Modalities of Cybertext Poetry: John Cayley vs. Hsia Yu

cybertext

The TORCH Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation programme are hosting an event on 'Modalities of Cybertext Poetry: John Cayley vs. Hsia Yu' with Professor Tong King Lee (University of Hong Kong).

What makes a poem cyber? The term cybertext encompasses two different modalities of writing. One involves the use of digital technology and electronic platforms in its conception; the other taps into the technology of the codex to engage readers’ cognitive-perceptual and embodied (as opposed to hermeneutic-interpretive) participation in the unraveling of texts. This talk showcases exemplars of the two modalities ofcybertext using the experimental works of John Cayley and Hsia Yu, with a focus on how they turn Chinese poetry into multimodal and multisensory artefacts. On the basis of these examples, we further theorise the cybertext as a spectrum category, which enables us to identify gradations of cybertextuality in literary works, based on the degree to which readers may substantively intercept the text and influence its trajectories or outcomes.

OCCT is a Divisional research programme supported by TORCH and St Anne's College. Their organising committee includes Professor Matthew ReynoldsProfessor Adriana X. JacobsProfessor Mohamed-Salah OmriDr Eleni PhilippouDr Peter HillMs Karolina WatrobaMs Kate CostelloMs Valeria TaddeiDr Kasia SzymanskaProfessor Ben Morgan, and Professor Patrick McGuinness.

 

Comparative Criticism and Translation

Contact name: Dr Eleni Philippou
Contact email: comparative.criticism@st-annes.ox.ac.uk

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Audience: Open to all