Conceptual writing

Also conceptualism, conceptual poetics, conceptual poetry, conceptual fiction, literary appropriation, ready-made poetry, uncreative writing.

Works

Anthologies

Against Expression: An Anthology of Conceptual Writing, 2011, Log.

• Poetry: "Flarf is Dionysus. Conceptual Writing is Apollo. An introduction to the 21st Century's most controversial poetry movements", intro. & ed. Kenneth Goldsmith, Jul/Aug 2009. Special section of the magazine.

• Drunken Boat 10: "Conceptual Fiction", eds. & intro. Sina Queyras and Vanessa Place, Fall 2009.

• Against Expression: An Anthology of Conceptual Writing, eds. Craig Dworkin and Kenneth Goldsmith, Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2011, 593 pp, PDF, ARG. Reviews: Reed (Am Book Rev), Burt (LRB), Grietzer (LARB), Kostelanetz (Mayday), McCallum (English in Education), Vriezen (deReactor, NL).
  • Kenneth Goldsmith, "Dlaczego pisanie konceptualne? Dlaczego teraz?", Ha!art 50: "Konceptualny", Cracow: Korporacja ha!art, 2015, pp 9-12. Trans. of introduction. [1] (Polish)

• I'll Drown My Book: Conceptual Writing by Women, eds. Caroline Bergvall, Laynie Browne, Teresa Carmody and Vanessa Place, intro. Laynie Browne and Caroline Bergvall, afterw. Vanessa Place, Los Angeles: Les Figues, 2012, 455 pp, ARG. TOC & Introduction, Introduction, Afterword. [2]. Reviews: Corrigan (Jacket2), Turner (Boston Rev), Lee (HTMLGiant), Brodak (HTMLGiant), Grider (HTMLGiant), Smith (HTMLGiant), Austin (Sink), Diagram, Cramond (NewPages), You (Zoland Poetry), McLennan, Magi (Drunken Boat).

• Reprint: Appropriation (&) Literature, ed. Annette Gilbert, with Tobias Amslinger and Mirja Aye, Weisbaden: Lux Books, 2014, 580 pp. [3]. Reviews: Greaney (MLN), Gramatzki (KulturPoetik, DE). (German)/(English)

Journals

• Crux Desperationis: International Journal of Conceptual Writing, ed. Riccardo Boglione, Montevideo, since 2011.

Bibliography

• yigru zeltil, A Bibliography of Conceptual Writing, khora impex, 2017, 174 pp.

Writers

• Caroline Bergvall
• Derek Beaulieu
• Craig Dworkin
• Kenneth Goldsmith
• Simon Morris
• Vanessa Place
• UbuWeb

Presses

Note that none of these publishing houses are devoted to conceptual writing exclusively.

• Edition After Hand, Aarhus, eds. Henrik Have (1973-2014), Thomas Hvid Kromann and Mathias Kokholm, est 1973.
• Forlaget Attåt, ed. Paal Bjelke Andersen, Oslo, est 2008.
• Basilisk: Beta (book series), Copenhagen, since 2011. [4]
• Bookthug, eds. Jay Millar and Malcolm Sutton, Toronto, est 2004.
• Coach House Books, eds. Stan Bevington (1997-98), Darren Wershler-Henry (1998-2002), Alana Wilcox (2002-), Toronto, re-est. 1997.
• Gauss PDF, ed. J. Gordon Faylor, Oakland, CA, est 2010.
• information as material, eds. Simon Morris, Craig Dworkin and Nick Thurston, York, UK, est 2002.
• Insert Blanc Press, ed. Mathew Timmons, Los Angeles, est 2005.
• khora impex, eds. Sebastian Big and yigru zeltil, Romania, est 2017.
• Krupskaya Books, eds. Jocelyn Saidenberg (1998-), Kevin Killian (2001-15), et al., San Francisco, est 1998.
• Les Figues Press, eds. Teresa Carmody and Vanessa Place, Los Angeles, est 2005.
• No Press, ed. derek beaulieu, Calgary, est 2005.
• ntamo, ed. Leevi Lehto, Helsinki, est 2007.
• OEI editör, eds. Jonas Magnusson and Cecilia Grönberg, Stockholm, est 2002.
• Roof Books, ed. James Sherry, New York City, est 1979.
• sOd press, eds. a.j. carruthers and Amelia Dale, Sydney, est 2011.
• Troll Thread, eds. Chris Sylvester, Joseph Yearous-Algozin, Holly Melgard and Divya Victor, est 2010.
• /ubu Editions: Publishing the Unpublishable, eds. Danny Snelson and Kenneth Goldsmith, New York City, 2003-10.
• Veer Books, eds. William Rowe, et al., London, est 2003.
• Ugly Duckling Presse, ed. Matvei Yankelevich, et al., Brooklyn, NY, est 1995.

