{"id":7084,"date":"2006-11-23T09:07:01","date_gmt":"2006-11-23T09:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/23\/sirc-english-co-1\/"},"modified":"2006-11-23T09:07:01","modified_gmt":"2006-11-23T09:07:01","slug":"sirc-english-co-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/23\/sirc-english-co-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Sirc, English Composition as a Happening<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\u23f3 Approximate reading time: <\/span> 5<\/span> mins<\/span><\/span>\n

Sirc,
\n Geoffrey. English Composition as a Happening<\/i>. Logan, Utah: Utah
\n State University Press, 2002.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How do we make the classroom a happening space<\/b>, a space "no one wants
\nto leave"? In English Composition as a Happening<\/i>, Sirc winds through a
\nseries of statements<\/b>–a gallery crawl<\/b>–contrasting,
\nallegorically<\/b>, Modern Composition studies and the materially and
\nprocessually radical avante-garde arts<\/b>. In the figures of Marcel Duchamp<\/b>
\nand Jackson Pollock<\/b> (among others) who have gone under-examined as
\ncompositionists<\/b>, Sirc leads a full-on assault of the Modernist fortress
\nof disciplinarity- and professionalism-minded Composition studies<\/b>. The
\ncuratorial<\/b> or juridical<\/b> spirit of Modern Composition studies as well
\nas its most notable proponent, David Bartholomae<\/b>, the "Sherman Lee of
\ncomp<\/b>", have reduced writing to an enterprise of the stuffy, unreadable,
\nand tame<\/b>: "We purged ourselves of any trace of kookiness, growing first
\nsuspicious, then disdainful, of the kind of homemade comp-class-as-Happening
\nthat people like [William] Lutz tried to put together" (7). Absent the
\nimaginative, mystical, and passionate, comp’s de-intensification leads to the
\ncommonplaces about despair and despondency<\/b>. One glance at the narrowed
\nrange of "bread-alone<\/b>" possibilities (conventions, "rarified materials"
\n(11)) corresponding to Modernist Composition, and there’s no surprise in seeing
\nthe glum faces: boredom predominates in this spiritless domain<\/b>. <\/p>\n

Sirc calls his project a "historical review<\/b>"; he works from figure to
\nfigure, both from composition in the late twentieth century and also from the
\navante-garde arts to give a "re-reading of the field<\/b>" (13). Marcel
\nDuchamp, for instance, forces us to rethink the narrowness of material
\npossibilities; post-process is only possible if we never consider Jackson
\nPollock’s ongoing, intensely precise enactments of process and variation.
\nVenturi’s studies of "nonstraightforward architecture<\/b>" might help us
\nintroduce a "new urbanism<\/b>" to composition studies. Change the scene<\/b>:
\nmake it more like the Vegas strip or like the "bold communication" of the A&P
\nparking lot’s "megatexture"<\/b> (191): feature drift<\/i><\/b> as method.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\"Space\"<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Sirc’s tongue-in-cheek, rapid-fire style is, in itself, intense–a
\ndemonstration of exciting (sweat-inducing) prose emblematic of the through-going
\npropositions in the monograph. As summarily as is possible, this project
\nadvocates for radical practice<\/b>, for rejuvinating the happenings
\ninfluences in the late 60’s and 70’s<\/b> that have dwindled from the scene as
\nthe field has become a legitimate (self-defined) discipline<\/b> with expanded
\nchannels for professionalization: an Modernist outpost perpetuating essayistic
\nrationalism to the neglect of everything disallowed. Sirc challenges the
\nprocessual and material orthodoxies <\/b>of the field, and, in so-doing, presents
\na lively, kicky set of quandaries for keeping with us on the gallery crawl
\nahead. <\/p>\n

Key terms: Venturi and basic architecture (1), museums (2), self-definition
\nand Post-Happenings Composition (8, 35), turns and re-turns (14), gallery crawl
\n(20, 286), hacienda (26), juried scene (38), mathematics of accordance (42),
\nrestricted teleintertext (56), travel narrative (65), derive
\n(89), choosing (113), alert waiting (113), material gesture (113), prose web
\n(114), basic writers (118), post-process (119), new urbanism (187, 222), "nonstraightforward
\narchitecture" (189), A&P parking lot (191), psychogeography (195), bread-alone
\ncomposition (201), pleasure zones (223), successful writing (228),
\narchitectonics of Composition (232), Sherman Lee (266), academic gatekeeper
\n(266), residual objects (272).<\/p>\n

"Because designing space<\/b>s, I think, is what it’s all about. It’s a
\nmatter of basic architecture<\/b>:
\nRobert Venturi<\/a> has
\nshown that simplified compositional programs<\/b>, programs that ignore the
\ncomplexity and contradiction of everyday life, result in bland architecture<\/b>;
\nand I think the reverse<\/b> is true as well, and perhaps more relevant for
\nComposition: bland architecture<\/b> (unless substantially detourned<\/i>,
\nas Lutz’s) evokes simplistic programs<\/b>" (1).<\/p>\n

On Composition’s Canon<\/b> and citation: "As article after article
\nappeared, once could trace the waxing and waning of theoretical trends<\/b>:
\nLanger, Polanyi, Vygotsky, Odell, Emig, Berthoff, Bruffee, Bartholomae, Berlin,
\nAnzaldua, Foucault, and Freire. This
\nnarrow-banding<\/b> is curious for a discipline that trumpets the value of
\nlinguistic richness" (7).<\/p>\n

"Post-Happenings Composition never asks (as Comp ’68 did so often) ‘What’s
\nGoing On?<\/b>‘ To remove any doubt about precisely what was going on,
\nComposition undertook the classical modernist project of self-definition<\/b>"
\n(8).<\/p>\n

