Preface - Electronic Poetry Center

From: John Cayley
Subject: Experiments
I’ve read through and felt challenged by the experiwhat? discussions on and off
for some time now. Yes, it is quite wrong to fall into the trap of using the word
glibly. Still, metaphors are there precisely to extend the range of words, to
allow us to use them where they both do and do not signify what we previously
agreed they signified.
I produce texts based on procedures and algorithms similar to those in Charles
B’s splendid list. The use of such procedures is of course not new, but in this
(the network) context we should be much more aware of the tools now
available which allow us to make literary experiments using such techniques in
‘real time’. Until recently we’ve known about these procedures and when
we’ve felt ludic we’ve sat down with siccors and paste. Now, with a little more
trouble, you can learn a simple programming language and do the same. But
once you’ve done this, the process of compostion, perhaps of writing itself has
shifted to a new site. With a machine I can get feedback from the results of my
procedures quick enough to adjust them according to non-arbitrary criteria. I
can make my algorithms ‘learn’ more about the given texts and/or my
responses to them. I can re-write the given texts so that they are better
modulated by the algorithms. This is similar to experimental processes, isn’t it?
Finally, and importantly, I can provide suitably equipped readers with as-ithappens-but-never-the-same-twice
performances of the procedures which they
can ‘read’ on their own screens.
>Don Byrd wrote:
> After a certain point, chaos no longer needed the help of art. To recall
> wild nature in tranquility, to practice nihilistic techniques of art and
> thought, to do automatic writing, or to create chance generated art is a
> pointless gesture.
All I can say is why so? I do not feel that I am making a pointless gesture. Even
if all that was obtainable from such procedures was a more liberated approach
to the literary experience, they would still be worthwhile. Personally I believe