Archives, Resources

• Eclipse Archive, ed. Craig Dworkin
• A Brief Guide to Conceptual Poetry, Academy of American Poets, 2014.
• A Bibliography of Conceptual Writing (in progress)

Criticism, History, Theory

Monographs, pamphlets

Vanessa Place, Robert Fitterman, Notes on Conceptualisms, 2009, Log, PDF.

• Vanessa Place, Robert Fitterman, Notes on Conceptualisms, Brooklyn, NY: Ugly Duckling Presse, 2009, 78 pp. Film by Coco, 2009. [5]. Commentary: Silliman, Moriarty (ON). Reviews: Donovan (BOMB), Felix (Am Book Rev), Higgs (Chapbook Rev), Kelsey (Octopus), Walker (Coldfront), Bloomberg-Rissman (Galatea Resurrects 16), Alfonso (Notas, ES), Kopplin & Milberger (HTML Giant).
  • Notater om konceptualismer, intro. Marjorie Perloff and Craig Dworkin, trans. Lene Asp and Henrik Majlund Toft, Aarhus: After Hand, 2012, 68 pp. Dworkin's introduction. [6] (Danish)
  • Covertext: Anmerkungen zu Konzeptualismen, trans. Swantje Lichtenstein, Berlin: Merve, 2013, 88 pp. [7] [8] (German)
  • "Notes on Conceptualisms. Selección de fragmentos", trans. E. Maqueda, 2013. Trans. of excerpts. (Spanish)
  • Notas sobre conceptualismos, trans. Cristina Rivera Garza, México, D.F.: Dirección General de Publicaciones del Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 2013, 55 pp. (Spanish)
  • "Poznámky ku konceptualizmom", trans. Martin Kočiš, Kloaka 5:2, Bratislava: Literis, 2014, pp 33-38. Trans. of excerpt. (Slovak)

• Marjorie Perloff, Unoriginal Genius: Poetry by Other Means in the New Century, University of Chicago Press, 2010, ix+201 pp. Excerpt. [9]. Reviews: Di Leo (Am Book Rev), Rowe (Full Stop), Scroggins (Bookforum), Golding (CompLit Studies), McCallum (English in Education), Mao (Common Knowledge), Wilkinson (Modern Philology), Paris (J Modern Lit), Lista (National Post), Dow (PN Rev), Lana Turner, Vriezen (deReactor, NL). [10]
  • O génio não original: poesia por outros meios no novo século, trans. Adriano Scandolara, Belo Horizonte: UFMG, 2013, 314 pp. [11] (Brazilian Portuguese)

• Kenneth Goldsmith, Uncreative Writing: Managing Language in the Digital Age, New York: Columbia University Press, 2011, 272 pp, HTML, EPUB. Reviews: Quaid (Am Book Rev), Rowe (Full Stop), Burt (LRB), Chesley (JEP), Jauchen (HTMLGiant), Jenkins (James Joyce Quarterly), McCallum (English in Education).
  • Escritura no-creativa: la gestión del lenguaje en la era digital, trans. Alan Page, México, D.F.: Tumbona, 2015, 246 pp. (Spanish)

• derek beaulieu, Seen of the Crime: Essays, Montreal: Snare, 2011, 88 pp; repr. as Seen of the Crime: Essays on Conceptual Writing, /ubu Editions, 2012, 65 pp. [12]. Review: jeroenn.
  • "Seen of the crime: Eseje o konceptuálnom písaní", trans. Martin Kočiš, Kloaka 6:2, Bratislava: Literis, 2016, pp 3-10. Trans. of excerpts. (Slovak)

• Wiederaufgelegt. Zur Appropriation von Texten und Büchern in Büchern, ed. Annette Gilbert, Bielefeld: transcript, 2012, 422 pp. TOC, Introduction & Name index. [13] [14]. Reviews: Greaney (MLN, EN), Gramatzki (KulturPoetik), Hennig (Arcadia). (German)

• Corrected Slogans: Reading and Writing Conceptualism, ed. Triple Canopy, New York: Triple Canopy & MCA Denver, 2013, 268 pp. [15]

• Brian M. Reed, Nobody's Business: Twenty-First Century Avant-Garde Poetics, Cornell University Press, 2013, xix+222 pp. [16] [17]. Reviews: Nielsen (Am Lit), Chan (JMMLA), Stoehr (RMRLL).

