Postmodernity & Asemic Writing
By De Villo Sloan
I have been fortunate in my writing career to observe closely the trajectories of two inter-related movements: (1) Postmodernism (here I’ll focus on the literary manifestation of a larger cultural movement) and (2) Asemic Writing (aka Asemics).
Tracing the evolution of Postmodernism from its origins in the mid-20th century to the present is a daunting task that would require assembling tomes and, sometimes competing, narratives. So out of shear practicality I’ll limit my discussion to my own experience.
When I first began my own serious study of literature in the 1970s, the monuments of Modernity – including writing by Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, T.S. Eliot – were revered but showing signs of wear and tarnish.
My own first personal encounter with the notion of a Postmodern lit was in the writing of the Black Mountain poets – especially Robert Creeley, Denise Levertov and Charles Olson – and I encountered the use of the term “Post-modern” for the first time in Olson’s writing. Much of my understanding of Postmodern poetics was formed by reading Boundary 2: A Journal of Postmodern Culture published by the State University of New York at Binghamton. The journal provides documentation of Postmodernism’s growth for decades and is very strong in the area of Postmodern Poetics. The work of the USA L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets represents, for me, the nascence of Postmodern Poetics.
Another Postmodernity took hold among fiction writers, especially a group known as the Fiction Collective. John Barth’s essay “The Literature of Exhaustion” was a manifesto for several generations of writers who embraced meta-text (literally writing about writing) and decomposing narratives. Enter Thomas Pynchon.
Exactly who coined the term “Postmodern” is still a subject of lively debate with the invention of the term now attributed to a wider array of suspects than ever before. In 2024 we perceive not one but many distinct forms of Postmodernity.
As Postmodernity grew in the latter years of the 20th century – indeed spread at a viral rate - it gradually became the domain of scholars grounded in European philosophy. The analytic tool of Structuralism from anthropology proved beneficial to illuminating the pomo text and produced a more refined, non-binary method of pomo analysis called: Post-Structuralism.
During the headiest days of Post-Structuralist glory, representatives of the more radical post-struct wing (ensconced safely in the Ivy League) announced yet again the "Death of Literature." They pronounced that the anachronistic literary canon - problematic books such as Huck Finn - would be replaced by theoretical texts penned by Derrida, Barthes, etc. The vision failed to materialize for some reason.
As the 21st century advances, we can look back not upon a single Postmodernity but upon multiple Postmodernities in multiple fields with differing theoretical foundations at different times.
"Some types of Postmodernity contradict other types of Postmodernity. Postmodernism promised self-referentiality, indeterminacy, deconstruction of grand narratives, hyper-fragmentation and a new consciousness: My conclusion is that Postmodernism more than delivered."
Some types of Postmodernity contradict other types of Postmodernity. Postmodernism promised self-referentiality, indeterminacy, deconstruction of grand narratives, hyper-fragmentation and a new consciousness: My conclusion is that Postmodernism more than delivered.
My own exposure to Asemic Writing as a distinct practice came in the wake of the seminal writing of Jim Leftwich and Tim Gaze in the 1990s. Michael Jacobson’s (now legendary) The New Post-Literates blog and related press and recording ventures offered a variant to Leftwich and Gaze that captured the imagination of thousands.
I believe the Asemic Movement is an area of women's leadership. For example, visual poet Kristine Snodgrass (along with Karla Van Vliet and many others) has established a women's asemic collective: WAAVe Global Gallery. Snodgrass has contributed to Postmodernism by applying asemic writing to glitchart.
The Asemic Writing movement is presently a global, digital phenomenon, having long ago evolved out of avant-garde-oriented mail art and zine networks. Postmodernity has been elevated to near hegemonic proportions through intellectual currents and its direct ties to Western philosophy. The movements are inherently different, yet a comparison of the two gives us a clearer view of the ebb and flow of authentic cultural movements.
A small group of asemic writers is engaged in (I think pointless) debates over who coined the term “asemic.” Like predecessor Postmodernity, a branch of the a-semic group has turned see-mantic. Recently I read an asemic blog on which someone seriously contended Ohio visual poet John Byrum invented the term “asemic” in the 1990s. Obviously, no one wants the title at this point. (I remember John as a great editor. He receives my vote as Inventor of Asemics!)
"Based on observations of cultural history, I propose what we call Asemic Writing today is a canopy under which a number of related practices and orientations co-exist, not without occasional tensions as well as artistic breakthroughs. Several different Asemic Writing 'origin stories' do and will continue to exist in perfect contradiction. Postmodernity remains in a similar position."
Based on observations of cultural history, I propose what we call Asemic Writing today is a canopy under which a number of related practices and orientations co-exist, not without occasional tensions as well as artistic breakthroughs. Several different Asemic Writing “origin narratives” do and will continue to exist in perfect contradiction. Postmodernity remains in a similar position.
A final point I want to make about Asemic Writing and Post-Modernity involves these questions that continue to hold my interest: (1) Is Asemic Writing a manifestation of Late Postmodernism? Or (2) is Asemic Writing one of the first global movements that moves beyond Postmodernity?
In previous writing, I have expressed a belief Asemic Writing is a “post-literate” (thanks Michael Jacobson & Marshall McLuhan) expression outside the vast symbolic solar systems of Postmodernity. Lately, I have found meta-textual, Post-Structuralist approaches (especially using linguistic theories) to be particularly useful in penetrating the mysteries of the asemic text. (A sea change in my own thought.) I believe the notion of asemic writing as meta-language is a valid position that will yield much under further investigation. However, my endorsement does not come without a warning label.
The danger of intense academic analysis of Asemic Writing is – and as always involving the academy – a stifling or formalist reduction of the very elements that make Asemic Writing so appealing to people around the world. Ultimately, I encourage you to think critically about Asemics always but also follow your heart, art and creativity. The rest is secondary. Artists create movements. Not critics.
- - De Villo Sloan
August 30, 2024
Elbridge, New York
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