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July 2012

Seeing the ICA adaptation pressed me to just re-read DFW's "Suicide as a Sort of Present" from Brief Interviews.

Probably won't make the Beckett as my viva is proximal, but Come & Go, Ohio Impromptu, & Rockaby are, in my reckoning, among Beckett's best.

Does state, nonetheless: "if you're going to use these games, you're better off using them on GNU/Linux rather than on Microsoft Windows"

Trying a new research tactic of working on 2 articles simultaneously. Seems to work well, actually. Grow tired of 1 and switch.

When academic has changed name, I've used "X née Y" as introduction. Should I refer to him/her as X or Y throughout? X at time of pub...

Ac. journ article: "I should simply like to suggest that a consideration of the...general tone is more helpful than an academic discussion"

Laughing a great deal (in despair) at how many pictures of Obama crop up on a Google Image search for "Marxist"

Working on an article on Roberto Bolaño's 2666. I've grown so accustomed to e-editions now that tracking down a quote took 1/2 hour :/

This may be insanity, but I now have to travel into London. May as well pull a British Library day as I'm in. :s

'The [...] ceremony is themed around the notion of the "Isle of Wonders", referencing Caliban's speech in The Tempest' PoCo reading required

Chipped in a couple of responses on the interesting @GdnHigherEd chat on #AciWri. Only one was in anger to a troll!

Batman saved capitalism from the anarcho-Leftist terrorist. If you don't like it, Catwoman/liberal cinemagoer, then you want them to win.

Had a proper day off in the sunshine today! Finished Mitchell's Black Swan Green, Eggers' Heartbreaking work & read lots of Dostoyevsky.

Was struggling to locate my copy of Borges there. Needed a map of some kind. Perhaps one-to-one in its scaling.

On my way back now from the ace #WHN2012 conference. Tired, but a great event. Congratulations to all the Lincoln team!

Hemon breaks conventions of hetero- and homo-diegetic narration through first person plural narration & intrusive voice, says Ward #WHN2012

Ward cites Stocks on dependence on previously coherent subject in most notions of banishing trauma narrative reconstruction #WHN2012

Classic symptoms of dissociative trauma in The Question of Trauma, says Ward, but will argue that texts resist healing #WHN2012

This links back to modernist stream of consciousness, says Cliffe. Sounds like another area for David James' project. #WHN2012

Waves the overlap point that Cliffe will use to interweave authors and their memory modes as they relate to endings #WHN2012

Kunzru preoccupied with dispersed data points and problematic attempts to connect and read them says @the_blochian #WHN2012

Distinction between Judeic, Christian and capitalist models of eschatology important, says @the_blochian #WHN2012

Genuine vs illusory moments of enlightenment in Kunzru. False enlightenment predicated on domination says @the_blochian #WHN2012

Thresholds of time and notions of exteriority also in Burnside, Crace and others, says @the_blochian #WHN2012

Notion of swarm intelligence seems to embody this networked mode, read through Hardt and Negri's Multitude #WHN2012

Interesting notions of transmigration in David Mitchell, says @the_blochian, especially in a post-secular frame #WHN2012

Hardt, Negri and Bloch are key influences on @the_blochian's understanding of delinearization and weak utopia #WHN2012

Towards a Networked Artform is @the_blochian's title. She also has a prezi, so there goes my novelty #WHN2012

Some great discussions in this panel on the return of solipsism and pragmatic escapes in c21 fiction #WHN2012

I have an uneasiness towards papers that diagnose characters' trauma - these are literary devices, not people - but can be fruitful #WHN2012

Different models of dissociative identity disorder - focus here on DID blaming other: most difficult to treat w explosive behaviour #WHN2012

Catherine Redpath and Carly Stevenson using medical humanities framework (DID) to read explosive dissociations and dark matter #WHN2012

Less live tweeting at #WHN2012 than my usual form as room setups not conducive and seems not quite the done thing!

Eggers' self-reflexivity chimes with Rorty's definition of an ironist as one who sees his/her central beliefs as contingent #WHN2012

I'm interested in the presuppositions of private language and epistemic privacy in these papers on Eggers and sincerity #whn2012

Issues of trust and sincerity occur in Eggers' form as well as inter-character relations says Kelly #whn2012

Kelly speaking on relevance of Eggers' motives in What is the What. Risk of Postcolonial arrogance etc #WHN2012

Sincerity as congruence of avowal and feeling. Authenticity as core, rejecting social realm, says Kelly #WHN2012

Modes of literary trauma - working through and representation - both ignore the reader in their practice says Kelly #whn2012

Werner Wolf cited on Metareferential Turn. How does this fit with Patricia Waugh's argument, I wonder? #WHN2012

Funk talking about the aesthetics of reconstruction - divided across authenticity and metareference #WHN2012

Like peer review we need to instill DIY ethos to remove commercial element, unless that element really adds to our work.

Scholar publisher or library publisher are gold routes without pay. My journal - gold OA. No fees. Done as service to field.