• Felix Bernstein, Notes on Post-Conceptual Poetry, pref. Trisha Low, Los Angeles: Insert Blanc Press, 2015, 170 pp, HTML. Notes amalgamated for the Poetry Will Be Made By All event conceived by Kenneth Goldsmith and Hans-Ulrich Obrist in 2014. Reviews: Seltman (LARB), Daniele (European J of Am Studies), Lawrence (Capilano Rev). [18] [19] [20]

• Paul Stephens, The Poetics of Information Overload: From Gertrude Stein to Conceptual Writing, University of Minnesota Press, 2015. Reviews: Thurston (Parallax), Baetens (Leonardo), Abbasi (AALL). [21] [22] [23]

• Mirjam Horn, Postmodern Plagiarisms: Cultural Agenda and Aesthetic Strategies of Appropriation in US-American Literature (1970-2010), de Gruyter Mouton, 2015, vii+286 pp. TOC. Based on 2012 PhD dissertation at Giessen U. [24] [25]

• Gaëlle Théval, Poésies ready-made, XXe-XXIe siècles, Paris: L'Harmattan, 2015, 288 pp. TOC. [26]. Based on 2011 PhD dissertation at U Paris-Diderot. Reviews: Huglo (Sitaudis), Tardy (Cahier Critique de Poésie). (French)

• derek beaulieu, The Unbearable Contact with Poets, Manchester: if p then q, 2015, 120 pp. [27] [28]

Journal issues and features

• OEI 15-17: "Appropriering", Stockholm, 2003. [29] (Swedish)
• Open Letter: A Canadian Journal of Writing and Theory 12(7): "Kenneth Goldsmith and Conceptual Poetics", intro. Barbara Cole and Lori Emerson, Strathroy, ON, Fall 2005, 172 pp. [30]
• TCR: The Capilano Review 3(7): "less is more: the Poetics of Erasure", Vancouver: Capilano Review Contemporary Arts Society, Winter 2009. [31]
• American Book Review 32(4): "Uncreative Writing", intro. Doug Nufer, May/Jun 2011. Special section of the journal.
• Edit 63: "Dossier Konzeptuelles Schreiben", Winter 2013/14. Special section of the journal. [32] (German)
• Evening Will Come 41: "Conceptual Poetry Feature", eds. Tom Trudgeon and Caleb Beckwith, May 2014.
• Ha!art 50: "Konceptualny", Cracow: Korporacja ha!art, 2015, 80 pp. Excerpt. [33] (Polish)
• Jacket2: "Conceptual writing (plural and global) and other cultural productions", ed. & pref. Divya Victor, Feb 2016. With contributions from 35 practitioners and critics.

Interviews, surveys

• Jacket2: "Global conceptualisms", ed. Vanessa Place, Feb 2012-Apr 2013. Special section featuring 5 dialogues: Vanessa Place and Tania Ørum; Derek Beaulieu and Natalia Fedorova; Anna Hallberg and Carlos Soto-Román; Paal Bjelke Andersen, Marco Antonio Huerta and Robert Fitterman; Divya Victor, Swantje Lichtenstein and Riccardo Boglione.
• Katie L. Price, et al., "What is the relationship between Conceptual art and conceptual writing?", Jacket2, 19 Jan 2015. Survey with responses from Jacquelyn Ardam, derek beaulieu, Mashinka Firunts, Michelle Taransky, Andrea Quaid, and Christine Wertheim.
• Reconfiliating: Conversations with Conceptual-Affiliated Writers, ed. & intro. Caleb Beckwith, afterw. Joseph Mosconi, Essay Press, 2015, vi+72 pp. Interviews with J. Gordon Faylor, Danny Snelson, and Divya Victor. [34]

National and regional surveys

See also anthologies.

