December 2012, Majuro Lagoon, Marshall Islands

Experimental Literature: An Introduction

Experimental literature is the art of acknowledging literary conventions, techniques, and assumptions, and then bringing something new to the conversation. It is innovation, although we usually think of writing as already innovative. Experimental literature is experimentation with the way we communicate—or don't communicate. It may incorporate more than one form of expression or no expression at all.

I fully confess that there are some types of experimental literature and meta-fiction I love more, some I love less, and some that just puzzle me, even to the point of annoyance. I love experimental works that tinker with typography, or, in the digital realm, include interactivity. I adore books that acknowledge the reader in some way (Choose Your Own Adventure® books or The Monster at the End of This Book). Here's an example of experimental literature that experiments with the form of the book:

Having had experience with typesetting, I enjoy playing with readers' expectations of book interiors and what a book is "supposed to be." In other realms, I am more than happy to disband stereotypes about what Mormons and women and humans are "supposed to be." Heaven is heterogeneous, as I like to say, and our literature can be as well.

I fully admit that a lot of the experimental poetry does nothing for me except give me a headache. It may be personally meaningful for the creator, but it can be very inaccessible to the average reader. That said, perhaps some writing will only appeal to a certain group with certain tastes, and that's okay, too—I'm sure very few people will appreciate the critical analysis I did of a poem using matrix theory.

I consider myself and my writing part of the metamodernism movement; that is, a recognition and an oscillation between deconstruction and construction, hope and doubt, relativism/existentialism and absolutely truth. We recognize these things, write about them, and even try to move beyond them. Language ought to serve its people, not the other way around.

Also having a background in and a love for physics and science in general, I like to incorporate mathematical, programming, and scientific concepts into my writing. For example, Jamie Zvirzdin, ∃!∎ is a personal statement, with ∃ being the logical operator symbol acting as a predication (a declaration that something can be assumed to be self-evident). The expression ∃! is the symbol for unique existential quantification, meaning "There exists one and only one," and ∎ (the "tombstone") signifies the end of a proof.

This statement therefore, to me, indicates that my existence is self-evident, which establishes my presence in the cosmos; there is only one of me, establishing my uniqueness as an individual; and those preceding statements are all the proof I need of my individuality and capacity to make a difference until the day I die. While some logicians and philosophers may cringe at the adoption of this phrase as a personal statement, I like it.

I am in the process of learning more about this field, so I will be posting what I find on my blog. Feel free to comment and give reading/viewing suggestions!