Invention Through Textual Reuse: Toward Pedagogies of Critical-Creative Tinkering

INVENTION THROUGH TEXTUAL REUSE: TOWARD PEDAGOGIES OF CRITICAL-CREATIVE TINKERING by Danielle Rachel Koupf A. B., Lafayette College, 2008 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2014 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Danielle Rachel Koupf It was defended on May 16, 2014 and approved by Don Bialostosky, PhD, Professor of English Jean Ferguson Carr, PhD, Associate Professor of English John Lyne, PhD, Professor of Communication Dissertation Advisor: Stephen L. Carr, PhD, Associate Professor of English ii Copyright © by Danielle Rachel Koupf 2014 iii INVENTION THROUGH TEXTUAL REUSE: TOWARD PEDAGOGIES OF CRITICAL-CREATIVE TINKERING Danielle Rachel Koupf, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2014 This project investigates the many ways in which writers reuse preexisting texts in new writing. I introduce the umbrella term textual reuse to identify any practice of incorporating “old” text in a “new” composition. With this broad term, I expand and enrich the field of derivative writing beyond the two most prominent practices discussed in composition studies: remix and plagiarism. More than affirming that reuse is valuable or interesting altogether, I indicate what makes some instances of reuse more inventive than others. I ask how we can both recognize and produce inventive works of reuse. To investigate these questions, I examine a range of example texts, from sentence-level reuse in poetry and writing exercises, to larger-scale compilation in textual collections such as miscellanies and anthologies. In drawing on many instructional texts from the eighteenth century to today, I demonstrate how textual reuse has contributed to the teaching of reading and writing throughout the history of modern English studies and propose how it might continue to do so. I extract from these materials some key strategies for inventive reuse, including rearrangement, combination, substitution, addition, deletion, and reformatting. These strategies form the foundation for a pedagogical practice that I call critical-creative tinkering, a mode of engaging with a text by rewriting it. I argue that manipulating a source text in this way can prompt critical insight into it while also generating new writing, making it a broadly creative activity. Critical-creative tinkering is a writing pedagogy that also teaches active close reading and thus appeals broadly to the teaching of reading and writing. It is a practice with iv consequences for the text being reused and revised, as well as for the tinkerer, who gains facility with language and an enhanced understanding of how texts work. I theorize and advocate for critical-creative tinkering by explicating successful examples from literary works, the Internet and popular culture, professional writing, and student writing. I argue that tinkering can help to bridge courses across the different branches of English studies and outline classroom and curricular conditions that will support its wide integration. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................................... XI ABBREVIATED INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 4 1. COMBINATION, ARRANGEMENT, INVENTION: HEURISTICS FOR TEXTUAL REUSE AS A PRODUCTIVE PRACTICE ............................................................................. 20 I. MERGING INVENTION AND ARRANGEMENT .................................................... 22 II. INVENTION AS INTERVENTION ........................................................................... 28 III. A MATERIAL-TECHNICAL MODEL OF INVENTION ..................................... 32 IV. MODELING TEXTUAL JOINS ................................................................................ 40 2. TEXTUAL REUSE AND THE LITERARY DOMAIN: PROCEDURES FOR CRITICAL-CREATIVE TINKERING .................................................................................... 64 I. “GOING WRONG”: RHETORICAL-POETIC LANGUAGE PLAY IN W. D. SNODGRASS’S REUSE .................................................................................................... 69 II. DE/COMPOSITION AND ITS ALLIES ACROSS THE DISCIPLINE ................. 81 III. PREVAILING PROCEDURES FOR TEXT GENERATION ................................ 88 IV. DE/COMPOSITION AND ITS ALLIES IN THE ARCHIVES OF ENGLISH INSTRUCTION .................................................................................................................. 92 V. SELECTION: WHERE EXPERIMENT MEETS ENVIRONMENT ................... 103 vi VI. INTERFERENCE: TEXTUAL REUSE AS AN ORDERED YET OPEN SYSTEM ............................................................................................................................................ 108 3. TINKERING IN/WITH ENGLISH .................................................................................... 114 I. TINKERING AS A GENERAL WRITING PRACTICE ......................................... 117 II. TINKERING IN ENGLISH STUDIES ..................................................................... 120 III. NOT JUST TRIFLING: TINKERING WITHIN AND BEYOND THE SENTENCE ....................................................................................................................... 126 IV. INVENTION: THE INTERPLAY OF CONSTRAINTS, PROCEDURES, AND SELF-SELECTED INTERFERENCES ........................................................................ 136 V. PROCEDURE, REFLECTION, EVALUATION .................................................... 139 VI. PROMOTING TINKERING: FROM THE WORKBENCH TO THE CLASSROOM .................................................................................................................. 142 VII. SEQUENCING TINKERING IN THE ENGLISH COURSE ............................. 150 VIII. PROMOTING TINKERING AT THE CURRICULAR LEVEL ...................... 157 4. CREATIVITY AND CONSTRAINT: TINKERING WITH PROFESSIONAL WRITING .................................................................................................................................. 165 I. TEXTUAL REUSE IN THE DOMAIN OF PROFESSIONAL WRITING............ 170 II. INTERVENTION AND DEVIATION: PRODUCING INVENTIVE JOB APPLICATIONS .............................................................................................................. 175 III. DISCOVERING NUANCE BY EXPERIMENTING WITH PROFESSIONAL WRITING ......................................................................................................................... 187 IV. DE/COMPOSING THE JOB APPLICATION ....................................................... 202 V. TEACHING INVENTIVE SELF-CREATION ........................................................ 209 vii VI. TEACHING CRITICAL TEMPLATE LITERACY AND TINKERING ........... 214 5. REUSE EVERY DAY: POPULAR MODELS FOR INVENTIVE INTERVENTION . 220 I. TOOLS FOR CRITICAL-CREATIVE TINKERING AMID POPULAR CULTURES OF REUSE ................................................................................................. 223 II. REMEDIATION AND SCRAP WRITING .............................................................. 227 III. (MIS)QUOTATION AND INVENTING THE “WRONG” WAY ....................... 244 IV. DE/COMPOSING THE NEWS ................................................................................ 256 V. TOWARD MAKING AND EVALUATING REUSE EVERY DAY ...................... 272 CONCLUSION: SUSTAINING REUSE, SUSTAINING ENGLISH: TOWARD PEDAGOGIES OF CRITICAL-CREATIVE TINKERING ............................................... 280 I. THE TINKERER’S TEXTUAL STANCE: READING, WRITING, AND EXIGENCY ....................................................................................................................... 285 II. TINKERING AND THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH STUDIES ............................... 288 III. SUSTAINING AND SPONSORING REUSE FOR THE FUTURE ..................... 301 APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................ 307 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 311 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Mullen's Translation of Shakespeare .............................................................................. 86 Table 2: Procedures of Reuse in Text Generation ........................................................................ 90 Table 3: Example of Transposition in Buchanan's Rendering of Paradise Lost .......................... 96 Table 4: Parker's Model of Transposition ................................................................................... 100 Table 5: How Shields Manipulates a Source .............................................................................. 111 Table 6: Sample Student De/Composition -- Jesse ..................................................................... 128 Table 7: Sample Student De/Composition -- Kirsten ................................................................. 130 Table 8: Sample Student De/Composition -- Amanda ............................................................... 134 Table 9: A Bad Lip Reading of Obama's Oath ..........................................................................

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