• Kenneth Goldsmith, et al., "Conceptual Writing: A Worldview", Harriet, 30 Apr 2012. A brief overview of the practice in the US, UK, Canada, South America and Scandinavia. (English)
• Brian Kim Stefans, Conceptual Writing: The L.A. Brand, Los Angeles: Area Sneaks, 2013, 13 pp. [35] (English)
• Martin Glaz Serup, "Konceptuel litteratur", Passage 28:69, Aarhus: Aarhus University, 2013, pp 107-124. A survey of Danish-language conceptual writing. (Danish)
• Karel Piorecký, "Opatrná vitalita. Nové tendence v současné české poezii", in displej.eu, eds. Ondřej Buddeus and Peter Dietze, Berlin & Prague, 2014, pp 100-112. A survey of Czech-language conceptual writing. (Czech)
  • "Vorsichtige Vitalität. Neue Entwicklungen in der gegenwärtigen tschechischen Poesie", trans. Lena Dorn, in displej.eu, eds. Ondřej Buddeus and Peter Dietze, Berlin & Prague, 2014, pp 101-113, HTML. (German)
  • "Cautious Vitality: New Developments in Contemporary Czech Poetry", Full Stop, 23 Jul 2015. [36] (English)
• Jorge Carrión, "Escrituras conceptuales: un panorama", CCCB Lab, 6 May 2015. An overview of conceptual literature in Latin America. (Spanish)
  • "Conceptual Writings: An Overview", CCCB Lab, 6 May 2015. (English)
  • "Escriptures conceptuals: un panorama", CCCB Lab, 6 May 2015. (Catalan)

