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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Seven prose pieces written using 'BrekDown', a text analysis and text generation program written in Turbo Pascal for IBM-compatible personal computers, devised in 1985 by the San Francisco programmer Neil J. Rubenking. 'Brekdown' can also blend the styles of two or more texts, and reconstruct a text with the characteristics of this blended style.
'The stories . . . I got "Brekdown" to mix text samples by two different writers in a kind of conceptual blender, and produce a new text with the characteristics of both. I produced seven stories, about ten pages each. The drafts that Brekdown gave me needed a lot of reworking. The story "Howling Twins" was heavily reworked from a draft originating in a blend of two text samples, one from Allen Ginsberg's notorious poem "Howl", and one from a chapter of "The Bobbsey Twins on a Bicycle Trip." The piece titled "Lonely Chaps" began as a sample from Radclyffe Hall's febrile novel of pre-war middle-class lesbian passion, "The Well of Loneliness", blended with "Biggles Defies the Swastika."
Source: Interview with John Kinsella, August 1999, John Kinsella website, www.johnkinsella.org (sighted 14/10/2002)
Notes
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Dedication: This boook is respectfully dedicated to Professor Hugh Kenner. Without his inspired investigations in the field of computer-assisted letter-group frequency analysis these texts could not have been written.
Contents
- Neuromancing Miss Stein, single work short story (p. 9-16)
- The Howling Twins, single work short story (p. 17-25)
- Carousel, single work short story (p. 26-38)
- Magic Women, single work short story (p. 39-46)
- Lonely Chaps, single work short story (p. 47-54)
- A Room with a View, Spa Bath, Many Extras, single work short story (p. 55-70)
- Valery's Room, single work short story (p. 71-77)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
The Computer & the Poet
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 14 no. 2 2000; (p. 161-162)
— Review of Different Hands : Seven Stories 1998 selected work prose ; Empty Texas 1999 selected work poetry -
Kristeva at the Ministry of Sound
1999
single work
review
— Appears in: Poetry Review , Spring vol. 89 no. 1 1999; (p. 101-103)
— Review of Whirling 1998 selected work poetry ; Late Night Radio 1998 selected work poetry ; Different Hands : Seven Stories 1998 selected work prose -
Mr Rubenking's Bad Language
1998
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 203 1998; (p. 35-36)
— Review of Different Hands : Seven Stories 1998 selected work prose -
Open Framework : New Poetry
1998
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 153 1998; (p. 101-103)
— Review of The Satin Bowerbird 1998 selected work poetry ; The Skinscape Voyeur 1998 selected work poetry ; B-Grade 1997 selected work poetry ; New and Selected Poems 1998 selected work poetry ; Flank 1998 selected work poetry ; Beasts Labial : poems 1998 selected work poetry ; Friendly Street : New Poets Four 1998 selected work poetry ; Old Time Religion and Other Poems 1998 selected work poetry ; Friendly Street Poets : Twenty-Two 1998 anthology poetry ; Bloodwood 1996 selected work poetry ; Loose Kangaroos : A Collection of New Australian Poetry 1998 selected work poetry ; Different Hands : Seven Stories 1998 selected work prose ; Race against Time : Poems 1998 selected work poetry ; New and Selected Poems 1998 selected work poetry ; Boy Stunner 1998 selected work poetry ; A Strip of Negatives 1998 selected work poetry ; The Right Side of My Face 1998 selected work poetry
-
Open Framework : New Poetry
1998
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 153 1998; (p. 101-103)
— Review of The Satin Bowerbird 1998 selected work poetry ; The Skinscape Voyeur 1998 selected work poetry ; B-Grade 1997 selected work poetry ; New and Selected Poems 1998 selected work poetry ; Flank 1998 selected work poetry ; Beasts Labial : poems 1998 selected work poetry ; Friendly Street : New Poets Four 1998 selected work poetry ; Old Time Religion and Other Poems 1998 selected work poetry ; Friendly Street Poets : Twenty-Two 1998 anthology poetry ; Bloodwood 1996 selected work poetry ; Loose Kangaroos : A Collection of New Australian Poetry 1998 selected work poetry ; Different Hands : Seven Stories 1998 selected work prose ; Race against Time : Poems 1998 selected work poetry ; New and Selected Poems 1998 selected work poetry ; Boy Stunner 1998 selected work poetry ; A Strip of Negatives 1998 selected work poetry ; The Right Side of My Face 1998 selected work poetry -
Kristeva at the Ministry of Sound
1999
single work
review
— Appears in: Poetry Review , Spring vol. 89 no. 1 1999; (p. 101-103)
— Review of Whirling 1998 selected work poetry ; Late Night Radio 1998 selected work poetry ; Different Hands : Seven Stories 1998 selected work prose -
Mr Rubenking's Bad Language
1998
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 203 1998; (p. 35-36)
— Review of Different Hands : Seven Stories 1998 selected work prose -
The Computer & the Poet
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 14 no. 2 2000; (p. 161-162)
— Review of Different Hands : Seven Stories 1998 selected work prose ; Empty Texas 1999 selected work poetry