

Anticipatory Plagiary 37

Raymond Roussel's (New) Africa 39

Reading / Remember (on Joe Brainard) 47

Oulipo 55

The Exercise and Oulipo (on Raymond Queneau) 57

The N+7 Form 73

Masturbation: A Manifesto (on Harry Mathews) 77

Post-Oulipo 87

Bemadette Mayer's Gratuitous Art 89

Errata 5uite: 20 Questions (on Joan Retallack) 95

Gold Fools and the Question of Narrative (on Gilbert Sorrentino) 101

Ideas for an Essay on the tapeworm foundry (on Darren Wershler-Henry) 107

Cunt-ups: An Exegesis (on Dodie Bellamy) 111

The Cunning Linguist (on Haryette Mullen) 117

Absences, Negations, Voids (on Doug Nufer) 121

Job Talk (on Doug Nufer) 129

Cultural Politics, Postmodernism, and White Guys: Femininity as Affect and Effect in Robert Fitterman's This Window Makes Me Feel 133

Dies, a Sentence (on Vanessa Place) 143

Not-Reading Kenneth Goldsmith 147

Love Letter to CAConrad 157

Interview with Ammiel Alcalay 163

The Clinamen 183

Notebook Excerpts 185

An Oulipolooza: from the Q&A (on poker and constraint) 201

One should not try to go over the limit (on my father) 205

To the fact, to the point, to the bottom line (on my grandmother) 217

Therapy 293

The Defense 309.

ISBN:

9781628971057

1628971053

OCLC:

891369483