LITERATURE+WRITING
Written in English, French, Persian and Spanish (and their hybrids: franglais, spanglish, fransi and variations thereon), the overall oeuvre constitutes a radical polyphonic enterprise that puts into question national, cultural and aesthetic attachments while fashioning new genres, forms and even species of literary artifacts. Overall, I have valued and pursued theory and practice, and attempted innovations in the literary, poetic and artistic realms. To that end, each of the books interweaves various genres or forms to create new ones, employs various registers of textuality and explores possibilities unique to each language and to literature as a whole.
What is true for my ‘open epic’ ÉPÏKÂNÕVÀ is true of the overall oeuvre: poetic fragments unfold on multiple platforms, in multiple arenas and spaces (private and public), and through various scriptural strategies—from the traditional (handwritten sheets and books) to the new (electronic, web). Narrative conventions are challenged, and poetic, stylistic and performative operations exploit possibilities unique to different languages and mediums. The overall experience is orchestrated through the creation of lasting artifacts as well as ephemeral events and monumental constructs. A theoretical apparatus and a critical enterprise engaged with the history and forms of literature and the reading phenomenon, the oeuvre also challenges traditional modalities of publication, exhibition, commodification, dissemination and interaction.
Editions Caractères in Paris is a 71-year-old publishing house that has kept its independence and continues to publish works at the vanguard of literature, with Francophone authors as well as writers from across the globe. They were among the first to publish Fernando Pessoa and others in France, and have published a roster that includes half a dozen Nobel Prize winners. UpSet Press, based in Brooklyn, is twenty years old, very independent, and endeavoring to “advance authors’ innovative visions, and works that engender new directions in literature.” (UpSet Press mission statement) They have taken a keen interest in my poetics/politics, re-issuing two early works and publishing new material. The Elastic Circus of the Revolution is my own multi/neodisciplinary troupe, something I had to do in the true spirit of the avant-garde! The projects include performances, agitations, interventions, publications at the intersection of multiple genres and forms—with the print endeavors often involved in not only creating new types of artifacts, but exploring ways of performing the print adventure and “performing” the book. I find it thrilling to be involved with both established publishers and newer, ambitious publishers, while spearheading my own troupe. In the same way, I have found it truly enriching and invigorating to have studied at, and subsequently worked with and for, venerable institutions (Princeton, Columbia, MoMA, Pratt) while deeply engaged with aspirational collectives, autonomous groups, and creatives in the vanguard, working at the edge of possibilities and fashioning new worlds. All inform and nurture the others, creating, for me, a wondrous ecosystem of creative/critical inquiry and action, a fertile field of theory and practice.
As of the end of 2022:
Ø The number of ‘analog’ (regular) books published is: 23. This includes 19 individually authored books, 2 translations and 2 co-authored books.
Ø The number of what I call DigiWorks (Ebooks, sites, E-ndeavors) is 10. This is comprised of eWorks that are fully digital or have major eManifestations.
Ø The number of what I dub RadMax is: 11. My own super-category, really to contain very vangardy ventures, which go from new types of literary artifacts (SELAs: single-edition literary artifacts) to Litstills and Textallations, to the New Epic.
Finally, even though I always fancied myself a ‘bookist’ and an ‘oeuvrist’, invitations and opportunities have led over the years to articles and essays in a variety of venues and platforms: over two dozen papers/essays published on a number of topics–from translation to curriculum design to museums and civic engagement; and over fifty public performances of original poems/encantations/recitations. (Along with the articles in the good old Daily Princetonian)
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