Combinatory Poetics

In Chapter Two of Scott Rettberg's Electronic Literature, I was exposed to combinatory poetry, which is considered by many scholars to be one of the oldest forms of electronic literature. During the introduction of the concept in the chapter, Rettberg describes the importance of computer algorithms, and how these are utilized to create combinatory poetry, saying,  "Computer programs access and present data, whether internal to the program or provided by external sources and user input, and then through algorithmic processes, modify or substitute the data presented by the system. It is in this procedural substitution of data, and of language, that computation is most concretely connected to combinatory poetics in experimental writing traditions such as Dada, Surrealism, and Oulipo" (Rettberg 20). As other avant-garde literary movements occurred in the 20th century, combinatory poetics were able to become solidified as a pinnacle form of electronic literature, with combinatory poetics still being used in today's electronic literary world. During the reading, I was re-familiarized with variable media, which is what many digital art artifacts are classified as. Rettberg cites Lev Manovich, who runs the Cultural Analytics Lab in California (the lab responsible for developing the DH project, Visual Earth) and focuses on the Digital Humanities, saying, "One of the distinguishing aspects of digital art objects is that they are often what Lev Manovich describes as variable media. Manovich writes, 'a new media object is not something fixed once and for all, but something that can exist in different, potentially infinite versions' (Manovich, 2001, p. 36). One powerful way to take advantage of the variable nature of new media objects is to introduce an element of indeterminability, of chance, into the operations of a given work" (Rettberg 23). By introducing the concept of variable media when examining the scope of combinatory poetics, it is quite easy to see that this concept enables creators of combinatory poetics to conceptualize art projects that readers get to interact with.

When examining the references made available during this chapter, I was enchanted by Abra: A Living Text (2017), which was created by Amaranth Borsuk, Kate Durbin and Ian Hatcher. Abra: A Living Text is an interactive iOS application that looks at poetry generation as a game and entertainment, with the website for the application referring to itself as a "spellbook" for poetry. The application is feee to use, and is compatible with iOS 10 and later. To create a poetic work, you can select the words of choice, and these will morph into the final poem. I do not believe the app has been configured for more current iOS, as the last update was in 2017. The app currently has 4 stars on the Apple App Store.
Amy Rabas, at the Center for Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago, created a print book of the application's interface, which was only printed in an edition of 10 copies. The book itself, visually, looks beautiful, with vibrant images and visuals from the application are pasted onto the pages. However, the printed work lacks the customization and beauty of the application, which further proves how important the digital components are to electronic literature projects.

I have attached my customized poem from Queneau's Cent mille milliards de poèmes, a combinatory poetics site that enables users to create upwards of 100 trillion different sonnets, each with proper rhyming and syllabic structure. I decided to examine the site from an algorithmic perspective, and selected each line from its matching numbered option (I selected option 1 for line 1, option 2 for line 2, and so on until line 11, where I ran out of corresponding options. I then began with selecting option 1 for line 11 to match the second digit, option 2 for line 12, and so on until I completed the work). It was very interesting to see the final result, as I did not select lines for the content or sense they contained.