Poetics Symbolic Interactionism and the

¶ … Poetics Symbolic Interactionism and the Redefinition of Art and Creativity: Kenneth Goldsmith and Conceptual Poetics Contemporary prose and poetry has always been distinguished and recognized based on each literature type's ability to convey its message to the reader and communicate this message in an artistic or individualistic manner -- that is, the artist's own way of expressing this message with the aid of letters and words. Prose is known for its artistic manner of story-telling, messages hidden beneath the characters, plot, writing style, among others.

Poetry uses the power of words to convey both message and artistic expression, different from prose in that the latter uses a steady thought stream than the former. Given these similarities and differences between the two literature types, both are considered outlets to self- and artistic expression using the written word. Contemporary literature, however, has seen the emergence of a new kind of literature called "conceptual poetics." Conceptual poetics is a new literary genre that defies conventional definitions of prose and poetry.

Works under this genre are generally identified as 'poetics,' although further scrutiny would show that they lack the completeness, coherence, and steady stream of thought present in prose, and the artistic yet meaningful and understandable literary expression in poetry. Conceptual poetics does not adhere to prose and poetry's need to create meaning and communicate messages; works from this literary genre thrive from simply existing as an 'output' or product of self-expression.

Moreover, this genre is highly individualistic in that it does not necessarily seek to involve the reader while s/he is reading the text. Conceptual poetics can be aptly described as a product of contemporary idea of, "It is what it is." This paper addresses conceptual poetics and its reflection of symbolic interactionist thought, a paradigm that emerged after the modernist period in human history.

In understanding the link between conceptual poetics and symbolic interactionism, there will be further analysis of works categorized under conceptual poetics, of which the writer Kenneth Goldsmith is its primary proponent and advocate. Drawing primarily from his works, "Being Boring," "Uncreativity as Creative Practice," and "Fidget," this paper posits that, conceptual poetics as a new form of literary expression is reflective of symbolic interactionist thought wherein self-expression is a product of all the socio-cultural influences of the individual/writer/artist.

At best, conceptual poetics reflects the present society's regard for the "fluidity" of thoughts and expression, hence mirroring the popular thought best summed up with the phrase, "It is what it is." Formally, symbolic interactionism is a sociological perspective, which assumes that "culture, organizations, and social structures are created through daily communications and interactions among people. As people interact with one another over time, patterns of interaction emerge, and rules governing interaction develop" (Renzetti & Curran, 2000:16).

More importantly and most relevant to the purpose of this analysis, symbolic interactionism is, as defined by the sociologist Herbert Blumer, is a paradigm wherein: people's actions derive from their interpretation of what goes on around them, and much of this interpretation is learned through interacting with others.

We do not create meanings everyday...Instead...we learn the meanings that have been assigned to particular symbols Symbolic interaction is a valuable approach because...it draws our attention to the ways in which routine behaviors and taken-for-granted beliefs help make social order possible.

There are three (3) key messages derived from this explanation of symbolic interactionism: first, that people's actions are derived from what happens around them; second, people do not create meanings everyday, instead, we learn the meanings that have been assigned to particular symbols; and third, it draws attention to routine behaviors and make social order possible. These messages will be the touch points of the analysis of Goldsmith's works.

Putting Goldsmith's works under the symbolic interactionist perspective would provide readers an understanding of the interplay between the writer's idea of conceptual poetics and the socio-cultural elements that influenced him and brought about the development of conceptual poetics.

Touch point 1: People's actions are derived from what happens around them In Being Boring, Goldsmith expressed his rationale for creating literary works broadly identified as works of conceptual poetics: "[i]t seems an appropriate response to a new condition in writing today: faced with an unprecedented amount of available text, the problem is not needing to write more of it; instead, we must learn to negotiate the vast quantity that exists. I've transformed from a writer to an information manager..." (par. 3).

More than anything, conceptual poetics is Goldsmith's response to the ever-increasing supply of information, what with the advent of Internet and computer technologies (ICTs) today, not to mention the 'flattening' of the world, creating the phenomenon called the "global village," where information becomes accessible, available, and easier to manipulate with the help of ICTs. This is the social environment Goldsmith is living in now, and conceptual poetics is his way of making sense of the change happening around him.

This change is reflected in his pronouncement that he has "transformed from a writer to an information manager." Indeed, this is mirrored in his thesis in Being Boring, as he argued that now again is the time that people are 'hyped' on being boring again; now is the time to sift through all the product of changes the world has produced in the past years, and make sense of these changes before embarking again into another period filled with changes.

At this point in history, according to Goldsmith, "excitement became dull and boring started to look good again...We've embraced the unboring boring..." (par. 8). Unboring boring is the status quo in the society today, wherein people's preoccupations in life are indeed reflections of society's need to put order and lessen to the information chaos it has created with the use of ICTs. Conceptual poetics, in fact, is Goldsmith's response to the growing need for order in the information technology chaos society has created over the years.

Touch point 2: People do not create meanings everyday; instead, we learn the meanings that have been assigned to particular symbols In Uncreativity as Creative Practice, Goldsmith shares with his readers different ways in which he has channeled his 'uncreative juices' by re-typing the New York Times September 1, 2000 issue (par. 2). In Being Boring, he retyped an issue of Vogue, and was fascinated at how he was able to create a literary work that is filled with Vogue text without the pictures and images that make the magazine popular and widely-read (par. 16).

And in Fidget, the writer simply took note of all his body movements every hour, marking Goldsmith's acute awareness of his body movements despite his task of noting/recording these movements. These are the ways by which Goldsmith was able to 'learn the meanings' in his socio-cultural environment.

It is apparent from his works that he has not created any new meaning in the texts he retyped or notes he has taken; instead, what he achieved is to look at a written material or naturally-occurring phenomenon (body movement) in a different way.

What would Vogue texts look like without the pictures? Given its boring nature (according to Goldsmith), what would retyped texts from Newsweek look like? How about body movements, if recorded, will there be meanings attached to the body movements converted to words? These explorations are attempts to create sub-meanings, if not create meanings per se. Through his retyped works and notes, Goldsmith developed his creativity by exploring ideas not contemplated before.

Because he considered these activities -- retyping and noting body movements -- as outlets to channel his thoughts and feelings, Goldsmith was right in saying that "literary appropriation" has value, as he has committed his time to accomplishing these tasks,.