About

flarfclosereadings.wordpress.com is a multi-author blog dedicated to close readings of flarf.

The authors define “flarf” broadly to include any poetic or dramatic texts written by members of the flarf collective that may make use of source material derived from internet search engine results (from google for example) as part of their compositional processes. These may also include texts by authors not directly or explicitly affiliated with the flarf collective, or that have the appearance of “google-sculpting” while not actually using such techniques. “The Flarf Files,” a collection of statements by a number of writers affiliated with flarf, is available at the SUNY-Buffalo EPC (Electronic Poetry Center); a recent collective statement is forthcoming in Jacket.

The authors define “close reading” in the traditional sense of éxplication de texte, that is, an interpretation–understood in the broadest sense of readerly engagement–that is grounded in the specific language of the text and that attempts to account for how that language operates to create a meaningful text. We fully recognize that, like much non-traditional poetry, flarf often assembles language in ways that do not accord with normative grammar and syntax, thus rendering the idea of a poem’s “paraphrasable content” problematic while insisting on the presence of meaning nevertheless. We also recognize that, contrary to “new critical” ideology, a poem is not a stable, timeless expression of universally acknowledgeable meaning but a socially, culturally and historically contingent human artifact.

Thus, close readings are free to incorporate materials from the full range of human activity in the service of understanding flarf texts. Discussions of poetic techniques, methods and strategies are also welcome, provided they are not cast too generally and are also in the service of understanding specific texts. Finally, texts discussed must be published or otherwise available to the general public.

WordPress.com offers any user who creates a wordpress account (by submitting a user id and password) the potential to publish authentic posts on a wordpress blog. Those interested in posting flarf close readings here should contact the blog administrator, Tom Orange (tmorange [at] gmail [dot] com). All perspectives are welcome.

WordPress is an open source project “born out of a desire for an elegant, well-architectured personal publishing system built on PHP and MySQL and licensed under the GPL. It is the official successor of b2/cafelog.” (http://wordpress.org/about).

(Revised 20 February 2006)