(The tick-tick-tick of a counter climbing up as messages are sent. The ding of an inbox visible to only one person. The looming crumple of an email automatically sent to ‘Trash’. A digital veil rises, allowing the brief imitation of contact to be made. Here, THE BARKER stands, center stage.)
BARKER: This month, in electronic book review:
(The lights drop. A pale blue spotlight bursts into life.)
BARKER: Jussi Parikka, Paolo Patelli, and May Ee Wong delve into their captivating post-digital narrative work, The Environmental Audiotour, in “Ecocritique between Landscape and Data: The Environmental Audiotour”!
(The Barker pats down the pockets of her tailored suit, pulling out a piece of paper. The spotlight warms as she reads from it:)
BARKER: From our guest editors for April 2024, Lai-Tze Fan and Cecilia A. W. Martin:
Thank you to the ELO 2023 conference, especially to its organizers, Daniela Maduro, Manuel Portela, Rui Torres, and Alex Saum-Pascual, who first hosted Professor Jussi Parikka as a keynote speaker at their conference in Coimbra, Portugal. The resulting publication in ebr by Parikka, Patelli, and Wong is a collaboration with ELO 2023 and will appear in their forthcoming conference publications.
(The Barker clears her throat, twirling her hands towards the stage wings and the editorial staff presumably waiting there.)
BARKER: We wish to introduce Cecilia A. W. Martin, who is collaborating with Editor Lai-Tze Fan as a guest co-editor for this month’s issue of ebr. Fan, Martin, and others are also co-writing a research paper on access to proprietary software programs and platforms, and the impact of lowered access on researchers, artist-researchers, and computational designers. Martin (University of Waterloo, Canada) is actively engaged in exploring legal frameworks surrounding societal issues. Passionate about social justice, she aspires to integrate legal insights with sociological perspectives to advocate for equitable solutions.
(The Barker drops the letter. It flutters to the floor. The stage washes with greens and turquoises as The Barker starts towards a desk, stood down stage. She turns to the audience, still hidden behind their screens:)
BARKER: Prepare to be fansplained as Scott Rettberg and Flourish Klink boldly go into the lows and (watermelon sugar) highs of fan fiction, fan culture and fan studies in Off Center‘s “Episode 8: Fanfiction as a Form of Digital Narrativity with Flourish Klink”!
(The Barker takes a seat at the desk and shoves her booted feet onto it. The lighting bleaches white. A wall of shadow slowly begins sliding in from stage left.)
BARKER: A total eclipse of the art! Steve Tomasula explores how his experience of the 2017 solar eclipse elevated the normal to the sublime in “Total Eclipse: A Rearview Review of Rhythms”!
(A spotlight pierces through the darkness as The Barker launches into a flurry of dynamic movement.)
BARKER: Are you ready to embrace the wonderful, widening world of—
(The Barker throws her head back.)
BARKER: (Screaming.) GADDIS, GADDIS, GADDIS!!!
(The Barker reaches below the desk and reveals a large, leather briefcase.)
BARKER: Let’s get down to business.
(She slams the briefcase down onto the desk.)
BARKER: Lisa Siraganian uses Gaddis’ A Frolic of His Own (1994) to explore the ways that the idea of the individual is warped by corporate personhood in “William Gaddis’s Frolics in Corporate Law”.
(The Barker stands.)
BARKER: Rochelle Gold elevates critical literacy discussion by drawing an instrumentalist thread between Gaddis’ J R (1975) and Joseph Wizenbaum’s ELIZA computer program, in “Pre-written Business Correspondences and Computer Therapists: William Gaddis’s J R, ELIZA, and Literacies in Conflict”.
(The Barker opens the briefcase’s latches with two ominous thunks.)
BARKER: In “Faire Exchange No Robbery: Critiques of Anthologies and Contracts in an Unpublished Gaddis Play”, Jeffrey Severs identifies the themes that resonate through Gaddis’ later work in an early, unpublished manuscript.
(The Barker opens the case itself. Documents spill out over the desk.)
BARKER: More material meets the digital light of day as Mark Madigan shares an unpublished photograph of Gaddis in “William Gaddis at St. Michael’s College: Memoir and Photograph”.
(The Barker leverages herself up onto the desk, eyes still locked on the audience.)
BARKER: In “A Student with Mr. Gaddis”, Jon Fain adds to the rich historical tapestry the centenary gathering is weaving by sharing his experiences of Mr. Gaddis, his undergraduate creative writing advisor!
(The Barker stands upright. Fists clenched.)
BARKER: In recounting his career, Paul Ingendaay pays testament to the late emergence but cult acceptance of Gaddis’s work in Germany, in “The Most Curious Career: William Gaddis in Germany”
(The Barker throws her arms out, her eyes wide.)
BARKER: (Yelling.) ROUND AND ROUND AND ROUND THE TABLE IT GOES!
Ali Chetwynd, Jeff Bursey, Victoria Harding, Chad Post, Edwin Turner, and Chris Via discuss discussing Gaddis outside of academic channels in “Academic Venues for Discussing Gaddis and Other Innovative Fiction”! Meanwhile, Marie Fahd, Yoshihiko Kihara, Sergey Karpov, Mariano Peyrou, Ali Chetwynd, Francine Fabiana Ozaki, and Max Nestelieiev focus on translating Gaddis’ work in “Translating Gaddis”!
(The Barker’s arms fall.)
BARKER: Join us next month for more.
(The Barker jumps, disappearing into the depths of the briefcase in a flurry of articles, photographs, and manuscripts. As if spring-loaded, the briefcase snaps shut behind her. Like the rest of the ebr editorial team, she’s invisible once more.
The stage fades into darkness.)