CRAIG DWORKIN || A HANDBOOK OF PROTOCOLS FOR LITERARY LISTENING

"A survey, as the Oxford English Dictionary in fact has it, also denotes a 'literary examination.' And indeed, some of the most innovative listening has been done by poets. The following handbook catalogues a repertoire of techniques for literary listening. It seeks to identify some of the specific tools with which poets have gauged and transformed the sonic effects of their linguistic environment. Suggestive rather than exhaustive, this guide is not an encyclopedia of practices. Indeed, the hope is that it will serve as a reminder of other examples, an inspiration for further writing, a provocation to further listening, and a locus of surprise (a word which derives in turn from the French surprendre: to overhear).

Please listen carefully."

From Craig Dworkin's encyclopedic guide to poetic listening, published as part of Arika's A survey is a process of listening show for the 2012 Whitney Biennial.