nickm.com > classes > experimental writing, spring 2014

Repeating the Mistakes of the 20th Century

by Nick Montfort

... This is an example of a Web page documenting a final project in Experimental Writing ...

The (purported) project that is being documented here is an exact copy of the Spring 2014 syllabus for 21W.750 (Experimental Writing), printed in a booklet that uses the typographical style of the MIT Bulletin. To transform this work via plagiarism, I have retitled it "Repeating the Mistakes of the 20th Century," suggesting a different attitude toward the course. Specifically, the title suggests a negative attitude toward the 20th century avant-gardes that are considered in this class. Also, it is dismissive of the work considered in the course that is from the 19th and 21st centuries. My plagiarism is particularly clever because I wrote the original syllabus: It is self-plagiarism, of the sort practiced by many academics. My final project takes the form of a printed booklet, but I am including the catalog description here to document it. If this were a real final project I would also include at least an image or two and perhaps a PDF of the booklet. Instead, to show how images are included in Web pages, I am including a picture of a banana.

A banana.

Catalog Description

Students use innovative compositional techniques to write extraordinary texts, focusing on new writing methods rather than on traditional lyrical or narrative concerns. Writing experiments, conducted individually, collaboratively and during class meetings, culminate in chapbook-sized projects. Students read, listen to, and create different types of work, including sound poetry, cut-ups, constrained and Oulipian writing, uncreative writing, sticker literature, false translations, artists' books, and digital projects.

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