Computers and Writing

Chapter 11 of Writing about Cool is called The Beats.  This chapter follows two of the pioneers that helped to establish this literary movement.  These guys called themselves ‘the beats’ because they felt ‘beat-down’ yet at the same time holy.  It is funny to me that Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs found enlightenment in their despair.   Rice describes these men as “mostly educated, white and male.”  ‘The Beats’ found themselves disenfranchised with the culture of the sixties and found that their enlightenment would help other like minded individuals who dealt with alienation, marginality, dissatisfaction with the status quo and a sense of rebellion.  Both of these men were very influential in their ‘experimental writings.
Chapter 11 delves into the stylistics of Jack Kerouac whose writings can best be described as interactive.  I say this because, the aspects and concepts of spontaneous writing, rhetoric of race, nostalgia, cut-up, juxtaposition and the use of tape recording conversations only find their meanings in the minds of the reader. 
Spontaneous writing is a perfect example.  ‘The Subteraneans’ is rife with Kerouac’s style of spontaneity, meaning that the style is quick and seemingly directionless that still comes together in spite of itself.  This writing style makes the reader, as Rice puts it, “feel privileged” to the inner workings and machinations of the authors mind.  This type of spontaneous prose is good for commenting on immediate feelings and to give the reader a sense of urgency.  The lack of direction draws the reader in and makes them question intent and make up their own minds as to the answers of the questions that the author helps create.  Spontaneous writing is a good tool in letting the reader help create their own unique perspective into the author’s intent.
The rhetoric of race is important not just for racial reasons.  The use of Race is just an example; however, it does give the reader a glimpse into the racial tensions of the sixties; meaning, that this same scenario can work well with anything from religion to the morality of abortion.  Kerouac’s word usage gives the reader a choice.  He uses offensive language, both racial and misogynistic to let us decide how to react to cultural issues that exist.  We can either be offended, pleased or unaffected…the truth is that it doesn’t matter because our reactions to Kerouac’s rhetoric will give each of us our own insight into the cultural issues at hand, after all…words are just sounds until our minds give them a meaning.
Nostalgia is another of Kerouac’s strategies in his literary arsenal of rhetoric.  Nostalgia is, of course, a desire for the past.  Rice defines it as the ‘longing’ for an idealized past era.  This is an important tool because for many people the times of childhood innocence are exactly that; an idealized past.  Rice states, however, that nostalgia is in a cyclical twenty year pattern; meaning that what the ideal era is today would be the 1980’s.  This rhetorical wrench helps to persuade and emotionally invest the reader…remind them that the toils and entrapments of today didn’t used to exist. It is another form of an internal social commentary, just like spontaneous prose and racial rhetoric described earlier.  This tool makes the reader respond to the idealized ‘better times.’
The ‘Cut-Up’ is a method that Burroughs proposed to help people counter the messages in the media establishment.  This proposal allows the reader to cut apart a message and put it back in a non-sequential order in an effort to reinterpret a given message.  As an author, this tool is invaluable to the writing process.  Especially when considering the computer age where most writing is done with a word processor.  ‘Cut-up’ is a necessary part of the writing process. 
I have to admit; when I first read the piece on the Subliminal Kid’s experiments with the tape recorder I was harsh in my belief that it was plagiarism of ideology.  Yet, upon more conscious thought, this experiment does in fact seem exceptionally relevant as a research and interpretive tool that can be invaluable in the more linear forms of writing. Or taken by themselves, a very provocative art form that can really engage not only the artist, but the audience in an interior dialogue of societal issues.
Skratching, the noble art of hip-hop. What was originally considered an art  conceived by need has morphed into mainstream popular culture.  An interesting transformation with a relatively un-evolved means.  DJ’s still use old records and old technology to create new sounds and new beats.    The debate is literacy and technology.  Rice uses the example of sheet music juxtaposed next to writing down cuts and breaks to dictate a language to help immortalize original thought. 
The main issue at bay with this ‘skratching’ language is the creation of a new literacy movement.  As with any art, a way of creating immortality and the desire to create a standard of re-creation is needed.  Music is no exception.  Sheet music is a language in and of itself.  Words on a page are synonymous to the flag markings of b flat and c sharp.  Just as the contrasts of colors on a piece of fabric create a ‘readable’ painting, the ideas behind words and the sounds behind notes are representative of a readable language.  So the evolution of ‘skratching’ is tantamount to the evolution and rhetoric of any form of creative literacy.  Because of ‘Skratching’s’ relative youth, one can view the nature of the consumption within all ‘literature’ as an interpretive process relying on each reader’s responses