BART 97A91 - Queering Language: A Survey in Poetics

In this course, students will trace the history of writing by poets, authors, and artists who, through their unconventional and innovative use of language and images, have pushed the limits of thought. Many of these individuals, at some point in their lives, have engaged in relationships that defy conventional, heteronormative bonds. The course is titled Queering Language, because we will focus on queerness in relation to the use of language, grammar, syntax (whether textual or visual) more than on an author or artist’s ‘queerness’ as the subject matter of their work. The aim is not to explore the sexuality of a writer, but to understand how new modes of being in the world—and new relationships between individuals—can produce new thought-shapes and sound-forms in visual arts and literature. Students will explore the connections between innovative modes of thinking and living on the margins of society—between oppression and experimentation.

This course is dedicated to the exploration of innovative modes of thinking and experimental art, and students learn by doing, creating texts through the lens of queeying language. Students will jump between genres and geographies to trace a lineage of queer thinking that defies definitions and boundaries. We will explore prose, poetry, letters, journal entries, sound art, paintings, and video works to discover how thinkers—both canonical and contemporary—have defied societal norms and conventional modes of thinking, introducing new ways of being in the world.

Academic expectations

Students will understand queerness as an intellectual and creativity as much as a sexual identity. They will make a connection between queer relationships, marginalized communities, and artistic innovation. Further, students will explore how queer thinking pushes the limits of thoughts and makes possible new forms of expression and affiliation.

Students will understand the importance of close readings of texts and practice-based research. This involves creative ways of presenting their research and the importance of collaboration. Students will also propose ‘queer’ ways of creating critical commentary on the work of the artists and authors they encounter. A final portfolio of creative works will also include a critical writing statement about students’ process and understanding.

Students are expected to attend every class session as well as any make-up sessions the professor might have to schedule. Students should come to class prepared, having done the necessary readings and assigned homework. Students should understand that they are expected to gain a theoretical and contextual understanding of these practices as much as the creative aspects of the artistic processes we will study in class. Students should be prepared to produce creative work each week, share it with their colleagues for feedback, and present their final portfolio to the class at the end of the semester.

Session 1: THE QUEER ART OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Joe Brainard, I Remember

Reading: Joe Brainard

Assignment: Bring your hundred I Remembers

Session 2: IN CLASS WRITING

In class writing with texts: I Remembers; workshops

READINGS: IMAGISM, TENETS OF IMAGISM, HAIKU, LUCILLE CLIFFTON

Assignment One Due: I Remembers and In-class writing

Session 3: GERTRUDE STEIN: QUEERING LANGUAGE

We will begin the course with an introduction to the work of Gertrude Stein and the community of artists and writers she fostered, focusing on her radical texts and the relationships that served as inspiration.

Reading: Tender Buttons, Gertrude Stein

Assignment: Describing an object or creating a portrait

Session 4: WORKSHOP

Assignment Two Due: To be workshopped in class, five short images from I Remembers or Stein assignment of portraits or objects.

Session 5: THE ART OF ERASURE

This lecture will introduce students to some of the writers and writerly/artistic techniques we will be exploring throughout the semester, such as collage and erasure, and their relation to queer art and poetics.

Reading: Sappho and Anne Carson; Shakespeare and Jen Bervin, Tom Phillips

Assignment Three: Create an Erasure

Session 6: THE ART OF COLLAGE

We will look at several types of collage, from Ted Berrigan’s Sonnets to Rosmarie Waldrop, isual work in collage, revisit Joe Brainard’s collages, and create our own work of collage, and think of the portfolio as a collage of materials.

Assignment: Two collage poems

Assignment Three Due: To be workshopped in class, presentation of Erasure and Collage poem (Presentation Grade)

Session 7: THE LANGUAGE OF EMILY DICKINSON

In this session, we will step back in time and look at the work of Emily Dickinson and her radical use of language and syntax as symptoms of a queer mode of thinking.We will discuss two films about Emily Dickinson and the ways in which they propose completely different versions of her life. We will also look at art and literature by contemporary artists and writers who have been inspired by Dickinson’s life and queer legacy.

Reading: The Emily Dickinson Reader, Paul Legault

Poems by Emily Dickinson

Session 8: THE MANY LIVES OF EMILY DICKINSON (films to be shown earlier in the week)

Assighment Four Due: Your “translation of Emily Dickinson” or scene based on Dickinson’s life

Session 9: QUEERING HANDWRITING: ASCEMIC WRITING

Leading from Emily’s use of handwriting and handmaking books, we will explore the non-communicative aspects of language and the potential for new languages as modes of conenction with anicent calligraphic and esoteric practices.

Assignment for portfolio: Ascemis Writing Piece

Session 10: CHANCE, COLLAGE, AND QUEERNESS

In this session, we will look at the work of artists such as John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and Cy Twombly and discuss their work through a queer lens.

Reading: Queer Silence, John Cage

Assignment for portfolio: One Collage

Reading: Poems by Ashbery, Schuyler, and O'Hara

Session 11: POETS OF THE NEW YORK SCHOOL

In this session, students will discuss the works of queer poets of the New York School, such as Frank O'Hara, James Schuyler, and John Ashbery, focusing on their time in Paris and the work it generated.

Reading for next week: Eileen Myles, Kazim Ali, Danez Smith, Renee Glaman

Assignment for portfolio: Collage poem made out of everyday events, revisiting Joe Brainard

Session 12: PORTFOLIO PRESENTATION

Assignmet Five Due: Portfolio Due

I remembers

5 short pieces from I Remember or Stein Piece

3 Erasure

Two Collage poems

Ascemic Writing

5 Experiments from Mayer

An introductory essay to your portfolio in relation to our investigations in Queerying Language

Late work policy

Students are expected to submit their work the day before class each week. Failure to do so might mean that their work will not be discussed in the next session. No late portfolios will be accepted.

Late arrival policy

Students should come to class on time and prepared. Anyone who is more than 15 minutes late will not be allowed into the classroom and will be marked absent. Students who are late more than twice will lose a grade point with each subsequent tardiness.