Chapter 11:
After World War II there were advancements in technology (television and the radio), as well as a shift in the perception of how a novel should be structured. Kerouac and Burroughs, two writers, attempted to duplicate their own writings. They had several approches.
Kerouac (accredited as the founder of the Beat movement) wrote a novel known as The Subterraneans. It uses unconventional prose. The sentences run into each other, andthe ideas switch quickly which is referred to as spontaneous writing. It was very crafted with careful editing.
Kerouac uses non linear descriptions to reference the love affair between the inter-racial couple in the novel. This makes the narritive comment on race in complex ways. Kerouac’s rhetoric of race is directly related to perceptions of racial identity.
Another rhetorical strategy in Kerouac’s work is nostalgia. Nostalgia is the activity of longing. It involves a reconstruction of past events which are idealized. Kerouac’s novel Visions of Gerard uses nostalgia to organize its’ narrative. He uses the past as a form of critique. Nostalgia is used with contemporary television. A Nike commercial uses events that took place in the 1970’s.
William S. Burroughs addresses the influence of media and government on culture. He is concerned with the effects media has on its viewers. He says that “writing is a powerful act that can be used against those who attempt to dominate our lives.” One method that Burroughs proposes is the cut-up. The cut-up involves taking a piece of writing,cutting it into atleast four sections, and rearranging it. It can reveal unspoken ideas. All wordprocessign programs such as Microsoft Word and Wordperfect allows us to cut and paste in any order.
Cutting texts and rearranging them into any order involves juxtaposition. Juxtaposition is placing items together including items that do not normally belong together. “This challenges our expectations by forming unexpected possibilities”, and it also allows us to create new ideas.
Burrough’s novel the Subliminal Kid remixes his recordings and plays them back in juxtaposition in a different order. It becomes disorienting and constructs new arguments about contemporary issues. The Subliminal Kid sets up tape recorders and transmitters in bars and cafe’s. It is then remixed. The Subliminal Kid’s tape recording experiement “feeds off of everyday language”. This experiement sparks the thinking process.
Scratching requires an understanding of how language works (literacy). Scratching requires skill to make it understandable and not just noise. This applies to writing as well. Scratching is much like freewriting. You put several ideas together to come up with one idea.It requires skill to make it meaningful.
