Writing Surfaces

derek beaulieu is the author of five books of poetry, three volumes of conceptual fiction, and over 150 chapbooks. beaulieu teaches at the Alberta College of Art + Design and Mount Royal University. Lori Emerson is an assistant professor in the Department of English at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She writes about and teaches electronic literature (especially digital poetry), experimental American and Canadian poetry, the history of computing, and media theory. She is co-editor, with Darren Wershler, of The Alphabet Game: A bpNichol Reader (2007). John Riddell is the author of Criss-Cross (Coach House, 1977) and numerous other volumes of visual poetry and prose. An early editor of grOnk, Ganglia, and Phenomenon Press, he has published in magazines like Kontakte, Descant, and Ganglia from the 1960s to the present.

``A timely and compelling presentation of graphical writings whose archaeological media specificity reminds us of the ways literary works engage generatively with the material conditions of their production. Hints of early conceptualism, the writing-under-constraint techniques of OuLiPo, features of concrete poetics, and procedural aesthetics are all in play in/on/across these pages. beaulieu and Emerson have done a real service in bringing John Riddell's work back into view so that it may get the critical recognition and discussion it deserves. Riddell's synthesis of movements and tendencies exemplifies the rich activity of Canadian poetics in the late 20th century while demonstrating a distinctly original sensibility.'' -- Johanna Drucker, Breslauer Professor of Bibliographical Studies, UCLA, author ofThe Visible Word, Stochastic Poetics, etc. -- 201301

• Writing Surfaces: Selected Fiction of John Riddell, edited by derek beaulieu and Lori EmersonIntroduction: Media Studies and Writing SurfacesUntitledPope Leo: El ELoPE: A Tragedy in Four LettersCriss-Crossmoroxà deux5 waysplacid / specialletterswesurveysrunesa shredded textin takewatchingcodauntitledTracesfrom Glass Selected Works of John Riddell Acknowledgements