The Dreamlife of Letters

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Description (in English): 

A Flash animation, based on a text by Rachel Blau DuPlessis, that attempts to explore the ground between classic concrete poetry, avant-garde feminist practice, and "ambient" poetics (that's really just plain fun to watch).

(Source: Author's Description from ELC Vol. 1)

I ♥ E-Poetry entry: 
NT2 entry: 
Pull Quotes: 

On a five year old i-book, the sporulation [in "Dreamlife of Letters"] is clearly visible; on a recent macbook, the animation is run slightly faster, and the sporulation seems less visible; on a more powerful non-portable computer, it becomes even imperceptible! In this particular case, the reader is given no opportunity to grasp the meaning the author wants to convey. He is not even able to guess it, for there is no theoretical paratext to warn him about the fact that certain surface events may become invisible (qtd. in Saemmer "Aesthetics of Surface, Ephemeral and Re-Enchantment in Digital Literature" 482).

Technical notes: 

Flash

Critical writing that references this work:

Title Author Year
'Living Letterforms': The Ecological Turn in Contemporary Digital Poetics Rita Raley 2011
A Vanguard Projected in Motion: Early Kinetic Poetry in Portuguese Chris Funkhouser 2005
Aesthetics of Surface, Ephemeral and Re-Enchantment in Digital Literature: How Authors and Readers Deal with the Lability of the Electronic Device Alexandra Saemmer 2009
Arte Digital: Pixel, Algoritmo, Código, Programação e Dados Álvaro Seiça 2011
Born Digital Stephanie Strickland 2009
Born Digital: Writing Poetry in the Age of New Media Maria Engberg 2007
Closer again! Alexandra Saemmer 2010
Computerpoesie: Studien zur Modifikation poetischer Texte durch den Computer Saskia Reither 2003
Creative Practice and Experimental Method in Electronic Literature and Human Experimental Psychology Andrew Michael Roberts, Lisa Otty, Martin Fischer, Anna Katharina Schaffner 2012
Cybertext Poetics: The Critical Landscape of New Media Literary Theory Markku Eskelinen 2012
Digital Gestures Carrie J. Noland 2006
Digital Poesi. Æstetisk Analyse og det Mediales Rolle i Kunstværkers Kommunikation Mette-Marie Zacher Sørensen 2013
Experimental Poetics of the Asian Diaspora: Readings in Meatspace and Cyberspace Sunny S.Y. Chan 2018
Fashionable Noise: On Digital Poetics Brian Kim Stefans 2003
From (Command) Line to (Iconic) Constellation Kenneth Goldsmith 2001
I Love E-Poetry Leonardo L. Flores 2011
Immanence, Inc.: Algorithm, Flow, and the Displacement of the Real Brian Kim Stefans 2018
Language as Gameplay: toward a vocabulary for describing works of electronic literature Brian Kim Stefans 2012
Le(s) Mange Texte(s): Creative Cannibalism and Digital Poetry Chris Funkhouser 2007
Letters That Matter: Electronic Literature Collection Vol 1 John David Zuern 2007
Screen shots: 
Dreamlife of Letters
Dreamlife of Letters
Dreamlife of Letters
Dreamlife of Letters
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Record posted by: 
Patricia Tomaszek