Unoriginal Genius: Poetry by Other Means in the New Century

Unoriginal Genius examines the evolution of contemporary poetry through the lens of citationality and appropriation. The book focuses on how poets in the digital age create meaning by remixing, repurposing, and recombining existing texts. Perloff analyzes works by poets including Charles Bernstein, Susan Howe, and Kenneth Goldsmith to demonstrate how "unoriginal" writing produces new forms of literary expression. She traces this approach from Walter Benjamin's Arcades Project through contemporary conceptual poetry and digital compositions. The book explores translation as a creative practice, examining multilingual poems and works that move between languages and contexts. Perloff includes detailed readings of poems by Yoko Tawada, Caroline Bergvall, and other contemporary practitioners. The central argument emerges as a redefinition of poetic genius for an era of information overload and digital reproduction. Through this lens, creativity becomes less about original expression and more about the art of selection, arrangement, and recontextualization.

Readers note this book provides analysis of conceptual and experimental poetry, focusing on appropriation, translation, and digital techniques. The discussion of Walter Benjamin's work and citational poetics appears in many positive reviews. Liked: - Clear explanations of complex poetic concepts - Strong analysis of Caroline Bergvall and Susan Howe's works - Useful for understanding contemporary poetry trends Disliked: - Dense academic language makes it inaccessible to casual readers - Some find the focus too narrow on specific poets/movements - Several readers wanted more concrete examples One reviewer on Goodreads wrote: "Her close readings are excellent but the theoretical framework feels dated." Another noted: "Important ideas but tough to get through." Ratings: Goodreads: 4.1/5 (46 ratings) Amazon: 4.3/5 (8 ratings) JSTOR: Multiple positive academic reviews but no ratings Most criticism centers on the writing style rather than the content. Academic readers rate it higher than general readers.

Uncreative Writing by Kenneth Goldsmith This text examines conceptual writing practices and digital poetics through case studies of contemporary works that challenge traditional notions of creativity.

The Sound of Poetry/The Poetry of Sound by Marjorie Perloff This collection explores the intersection of sound, meaning, and form in modern poetry through analyses of multilingual and experimental works.

Against Expression: An Anthology of Conceptual Writing by Craig Dworkin and Kenneth Goldsmith The anthology presents works by poets who use appropriation, transcription, and procedural methods to create literature.

Reading the Illegible by Craig Dworkin The book investigates experimental poems that push the boundaries of legibility through visual and linguistic innovations.

The Language of Inquiry by Lyn Hejinian This collection of essays examines the theoretical foundations of experimental poetry and the relationship between poetry and knowledge.

📚 Marjorie Perloff coined the term "unoriginal genius" to describe contemporary poets who create new works by appropriating and reframing existing texts, similar to how DJs sample and remix music. 🎓 The book explores how digital technology and the internet have transformed modern poetry, leading to new forms of "citational" and "transcreative" writing. ✍️ Perloff examines works by notable writers like Kenneth Goldsmith, who transcribed an entire day's worth of New York Times content, and Caroline Bergvall, who translates and reimagines medieval texts. 🌍 The author analyzes works in multiple languages, including German poet Walter Benjamin's "The Arcades Project," showing how translation and multilingualism influence contemporary poetry. 📖 The book challenges traditional notions of originality and authorship, suggesting that in our digital age, creativity often means finding innovative ways to reshape existing content rather than creating entirely new material.