Anarchist Literary Practice
Anarchism proposes a bottom-up politics; from the singular practices of the worker in the factory to a new conception of society. What is the factory of literature? This panel is meant to start a dialogue between people in different fields exploring the relation between anarchist principles and literary practices. The anarchist tradition of Proudhon, Bakhunin and Kropotkin provided strong philosophical and political conceptions of the individual, property, and the idea of community as well as strong critiques to representative systems (democracy, Marxism) as well as to capitalism. Many studies have been written on the influence that anarchism had over postructuralist thought, and the similarities that they still share today. Yet, whereas Marxism and postructuralism have often been used as theoretical foundations for the analysis of literature, it has rarely been the case of anarchism. What kind of methodological tools can we take from anarchism for the analysis of literature? How can the anarchist principles be translated to literary practices (both of readers and writers)? Selected papers will deal with but are not limited to the following topics: literature and property, theft and plagiarism, deconstruction and anarchism, literature as a critique of representation, literature as labor, literature as a collective or communitarian practice, literature and direct action. In the interest of establishing a productive dialogue the organizer suggests that panelists read Jesse Cohn’s very short essay “Anarchist Literary Theory” before arriving at the convention in April.