Papers, articles, pamphlets, statements, theses

• Raphael Rubinstein, "Gathered, Not Made: A Brief History of Appropriative Writing", The American Poetry Review 28:2, Mar/Apr 1999, pp 31-34.
• Marjorie Perloff, "After Language Poetry: Innovation and Its Theoretical Discontents", Literaria Pragensia 11(22): "Contemporary Poetics", ed. Louis Armand, Prague, 2001, pp 15-35; repr. in Perloff, Differentials: Poetry, Poetics, Pedagogy, University of Alabama Press, 2004, pp 155-174. [37]. First presented as a keynote at the conference Where Lyric Tradition Meets Language Poetry, Barnard, Apr 1999.
  • "Poezja po L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E. Innowacja jako źródło cierpień (teoroetycznych)", trans. M. Werbanowska, Literatura na Świecie 11-12, 2010, pp 148-175. (Polish)
• Kenneth Goldsmith, "Paragraphs on Conceptual Writing", Open Letter 12:7, Strathroy, ON, Fall 2005, pp 108-111, HTML.
  • "Paragrafi sulla scrittura concettuale", trans. Laura Nobili, GAMMM, 23 Apr 2009. (Italian)
  • "Paragraphen zum konzeptuellen Schreiben", trans. Swantje Lichtenstein, Edit 63, Winter 2013/14, pp 59-63. (German)
• Marjorie Perloff, "Screening the Page/Paging the Screen: Digital Poetics and the Differential Text", in New Media Poetics: Contexts, Technotexts, and Theories, eds. Adalaide Morris and Thomas Swiss, MIT Press, 2006, pp 143-164.
• Kenneth Goldsmith, "Conceptual Poetics. Uncreative Writing. Information Management. Boredom. A Gallery of Conceptual Writing", PoetryFoundation.org, 22-26 Jan 2007.
  • Konceptuel poetik, trans. Pejk Malinovski, Copenhagen: Basilisk, 2010, 16 pp. [38] (Danish)
• Marjorie Perloff, "Conceptualisms, Old and New", Parkett 78, 2007. [39]
  • "Konceptualizmy – stare i nowe", trans. Aleksandra Małecka, Ha!art 50: "Konceptualny", Cracow: Korporacja ha!art, 2015, pp 13-16. (Polish)
• Kenneth Goldsmith, "Conceptual Poetics: Christian Bök", Harriet, Jun 2008. Presented at the Conceptual Poetry and Its Others conference, University of Arizona, Tucson.
• Kenneth Goldsmith, "Flarf vs. Conceptual Writing", Harriet, 8 Dec 2008.
• "An Evening of Contemporary Poetry: Conceptual Writing and the Flarf Collective", Whitney.org, 17 Apr 2009, 58 min. Audio. Incl. Kenneth Goldsmith's introduction. [40]
• Nicolas Tardy, Les ready-mades textuels, Haute Ecole d'Art et de Design de Genève (HEAD), 2009, 70 pp. [41] (French)
• Travis Macdonald, "A Brief History of Erasure Poetics", Jacket 38, 2009.
• Vanessa Place, Allegory and the Archive, Oslo: Attåt, 2009; repr., Calgary: No Press, 2010. [42]
• Vanessa Place, Notes on Why Conceptualism is better than Flarf, Calgary: No Press, 2010. [43]
• Marjorie Perloff, "Towards a Conceptual Lyric: From Content to Context", Jacket2, 28 Jul 2011. An analysis of Kenneth Goldsmith’s 2011 performance at the White House.
• Judith Goldman, "Re-thinking 'Non-retinal Literature': Citation, 'Radical Mimesis,' and Phenomenologies of Reading in Conceptual Writing", Postmodern Culture 22:1, Sep 2011.
• Paul Stephens, "From the Personal to the Proprietary: Conceptual Writing's Critique of Metadata", Digital Humanities Quarterly 6:2, 2012.
• Andrew Epstein, "Found Poetry, 'Uncreative Writing', and the Art of Appropriation", in The Routledge Companion to Experimental Literature, eds. Joe Bray, Alison Gibbons and Brian McHale, Routledge, 2012, pp 310-322. [44]
• Marjorie Perloff, "Poetry on the Brink: Reinventing the Lyric", Boston Review, May/Jun 2012.
  • Response: Matvei Yankelevich, "The Gray Area: An Open Letter to Marjorie Perloff", Los Angeles Review of Books, 13 Jul 2012.
  • Response: Marjorie Perloff, "A Response to Matvei Yankelevich", Los Angeles Review of Books, 16 Jul 2012.
  • Response: Jacob Edmond, "Conceptual Writing and the Russians", A Common Strangeness, 16 Jul 2012.
• Johanna Drucker, "Beyond Conceptualisms: Poetics after Critique and the End of the Individual Voice", The Poetry Project Newsletter 231, May/Jun 2012, pp 6-9.
• Peli Grietzer, "The Aesthetics of Sufficiency: On Conceptual Writing", Los Angeles Review of Books, 12 Oct 2012.
• Darren Wershler, "Conceptual Writing As Fanfic", in Fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over the World, ed. Anne Jamison, Dallas: Smart Pop, 2013.
• Amy King, "Beauty and the Beastly Po-Biz", The Rumpus, 15-16 Jul 2013.
• Calvin Bedient, "Against Conceptualism: Defending the Poetry of Affect", Boston Review, 24 Jul 2013.
• Robert Archambeau, "Charmless and Interesting: What Conceptual Poetry Lacks and What It’s Got", Harriet, 2 Aug 2013.
• Kenneth Goldsmith, "The Writer as Meme Machine", The New Yorker, 22 Oct 2013.
• Nicholas D. Nace, "Unprinted Matter: Conceptual Writing and Tristram Shandy's 'chasm of ten pages'", The Shandean 24, Laurence Sterne Trust, Nov 2013, 31-58.
• Vanessa Place, "Was ist Konzeptualismus?", trans. Swantje Lichtenstein, Edit 63, Winter 2013/14, pp 70-75. (German)
• derek beaulieu, Text Without Text: Concrete Poetry and Conceptual Writing, University of Roehampton, 2014, 173 pp. PhD dissertation.
• Hannes Bajohr, "Schreibenlassen. Gegenwartsliteratur und die Furcht vorm Digitalen", Merkur 68:7, Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, Jul 2014, pp 651-658. (German)
  • "Let It Write: Contemporary Literature and the Fear of the Digital", 0x0a, Nov 2014.
• Martin Glaz Serup, Kulturel erindring og konceptuel vidnesbyrdlitteratur, Copenhagen University, 2015, 308 pp. PhD dissertation. [45] (Danish)
• Mettyu Uitli (Мэттью Уитли), "'Eti lyudi zhivut zdes': kontseptualizm i novaya dokumentalnaya poetika" [«Эти люди живут здесь»: Концептуализм и Новая Документальная Поэтика], Translit 17, St Petersburg, 2015. [46] (Russian)
  • Matthew Whitley, These People Live Here: Conceptualism and the New Documentary Poetics, Arcade, 11 Jul 2016.
• Luke Skrebowski, "Approaching the Contemporary: On (Post-)Conceptual Writing", Amodern 6, Summer 2016.
• Daniel Penny, "The Irrelevant and the Contemporary", The New Inquiry, 2 Aug 2016.

Primary historical references

• The UbuWeb Anthology of Conceptual Writing, intro. & ed. Craig Dworkin, UbuWeb, since 2003. A gallery of on-line works bringing together texts from the traditions of conceptual art, the Oulipo, and avant-garde poetry.
• Flarf
• L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E
• Oulipo
• Concrete poetry
• Conceptual art