Keyne Cheshire, my friend and Classicist extraordinaire has translated Sophocles' Women of Trachis into an American Western, The Passion of Herman Kilman. The chorale pieces of the play will be performed tonight, live, for the first time ever. Imagine: Hercules, son of Zeus, transformed into Herman Kilman, son of God... [More Information | Full-size PDF]
Author: Mark Sample
Twittering N+7
At the risk of alienating my readers on Twitter---something I'm likely to be doing anyway---I've been playing an old Oulipo game with my tweets today: N+7. It's quite simple: replace every noun in a text with the noun that follows it seven nouns later in the dictionary. The results are often nonsensical, occasionally revelatory, and… Continue reading Twittering N+7
CFP: Digital Humanities Quarterly Special Issue: The Literary
This special issue of DHQ invites essays that consider the study of literature and the category of the literary to be an essential part of the digital humanities. We welcome essays that consider how digital technologies affect our understanding of the literary— its aesthetics, its history, its production and dissemination processes, and also the traditional… Continue reading CFP: Digital Humanities Quarterly Special Issue: The Literary
Post-Print Fiction Course Description (for Fall 2011)
Here is an early, tentative course description for my Fall 2011 senior seminar for the English Honors students. I welcome comments or reading recommendations! Post-Print Fiction (ENGL 400 Honors Seminar) For several centuries the novel has been associated with a single material form: the bound book, made of paper and printed with ink. But what… Continue reading Post-Print Fiction Course Description (for Fall 2011)
Tactical Collaborations (2011 MLA Version)
[I was on a panel called "The Open Professoriat(e)" at the 2011 MLA Convention in Los Angeles, in which we focused on the dynamic between academia, social media, and the public. My talk was an abbreviated version of a post that appeared on samplereality in July. Here is the text of the talk as I… Continue reading Tactical Collaborations (2011 MLA Version)
Criminal Code: The Procedural Logic of Crime in Videogames
[This is the text of my second talk at the 2011 MLA convention in Los Angeles, for a panel on "Close Reading the Digital." My talk was accompanied by a Prezi "Zooming" presentation, which I have replicated here with still images (the original slideshow is at the end of this post). In 15 minutes I… Continue reading Criminal Code: The Procedural Logic of Crime in Videogames
Graphic Novels and Narratives for Spring 2011
I always find it difficult to select the texts for my graphic novel courses. Narrowing the choices for my Spring 2011 undergrad class bordered upon an existential crisis. Perhaps it's because so much seems to be at stake when you're likely introducing students for the first time in their lives to the critical study of… Continue reading Graphic Novels and Narratives for Spring 2011
Twitter is a Happening, to which I am Returning
I quit Twitter. Or, more accurately, I quit twittering. Nearly three weeks ago with no warning to myself or others, I stopped posting on Twitter. I stopped updating Facebook, stopped checking in on Gowalla, stopped being present. I went underground, as far underground as somebody whose whole life is online can go underground. In three… Continue reading Twitter is a Happening, to which I am Returning
Digital Humanities Sessions at the 2011 MLA
Revised: This is a comprehensive list of digital humanities sessions at the 2011 MLA in Los Angeles. Many of the speakers posted the text of their talks online, and you'll find links here to those online versions. If yours isn't linked yet, please reply in the comments with the URL of your presentation, and I'll… Continue reading Digital Humanities Sessions at the 2011 MLA
Initial Thought on Archiving Social Media
My head is buzzing from the one-day Archiving Social Media workshop organized by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and our close neighbor, the University of Mary Washington. The workshop wrapped upon only a few hours ago, but I'm already feeling a need to synthesize some thoughts about archives, social… Continue reading Initial Thought on Archiving Social Media
Maps and Timelines
Over a period of a few days last week I posted a series of updates onto Twitter that, taken together, added up to less than twenty words. I dragged out across fourteen tweets what could easily fit within one. And instead of text alone, I relied on a combination words and images. I'm calling this… Continue reading Maps and Timelines
One Week, One Tool, Many Anthologies
Many of you have already heard about Anthologize, the blog-to-book publishing tool created in one week by a crack team of twelve digital humanists, funded by the NEH's Office of Digital Humanities, and shepherded by George Mason University's Center for History and New Media. Until the moment of the tool's unveiling on Tuesday, August 3,… Continue reading One Week, One Tool, Many Anthologies
The Slow Writing Manifesto (From the Future) [English v.3.14]
THE CENTURY OF SPEED AND SWIFTNESS We hereby declare that the 20th century was the century of speed, of swiftness, of get your booty on and move. We likewise hereby declare that the first decade of the 21st century was also 1/10 a century of speed, of swiftness, of get your booty on and move.… Continue reading The Slow Writing Manifesto (From the Future) [English v.3.14]
Tactical Collaboration: or, Skilfull in both parts of War, Tactick and Stratagematick
[Note: See also the MLA 2011 version of this post, which I gave at panel discussion on "The Open Professoriat(e)"] "Skilfull in both parts of War, Tactick and Stratagematick." From Herodians of Alexandria: his imperiall history of twenty Roman cæsars & emperours of his time. First writ in Greek, and now converted into an heroick… Continue reading Tactical Collaboration: or, Skilfull in both parts of War, Tactick and Stratagematick
ENGL 685 (Graphic Novels) Reading List
I always agonize over which books to teach during any given semester. It's not for a lack of possibilities. Indeed, there are always too many choices, too many great books to teach in the fields of postmodern literature and experimental literature. And I always want to get the syllabus just right for my students, balancing… Continue reading ENGL 685 (Graphic Novels) Reading List