The following is an excerpt from the middle of my paper “Fugitive Sound: The Phonotext and Critical Practice,” read at the MLA convention in Vancouver, for the panel Weird Media. –Michael Nardone + In regard to poetry and poetry criticism, we’re in a moment of considerable or growing interest in and engagement with poetry phonotexts produced in Read More
As a “graduate candidate” in literary studies, I often ask myself whether my analyses of unpopular, neglected poems, novels and plays are culturally relevant. This short essay considers some things that are perhaps too often ignored by English scholars — the immense relevance of American popular music, how music relates to current trends in culture Read More
The Reading Series In the past twenty or so years, a large number of poetry sound recordings have been collected and stored in online databases hosted by university institutions. The SpokenWeb digital archive is one such collection. Housed at Concordia University, SpokenWeb features over 89 sound recordings from a poetry reading series that took place Read More
“The content of a medium is like the juicy piece of meat carried by the burglar to distract the watchdog of the mind.” — Marshall McLuhan In 2001, while doing a residency at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canadian sound artist Janet Cardiff recorded “Forest Walk,” an audio walk that takes listeners on a twelve-minute Read More