SFState of the Art

Nine litmags editors expatiated on their art last nite at the Poetry Center at SF State. Some things that caught my ear:

1) Eli Horowitz of McSweeney's described putting a magnet in the current issue: the negotiations with the printer in Singapore (finding one who could perform the insertion; getting the right strength of magnet)...a real crowd pleaser.

I replied that "packaging" struck me as an interim solution to the crisis of the text and the reader's disinterest in it.

In the longer run, I suggested, the generation that lives to "text" each other nonstop (and can input with their thumbs) is not going to have the patience or the concentrated attention to (want to) be able to deal with intricately composed (and extended) verbal patterns.

Nonetheless, I went on, maybe "literature" will survive the way horses have, not so much for day-to-day transportation (consider the pollution we'd have if they had), but for recreation and racing and pastoral delight (and food). Since there are now more horses in this country than there were in 1900, us farrier/editors may have a future....

2) Del Ray Cross of Shampoo was asked how he decided how much stuff to include in his online journal. He replied that although theoretically he has infinite space, in practice he likes to have the names of all the poets in a given "issue" visible on the homepage. (Thus, 36 appear in the current issue.)

I thought this was an excellent question and that his answer showed how the model for the e-zine continues to be "the page." The possibilities of the new (post-page) format, with links, with video, with interactivity, are only beginning to be explored.

Michelle Richmond of Fiction Attic said she likes having an object to lug around with her, peruse in the bath, etc., and Del Ray cited Sony's e-book (and I felt like pulling out my superBlackBerry, which is waterproof, and liteweight, and easy to read...except I don't have one).

3) Chad Sweeney of Parthenon West Review allowed as how the experience of the panel that night, discussing the money-draining quagmire of distribution versus the ease and economy of e-publishing, had persuaded him to renounce print in the future and just do a limited edition, a couple hundred copies for libraries, and let the online edition reach out to the masses.

PS: At least one member of the audience posted her reaction before she turned in: http://boredlizzie.livejournal.com/32230.html?view=42726#t42726