Flarf

Flarf describes a contemporary literary movement from the genre of lyric poetry , which is closely linked to the medium of the Internet and which turns against established aesthetics. Gary Sullivan is considered to be the founder of the Flarf. By its definition, flarf is

“A quality of intentional or unintentional 'flarfiness.' A kind of corrosive, cute, or cloying, awfulness. Wrong. Un-PC out of control. 'Not okay.' ”

“A special quality of targeted or untargeted 'flarfiness'. Some kind of destructive, sweet or sticky horror. Not correct. Politically incorrect. Out of control. ,Not okay.'"

- Gary Sullivan : poets.org

Origin and development

At the turn of the millennium , Gary Sullivan decided to take part in a literary competition with what he saw as an extremely bad poem . The poem was titled Mm-hmm and was selected for publication by the literary competition organizer, Poetry.com. Gary Sullivan posted the incident on a poetry mailing list . He encouraged other authors with really bad poems to take part in this competition and to exchange ideas. Along with several other writers, Sullivan subsequently regularly wrote bad poems for the competition and submitted them under various names. During this time, the term flarf came up and established itself in the exchange of writers. After one of these Flarf poems received an unexpected hit with a public reading in New York, Sullivan published it in his book of poems How to Proceed in the Arts .

From around May 2001, the Flarf authors were exchanged via a mailing list, the flarflist . In addition to Gary Sullivan, the note-taking included Sharon Mesmer , Nada Gordon , Michael Magee and K. Silem Mohammad . The authors often posted texts based on word material from Google search results. Other authors took up topics, quotations or the form of the texts and processed them into their own texts. Often sweet words like "fluffy" or "cuddle" were found in the texts. In addition to the Google search results, office mails were also alienated and used as a starting point for texts. In September 2001, after the attacks on the World Trade Center, there was initially a quiet phase on the mailing list. As a result, all texts dealt with the effects of the attacks and often parodied the language of the media. The mailing list was subject to further changes, but still exists today and some authors continue to serve as the basis for developing texts.

At irregular intervals a kind of reading festival is celebrated in the Bowery Poetry Club with performances by the Flarf poets.

There is no comparable development in German-speaking countries, but the movement was picked up and Flarf texts were also created. The use of word material from Google search results is often understood as a central characteristic of the Flarf. Examples include a. Hannes Bajohr , Alexander Gumz and Stephan Reich.

reception

Flarf is perceived in the USA as a literary movement to be taken seriously and is already being scientifically analyzed. The American Poetry Magazine published an all flarf issue on this phenomenon . In Germany, too, it is reported in the feature sections of renowned newspapers. Flarf has also already found its way into German lessons in schools.

Publications

• K. Silem Mohammed: Deer Head Nation , Tougher Disguises Pr 2003, ISBN 978-0974016702 .
• Michael Magee: My Angie Dickinson , Zasterl Press 2007, ISBN 978-8487467462 .
• Drew Gardner : Flarf Orchestra (audio book), Edge Books 2012, ISBN 978-1890311353 .
• Stephan Porombka (Ed.): Flarf Berlin 95 Netzgedichte , Verlag Edition Pæchterhaus , Hildesheim 2012, ISBN 978-3941392328 .
• CP Harrison : One Hundred Flarf-Ku , Saturn Fence Publishing 2014, ISBN 978-0692345597 .
• Hartmut Abendschein : Flarf-Disco , edition taberna kritika , Bern 2015, ISBN 9783905846348 .
• Alexander Gumz : Conspiracy Cartoons. New York Flarf Poems , Parasite Press , Cologne 2015.
• Hannes Bajohr : Semi-finished product. Word processing , Suhrkamp , Berlin 2018. ISBN 978-3518073582 .

See also

• William McGonagall
• Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gary Sullivan: A Brief Guide to Flarf Poetry. poets.org, February 14, 2011, accessed January 27, 2016 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} CHRISTIANE REITZ: Google's work and author's contribution. FAZ , October 21, 2010, accessed on January 27, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Julian Gärtner: The high pitch of the sparkling king Hartmut Abendschein “Flarf Disco” moves between music and poetry. Literary criticism, September 2015, accessed January 27, 2016 . 
4. ↑ FLARF-POETRY - POETING WITH THE HELP OF GOOGLE. Mediamanual, accessed January 27, 2016 .