"Strict boundaries<\/b> have become maintained in Composition, a separation
\nof (profession-oriented) academy and life, one discipline from another, the
\nspecific discourse from a broader lived reality. This is not Freshman English as
\na Happening, this is Freshman English as a Corporate Seminar<\/b>" (9).<\/p>\n

"The reason the teaching of writing is permeated by dissatisfaction<\/b>
\n(every CCCC presentation seems, at some level, a complaint<\/b>) is that
\nwe–bad enough–don’t really know what teaching is, but also–far worse, fatal,
\nin fact–we haven’t really evolved an idea of writing<\/b> that fully reflects
\nthe splendor of the medium<\/b>" (9).<\/p>\n

"Rarefying materials<\/b>, as Composition does (the middle-brow preciosity
\nor academic aloofness that drives the reading selections we anthologize), only
\nmakes the possibilities for Happening Composition more remote<\/b>,
\nparticularly for students" (11).<\/p>\n

"I’d like, then, to retrace the road not taken in Composition Studies, to
\nre-read the elision<\/b>, in order to remember what was missed and to salvage
\nwhat can still be recovered. This, then, is a negative-space history<\/b>, one
\nthat reverses the conventional figure-ground relations to find the most fruitful
\navenues of inquiry to be those untouched or abandoned by the disciplinary
\nmainstream. The disruptive\/restorative dynamic of my project means both
\nrediscovering the usefulness of some materials of Composition that have faded
\nfrom our conscious screen<\/b>, and forcing a comparison<\/b> of our field with
\nthe avante-garde tradition in post-WWII American art, running that story through
\nour own traditional, disciplined history–or better, showing our history as
\nalready-ruptured, permanently destabilized by our attitude toward<\/b>
\n(really, ignorance of) the compositional avante-garde<\/b>" (13).<\/p>\n

"The cause of our current stasis<\/b>? Doubtless the major influence has
\nbeen Composition’s professionalization<\/b>, its self-tormented quest for
\ndisciplinary stature<\/b>" (24).<\/p>\n

"Just because the rest of the curriculum has banned enchantment<\/b> in
\nfavor of a narrow conception of life-as-careerism that doesn’t mean we have to
\ngo along, does it?" (28).<\/p>\n

"The Happenings lesson to take from Jackson’s art is (life-)
\nprocess-oriented<\/b>: his process fascinates not in order to discover how to
\npaint like Jackson (reproducing forms, reinstituting rhetorics) but to
\nempathize with him<\/b>, to re-enter the compositional scene as Kaprow could, to
\nconsider how he solved problems (what he even saw as problems), how he met
\nlimits, considered materials, tried to make a direct statement in an interesting
\nway–to think about what Jackson felt in the moments of composition<\/b>"
\n(82).<\/p>\n

"But Modernist Composition never admits<\/b> it doesn’t know<\/b> what’s
\ngoing on" (88).<\/p>\n

"A prose web<\/b>, then, is writing as doing things to a range of
\nmaterials<\/b>. Composition as material gesture<\/b>. It means changing the
\naxis of the image, supplying the (missing, now active) horizontal vector to
\ndisable the predictability of composition’s strict verticality" (114).<\/p>\n

"You know what our problem is? It’s a failure of nerve<\/b> in our
\nmyth-making; revealing that about the field might be Jackson’s most useful
\nfunction for CCCC" (115).<\/p>\n

"The way students actually inhabit the writing classroom’s cityscape is very
\nmuch in keeping with the situationist notion of the derive<\/i><\/b>,
\nthe method used to chart a city’s psychogeography<\/b>" (195).<\/p>\n

"I bring in Bono because the writing classroom under the bread-alone program
\nresembles nothing so much as a lame parody of MTV, as seen by the TV show
\ndesigned, in effect, to be a lame parody of MTV, ‘Puttin on the Hits’: writing
\nin the bread-alone composition class<\/b> becomes lip-syncing the standard<\/b>s,
\nand teaching becomes a question of judging the authenticity of the imitation<\/b>"
\n(202).<\/p>\n

"All writing courses, regardless of their ideological advocacy, become
\nModernist<\/b> when they close on received notions of form and function<\/b>"
\n(206).<\/p>\n

"All a curriculum designed to reproduce uniformity<\/b> in writing empowers
\nis the system academic writing serves<\/b> (no matter how counter-hegemonic
\nits ideology, there remain those ‘reformist-progressive social and industrial
\naims that it could seldom achieve in reality’). Why conceal it?" (219).<\/p>\n

"Compared with the way post-Happenings Composition defines the classroom
\nenterprise of college writing instruction, as a professional commitment to
\ndo a certain kind of work with a certain set of materials<\/i>,<\/b>
\nComposition as a Happening<\/b> is far less mediated, looser. It silences that
\ntedious, already-wrote drone of knowing<\/i>, selecting<\/i>, evaluating<\/i>,
\nreporting<\/i>, concluding<\/i>, and arguing<\/i>. It is a pedagogy
\ndesigned to un-build our field’s spaces<\/b>, a standard-stoppage, a
\ncomposition theory (like Schoenberg’s) that values the eraser end of the pencil
\n(or the delete key)" (278).<\/p>\n

!!: 1962 (20), rel. Fulkerson’s axiology (155), trying on academic language
\n(230).<\/p>\n

\n
Related sources:<\/dt>\n
Bartholomae, David. "What is Composition and (if you know what that is)
\n Why Do We Teach It?" Composition in the Twenty-First Century: Crisis and
\n Change<\/i>. Ed. Lynn Z. Bloom, Donald A. Daiker, and Edward M. White.
\n Carbondale: SIU Press, 1996. 11-28.<\/dd>\n
Deemer, