When Whitman Sells Denim

Sorry for the recent scarcity of posts — the semester is winding down, and spare writing time will be pretty slim until mid-December. But in the meantime, I couldn’t pass up this opportunity…

In the 1930s, German cultural critic Walter Benjamin wrote an essay called “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.”  In it, he talks about the loss of “aura” (authenticity, uniqueness) when art is reproduced and distributed en masse, appropriated by what fellow critic Theodore Adorno would call “the culture industry” for political or economic purposes, rather than aesthetic ones.

When that happens, has it ceased to be art (or literature)?

Bringing this debate up to the present, I recently came across an interesting discussion posted by Alexander Russo at This Week in Education: Poetry in Ads: Can We Live With It? and the related Levi’s Uses Rare Walt Whitman Recording To Sell Jeans. See video.

So does poetry lose its aura once it has been inculcated with a message for consumers?  I think there are several possible answers. On one hand, the advertisers are attempting to raise their product to the level of something artistic, powerfully American, and poetic. On the other hand, they are forging another link in the minds of consumers between art and consumption.

On one hand, they are acknowledging the power of the spoken word; on the other, they are, one could argue, debasing that power by employing a great poet to sell a pair of jeans. But then again, is this any different than hiring talented writers to inscribe Hallmark cards and magazine ads?

It’s worth considering. And to re-quote Seth Stevenson of Slate Magazine: “At least it’s not all about sex.”

Tell Me a Story, Please

“The poet [of Beowulf] was reviving the heroic language, style, and pagan world of ancient Germanic oral poetry, a world that was already remote for his contemporaries and that is stranger to the modern reader, in many respects, than the epic world of Homer and Virgil.”
-Norton Anthology of English Language, 7th ed., Vol.1)

Oral poetry may be strange to modern readers, but if the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is any indication, storytelling may be experiencing a revival of its own. That’s one reason I’ve chosen “Storytellers Star At Edinburgh Fringe” from NPR’s Rob Gifford for the next ProfoundNet. Here’s a snippet:

Once upon a time, Scotland had a vibrant tradition of storytelling. But then wicked visual media and evil high-tech gadgets drove storytelling from the land. Until one day, the brave storytellers fought back, made their own castle and celebrated with a big festival in a town called Edinburgh.

According to Donald Smith, director of the Scottish Storytelling Center, “The tales have always been told in homes and in pubs. But now they’re entering the mainstream, as people search for something a little deeper than Facebook and Twitter.” He calls it a “magic space” that requires individuals to spend time together and embark on journeys in and out of time. ”People hunger for that,” he adds.

Imagination. Community. Delight.

Literature has the ability to provide all of these things. Perhaps it takes a few brave individuals “on the fringe” to remind us what stories – what humans – are capable of offering society.

Thanks, Rob, for a thought-provoking article.

Literati in the World Scoops NPR

…who is just now running the story (At Newspaper, Poets Report for a Day) that I wrote about last week (When Literati Write the News). And I thought I was late!

I know, I know–but it makes me feel accomplished. This is probably the only time I will be able to make this claim.

Poets Go Tweet Tweet Tweet

I got interested in Twitter poetry while writing my last post and decided to check it out. Here are some results in true Twitter style (almost).

(Twitter Poetry, from Tom Watson in 2007)

I went looking for words to stitch together.  [...] I saw [Twitter] as a way to plumb the common mindset, to see what communal wisdom and beauty and insight the group of geeks could register…

(Twitter Poetry from NowPublic Blog in 2007)

Today I came across the first example I’ve seen of Twitter poetry.  Could twitter be the re-birth of the art?

(Twitter Poetry, from Home is Where You Hang Your @ in 2008)

I like the creative limitation that 140 characters gives you. In exchange, twitter gives you a whole new medium for your poetry…

(Join Us in Twitter Poetry from Servant of Chaos in 2009)

(Baracku: The Twitter Poetry Experiment for the Inauguration from Whose shoes are these anyway in 2009)

Baracku [...] is a way for poets, writers, artists and others to read the positive expressions of people participating in this poetic twitter stream for this historic moment.

(Twitter Poetry from Make Literature in 2009)

is a free Twitter application that lets you share your thoughts, feelings, views or ideas about anything in a poetic manner.

Isn’t it interesting. What do you think? Keep your eyes out for more of my thoughts on this topic later.

…all the literati on Baker street
love to hear the poets go tweet, tweet, tweet…

Twitterpoeted From Iran

For those who fear that new media is the beginning of the end of traditional literature, let’s take a “half-full” perspective for a moment. Although the popularization of authorship may bury the next great American novel under a slough of blogs, the Internet and technology can also transmit literature that might otherwise be lost.

That’s one reason I’ve chosen Poetry From Iran, One Tweet at a Time, by NPR’s Davar Iran Ardalan, for the next ProfoundNet. Here’s a snippet:

Persians are known for their poetry. So it is not surprising that as recent dramatic events have unfolded in Iran, so many Iranians who have been alerting the world have written poetically — even in their tweets.

At twenty-six, Parham Baghestani is an engineering student and Web developer from Isfahan. He’s also a poet. Living through the last few weeks of sometimes violent dissent in Iran, Baghestani has used Twitter to share his verses with the rest of the world. (In translation, from NPR).

If the world sees all these pictures, what are they going to say about Iran? I’ll let you know tomorrow!

A new sorrow has been added to my sorrow. The thought of darkness and this destruction.

My love has gone underground. The taste of night is nothing but awareness.

I am curious if someday the 140-word “Tweet” will become an accepted form of poetry unique to our generation, alongside the haiku and sonnet. What other characteristics might define it?  I think this is the subject for another post…

Thanks, Davar, for a thought-provoking post.

Faith and Fiction

Author Mary E. DeMuth writes in BreakPoint magazine, “What flows to a thirsty world comes from what is inside our hearts. And our hearts are typically instructed through story, not bullet points.”

Concisely and poignantly, DeMuth reviews from a Christian perspective a handful of reasons why reading fiction has lasting value: it draws us into community; it reveals our own hiding places; it deepens our understanding of truth; it pulls us out of ourselves.

“I’ve better understood (and wept over) genocide after reading stories,” DeMuth says. “My prayers have deepened for those experiencing human trafficking. Why? Because a novel took me to places my visa wouldn’t take me; novels widened my American-centric view of the world.”

Christians and non-Christians alike can appreciate the novel’s ability to undercut even Priceline in making “travel,” or at least exposure to another culture, available to the masses. (Not to mention the fact that airplanes have yet to master time travel).

Empathy is often the first step toward inspiration to act or seek change, and stories are ideally suited to foster empathy.

In her conclusion, DeMuth again underlines the active nature of fiction, saying, “Some novels have destroyed lives, wreaked havoc. But there are novels that have instigated revolutions, restored hope, enacted life-giving legislation.”

It is true: humans, not books, effect change. However, it is equally true that what we read can have a profound impact on the kind of change we choose to effect.

DeMuth’s newest novel, Daisy Chain, is available from Amazon. (Also see Redeeming Fiction, from The Point.)

The Stats Don’t Lie…

School must be out.

Cream, Sugar, or Paperback?

In the 21st century, when books are thought to be on the decline and instant, abbreviated information sharing is the norm, new technology that makes books more available to the public is always a talking point. Enter the Espresso Book Machine from On Demand Books.

That’s why I’ve chosen “Company’s ‘ATM For Books’ Prints On Demand” from NPR’s Rob Gifford for the next ProfoundNet. Here’s a snippet:

In a move some are calling the most significant step in publishing in the last 500 years, a New York company is trying to make books available on demand, printed out locally, rather than centrally as they always have been. On Demand Books has installed a trial machine in a central London bookstore. It’s called the Espresso machine, but it has nothing to do with coffee beans. This baby’s grinding out books.

For about $15, customers can locate those obscure titles a small bookstore could never afford to stock and at a rate of 100 pages per minute, have the book printed and bound right in the shop. 

According to On Demand Books CEO Dane Neller, the Espresso “will help keep paper books way ahead of electronic books, such as those available on the Amazon Kindle.”  The machine is touted to be perfect for out-of-print books, obscure or low-demand titles, and first time authors struggling to find a publisher.

In the USA, On Demand Books has tested Espresso Book Machines at locations in Ann Arbor, MI; San Francisco; New Orleans; Manchester Center, VT; Provo, UT; Washington, DC; and New York City. 

Will the EBM prove just another fad, or will it live up to the promises of its publishers? “What Gutenberg’s press did for Europe in the 15th century, digitization and the Espresso Book Machine will do for the world tomorrow.”  

I look forward to finding out, and only wish an EBM were available closer to where I live, so I could test it personally.

Thanks, Ron, for a thought-provoking article. For more info, visit On Demand Books at www.ondemandbooks.com.

Dear Frustrated Student…

For most college students, the year is over or shortly to be over. K-12 students might have a little longer. That being said, I’m surprised views of my site have yet to plummet, and have in fact risen. 

I would venture a guess that many students have been assigned last-minute papers on The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, or A Christmas Carol. How do I know? Word Press tells me what search terms have been used to find this site. Many are surprisingly similar; clusters are very specific, and even identical. 

I’ve been there too, trying to write a paper when I didn’t fully understand the intent of the assignment or the work on which it was based. (For me, the killers were Derrida and postmodern literature). 

However frustrated you may be, however desperate, however eager just to turn something in — think very hard before you take the easy route and copy an article from Wikipedia, buy an essay online, or use my blog as a starting point for your thesis. (The last would be doubly unwise, because I don’t even have an advanced degree in the field.)

Plagiarism is “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work” (Random House, 2009).

It’s not just copy-and-paste; it’s taking someone’s idea and calling it your own. It’s paraphrasing without giving credit. It’s claiming something that is not your own work. It’s cheating.

I’m not your teacher, your parent, or your guidance counselor. But as a fellow writer and student, I urge you to think about a few things before you click “paste.” 

     1. The chances that you will get caught are very good. It’s not an insult to your intellect to say teachers can tell a difference between your writing style and the essay you’ve copied from the Internet. If you can find it, so can they.

     2. If you don’t get caught now, you may later. What then? As a former member of the student-based judiciary at my college, I can tell you that you would fail the assignment. You would probably fail the class, meaning you would have to retake it or keep an ‘F’ on your transcript. You could face mandatory tutoring sessions or punative writing assignments. And you thought you were too busy to write the first paper! 

     3. If you put enough effort into disguising your cheating, you’ve probably expended more effort than you would have used in writing the paper yourself. Is it really worth it?

     4. Even if you never pick up a work of literature again, you will have to use critical thinking to analyze a decision, a project, a report, or a budget. You will have to write clear, concise reports, e-mails, or cover letters. The life skills you’re developing do have value.

     5. To me, what is most important is that by doing your own work, you are developing an ethic of diligence and honesty. You’re learning to ask for help if you don’t understand an assignment or are afraid you can’t complete it in time. You’re learning to work hard and manage your time, even if failure is the most effective way to learn.

At a job, down the road, you may have a heavy workload that seems impossible. Will you borrow someone else’s work and call it your own? Will you take shortcuts that may cost the company or your co-workers later? Will you take the easy way out? Or will you do your best, seek help when you can, and create a result of which you can be proud?

I hope, even if it means my blog will get fewer hits a day, that you will choose the latter not only then, but now.

Beauty Under the Rocks

Image: Andrea Hsu, NPR

Responding to tragedy is never easy. Words are insufficient to answer deep, soul-wrenching grief. While nothing can erase the pain of loss and destruction we don’t understand, poets have a special gift for helping others’ grief, in a small way, escape into expression. 

And, what is more, expressions of empathy in one medium (poetry) have the ability to effect a chain reaction of similar expressions in other media (sculpture, journalism). 

That’s why I’ve chosen “Poem Inspires U.S. Sculptor to Honor Quake Victims” by Melissa Block at NPR for the next ProfoundNet.  Here’s a snippet:

Last year, a week after a massive earthquake rocked southwest China, we aired a poem on All Things Considered called “Elegy,” by Chengdu poet He Xiaozhu.

Little did we know that when we returned to Sichuan province this year, we would meet an NPR listener who was so inspired by the poem, he decided to make a sculpture based on it.

Steve McGrew of Washington is a blacksmith who has visited China multiple times. Himself a victim of an earthquake in California, McGrew was deeply affected by Xiaozhu’s poem. His sculpture, an iron-and-silver depiction of a dandelion emerging from a cracked boulder, will be displayed at a new museum commemorating the victims of the earthquake, in Sichuan, opening tomorrow, May 12.

What a beautiful reminder of the ability of literati to inspire acts of compassion and empathy around the world. Thanks, Melissa, for a thought-provoking article.

‘Elegy’ by He Xiaozhu

Thousands upon thousands of anguished cries
Returning to silence and tranquillity
Heavenly acts cannot be predicted
The moon over Wenchuan
Still, a question mark
Aftershocks extend to Chengdu
Sorrow engulfs half the world
Tears turn to ice
Let candlelight melt them away
Children, climb on a dandelion
and line up for heaven