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authorCase Duckworth2015-03-18 12:22:54 -0700
committerCase Duckworth2015-03-18 12:22:54 -0700
commit2457b3dcbf1a5fcd48a73320d6b12fbd549f27c4 (patch)
tree7d987363fd41219c99a94799ff66dea0f16a3eb6 /src
parentRevise README.txt (diff)
downloadautocento-2457b3dcbf1a5fcd48a73320d6b12fbd549f27c4.tar.gz
autocento-2457b3dcbf1a5fcd48a73320d6b12fbd549f27c4.zip
Add genesis section to README
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diff --git a/src/README.txt b/src/README.txt index c9550a1..ce382d7 100644 --- a/src/README.txt +++ b/src/README.txt
@@ -15,13 +15,34 @@ Introduction
15------------ 15------------
16 16
17_Autocento [of the breakfast table][]_ is a hypertextual exploration of the workings of revision across time. 17_Autocento [of the breakfast table][]_ is a hypertextual exploration of the workings of revision across time.
18Somebody^[_[citation needed][]_]^ once said that every relationship we have is part of the same relationship; the same is true of authorship. 18Somebody^[[citation needed][]]^ once said that every relationship we have is part of the same relationship; the same is true of authorship.
19As we write, as we continue writing across our lives, patterns thread themselves through our work: images, certain phrases, preoccupations. 19As we write, as we continue writing across our lives, patterns thread themselves through our work: images, certain phrases, preoccupations.
20This project attempts to make those threads more apparent, using the technology of hypertext. 20This project attempts to make those threads more apparent, using the technology of hypertext.
21 21
22I'm also an MFA candidate at [Northern Arizona University][NAU]. 22I'm also an MFA candidate at [Northern Arizona University][NAU].
23This is my thesis. 23This is my thesis.
24 24
25Genesis
26-------
27
28This project revolves around two sister concepts: the _hapax legomenon_ and the _cento_.
29
30_Hapax legomenon_ ([ἅπαξ][] λεγόμενον) is Greek for "something said only once."
31It's used in linguistics to describe words that appear only once in a corpus.
32If expanded to _n-grams_, it can be used to describe utterances that occur only once, and this is where it gets interesting.
33If this line of thinking is taken to its logical conclusion, we can say that all writing, all utterances, are _hapax legomena_, because they appear only once in the world as they are.
34In short, everything is individual; everything is differentiated; everything is an island.
35
36On the other hand, a _cento_, from the Latin, from the Greek κέντρόνη, meaning "patchwork garment," is a poem composed completely of fragments of other poems.
37It's a mash-up that makes up for its lack of originality in utterance with a novelty in arrangement.
38Usually, it refers to taking phrases, lines, or stanzas from other authors' works, but I don't see why it couldn't refer to _n-grams_ or individual words.
39If _this_ line of thinking is taken to its logical conclusion, we can say that no writing is truly original; that every utterance has, in some scrambled way at least, been uttered before.
40In other words, nothing is individual.
41We float on an ocean of language which we did nothing to create, and the best we can hope for is to find some combination that hasn't been thought of too many times before.
42As Solomon said, "[There is nothing new under the sun][nothing-new]."
43
44_Autocento of the breakfast table_ works within the tension caused by these two concepts.
45
25Process 46Process
26------- 47-------
27 48
@@ -77,6 +98,10 @@ If you'd like to contact me about the state of this work or my writing in genera
77<!-- links & footnotes --> 98<!-- links & footnotes -->
78[of the breakfast table]: http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/owh/abt.html 99[of the breakfast table]: http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/owh/abt.html
79[citation needed]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Dealing_with_unsourced_material 100[citation needed]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Dealing_with_unsourced_material
101[NAU]: http://nau.edu/CAL/English/Degrees-Programs/Graduate/MFA/
102
103[ἅπαξ]: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a%28/pac
104[nothing-new]: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1%3A9&version=NIV
80 105
81[text]: src/index.html 106[text]: src/index.html
82 107