Gold doesn't *have* to be pay-to-publish. If a generation are going to be bankrupted out of research, I want true publisher value explained.

This is a hard slog in the face of credentialist assessments that favour conservatism, but our generation of ECRs are screwed if we don't.

In light of new gold OA route, the need to build independent dissemination mechanisms free from profit-driven enterprises is now urgent.

As if battling public transport wasn't bad enough, we now have announcements from the ever-odious Boris Johnson at stations.

Few things quite so satisfying as timing a conference paper the day before the conference & finding it's *precisely* on the time limit.

Amount of effort I'm putting in to this Prezi, you'd better come to my talk if you're at the "What Happens Now?" 21C fic. conf. next week!

The @GdnHigherEd chat tomorrow looks very interesting. Hope to be there for some of it. Situation so dire for ECRs.

Alright, confession time. Dropping deadly serious academic mode for a min, I went to the Harry Potter studio tour today

. @bsms38 @MassObsArchive @jharvell did you see this Times crossword clue? "What may be celebrated following study of everyday life (4,11)"

Without the freely available tech tools, the situation won't improve. The arguments against Open Source are FUD.

I might give up selling on Ebay. People seem to just try it on with minor problems (cpu fan came off in transit - big deal; re-seat it)

"A clear brilliant flash of pain from A to B. What was A? What was B? Kleinzeit didn't want to know. His hypotenuse was on that side."

I have a viva date! Don't think I want to broadcast the specific date itself, though, in case it goes badly! Early September. #phdchat

I have an interview for a part-time lectureship for next year, which is pretty exciting (and some reassurance for having some teaching!)

Find it somewhat disheartening when I submitted an article two months ago and it's still awaiting reviewer selection :/

Metro's headlines "New bawls please" and "tear we go again" fairly subtle, I thought. In case you didn't know, Andy Murray cried yesterday.

Hope all had fun at the Weather Reports symposium - I went to the Tate with friends to see Hirst and Munch.

“@ScientistMags Just heard of a PhD student taking their own life. No PhD is worth this.” cc @qui_oui

Dear Crossref, please hurry up with processing my membership, I have a journal to publish! Yours, Martin

Train tweet alert. Greater Anglia seem not to be running trains from Enfield Town, thus doubling my journey time. #thanks

Fairly urgent Q.: if I have to grant perpetual exclusive license to a publisher, is there any advantage in not signing over full copyright?

“@VC_UEL Scientists say new subatomic particle not Higgs but bankers' moral compass. "We did not expect to detect anything that small"”

I got alarmed for a minute there. Suddenly occurred to me that I noticed no mention of kazoos in Against the Day. There is one mention.

"No decision as hard as the one to stand down", presumably including decisions to fraudulently rig interest rates, which are easy.

"How could Labour have let the city go so unregulated?", bleats Cameron, ignoring his own calls for less regulation at the time.

Dinnen's last text is Super Sad True Love Story as set in the network fiction tradition (and potential failure?) #HEAdayC21

Dinnen talking about the unusual aesthetics of the literary journal McSweeney's. Edited by Dave Eggers. #HEAdayC21

N Katherine Hayles' model of a technotext: "a literary work that interrogates the inscription technology that produced it" the #HEAdayC21

Hillary Chute argues that some of the most effective feminist cultural production lies in edgy graphic novel, says Venezia #HEAdayC21

Now Venezia talking about Bechdel's Fun Home - double movement of authorial paternal identification says Venezia #HEAdayC21

Comics, as a term, enters discourse in late 19c. Graphic novels in 1960s. Venezia points out arguments against this. Validation. #HEAdayC21

Venezia relates how Harold Bloom has been appropriated by superhero comic studies - misprision indeed! #HEAdayC21

Leggett thinking through Moretti's 2 metaphors for local and global: waves for transnational and trees foe national #HEAdayC21 @afrayn

Leggett arguing for British authors situated in a transnational mode: Cloud Atlas, Transmission and Lara #HEAdayC21

On the other hand, says Leggett, there are many global literature courses and centres: St Andrews, Manchester #HEAdayC21

Nationalist boundaries still enforced in HE syllabi, says Leggett - cites rise of Scottish courses in light of devolution #HEAdayC21

Bianca Leggett invoking @BobEaglestone's condemnation of the term "British" in their recent conference title #HEAdayC21

Now a Birkbeck panel, the last of the day, bringing out Bianca Leggett's transnational literatures to start #HEAdayC21

Historical is the catch-all when students don't have critical or theoretical secondary sources, says Duncan #HEAdayC21

You should HIRE Dennis Duncan to give an academic paper. Hilarious hilarious guy and very interesting! #HEAdayC21

Students asked if anything specifically study of delineated c21 lit. Most responded with: no secondary material, says Duncan #HEAdayC21

Duncan has marking guidelines up for the structure of his paper: critical, theoretical, historical #HEAdayC21

“@Casserine @martin_eve I've come across both Banville and Trevor on many syllabi both in Ireland and the USA” #HEAdayC21

Last up, Dennis Duncan brings our attention to the bibliography. He told me on the train it could be summarised in 1 minute #HEAdayC21

