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Conceptual Writing

Lyric and Short Poetic Forms

Conceptual writing, often used interchangeably with conceptual poetry, is a style of writing that relies on processes and experiments, including texts that may be reduced to a set of procedures, a generative instruction or constraint, or a concept that precedes and is considered more important than the resulting text. As a category it is closely related to conceptual art.

Facts
Partially Attested
Place of Origin
United States 1
Based on the article's In the USA listing of Kenneth Goldsmith's works and the History of the term section naming Goldsmith and Craig Dworkin as coiners in 2003; no single sentence states the country directly.
Notable Example
Day by Kenneth Goldsmith (2003) 1
Defining Trait
Relies on a concept that precedes and is more important than the resulting text; the work need not be read, only its concept considered 1
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Conceptual writing
  • Recent examples, In the USA section
    Kenneth Goldsmith, No. 111 2.7.92-10.20.96 (1997); Fidget (2000); Soliloquy (2001); Day (2003); The Weather (2005); Traffic (2007); Sports (2008); Seven American Deaths and Disasters (2013); Capital (2015)
  • Conceptual art and conceptual writing section
    Pure conceptualism negates the need for reading in the traditional textual sense, one does not need to "read" the work as much as think about the idea of the work.
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