The author describes 'windsound'
as a 'text movie' animated by transliteral morphs
(textual morphing based on letter replacements)
through a sequence of nodal texts.
'windsound' is based on original
texts by Cayley, plus his own translation of a Song
period lyric, 'Cadence: Like a Dream' by Qin Guan
(1049-1100). It is designed to be viewed as an all-but-linear
movie. Once started, it plays through a sequence
taking about 20 minutes. While it plays continuously,
the text which you read (where not composed) is
algorithmically generated. (In later, still unfinished
pieces such text movies are navigable, becoming
similar to so-called 'object movies'.)
John Cayley
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While the piece has narrative
and fictional qualities, it is submitted as poetry
since Cayley writes out of a tradition of innovative
poetry, and because the piece addresses linguistic
structures at a granular level: as literal art.
London-based Anglo-Canadian poet
John Cayley is a bookseller and the founding editor
of the Wellsweep Press. He is widely known for his
writing in networked and programmable media. He
has lectured on the writing program at the University
of California, San Diego and is now an Honorary
Research Associate of Royal Holloway College, University
of London, and an Honorary Fellow of Dartington
College of Arts, associated with their degree-level
course on Performance Writing.
Electronic Literature Organization