Turner now examining an MA course on c21 fiction. Syllabus looks good from here. Mitchell, Sebald, DeLillo. No Pynchon #HEAdayC21

Nicholas Turner now up, talking about sculpting c21 syllabuses. Ishiguro, Smith and McEwan on his MMU course. #HEAdayC21

Unfortunately, I have not read any of the cited neuroscience and am not a neuroscientist. I remain very sceptical though. #HEAdayC21

Slater has basically dismissed all forms of theoretical reading of literature & social construction. #HEAdayC21

Slater claims that neuroscience has undermined these premises and that subjectivity can be evaluated #HEAdayC21

Slater: assumptions of theory are that language is consciousness & that reality is linguistically determined #HEAdayC21

Slater claims that science is undermining the epistemological foundations of literary theory. Which theories? What science? #HEAdayC21

Slater citing Springerland(?), critiquing French theory and looking for vitality and epiphany #HEAdayC21

Slater warns that his argument is an attempt to push arguments to their limits and warns of savage rhetoric! #HEAdayC21

I'd say Pynchon's Against the Day also possesses all the characteristics that James is bringing out here #HEAdayC21

McEwan's affiliation to impressionism is stronger than Briony's pastiche would imply, says James #HEAdayC21

James picks up on J. Palmer Parker's microcosmic focus for teaching. Sounds very much like Adorno's primacy of the object. #HEAdayC21

Right, now I'm off the podium, David James is on, picking up where Peter Boxall left off with defining c21 lit. #HEAdayC21

Digital writing promises democracy/accessibility, but has problems as predicated on writing and tech. #HEAdayC21

Wilson says that digital literature spans many fields. Social media, gaming, art writing, text sculpture, media arts #HEAdayC21

Moriarty's closing shot: how can we, or should we even, link teaching and employability agenda #HEAdayC21

“@drkayem tho McCarthy's take on Modernism is idiosyncratic & there are cont writers who engage with Euro mod, e.g. Coetzee” #HEAdayC21

“@svejky @martin_eve interesting work as a result. Probably because literature in its essence is only quotation, I conjecture.” #HEAdayC21

“@svejky whereas 19c English writers engaged closely with the history of literature, as did the modernists & produced far more” #HEAdayC21

“@svejky It's v telling that Pynchon & DFW have sustained engagements with early modern lit, & then compared to English” #HEAdayC21

“@svejky I actually feel more strongly about it than that...not even failure to engage with modernism, but w the entire history” #HEAdayC21

Moriarty's project attempted to fuse graduate employability with disciplinary integrity. Many buzzwords flying! #HEAdayC21

“@EarlyModernist I'm mixing cultural hist w naval history, study of professionalization, hard to place into a seminar series.” #HEAdayC21

“@svejky @martin_eve true! see also Tom McCarthy's constant lament about the refusal of English writers to engage with modernism” #HEAdayC21

Now Jess Moriarty speaking on "work, write, live". A project on inter-generational biographical writing #HEAdayC21

Pleasanse argues for integration of creative in critical literature studies. Suggests as mode of assessment. #HEAdayC21

Problem with utilitarian "getting published" model of creative writing in academia. Neglects epistemological form of cr writing #HEAdayC21

Slowing of motion in Tom McCarthy, Don DeLillo and others brings this local global disjunct to the fore, says Box all #HEAdayC21

Boxall paranthetically acknowledges problems of de-territorialised model - still experience the hard reality of checkpoints #HEAdayC21

C21 writing as grouped by writers dealing with a time of flux and shifting geopolitical conditions #HEAdayC21

Marx says commodity form can also exist in realm of ideas, thus again encroaching on the academy #HEAdayC21

To put this otherwise: isn't academic knowledge also pre-obsolete? Not unique to the commodity Form. #HEAdayC21

I have problems with this theorisation of obsolescence through software - knowledge is cumulative #HEAdayC21

Boxall on Baumann's extra-territorialisation of power (Microsoft) - feeds into Hardt and Negri, I'd suspect #HEAdayC21

Boxall: fusion of a-historic and the specific that illuminates our relationship to the present #HEAdayC21

Boxall quoting Sound and the Fury - train journey that shows perspectival dynamics brought by technology #HEAdayC21

Boxall: Nietzsche, Barthes and Agamben on untimeliness, says Boxall. Those who are aligned with their time are misaligned. #HEAdayC21

Very difficult to bring the contemporary into focus. Too immanent. I'm thinking of Foucault's empirico-transcendental doublet. #HEAdayC21

... But first, a quick guide to the HEA - call put out for those who would like to run their own conferences on HE teaching #HEAdayC21

Blair says he doesn't avoid tax. "We spend a fortune on lawyers & accountants to make sure all is legal". Errr, why then?

Today, though, I'm off to see Elevator Repair Service's 8-hour production of The Great Gatsby, Gatz. I will not be tweeting this!

Tomorrow I'll be tweeting from the teaching post-millennial fiction conference. Am proposing to use #T21CF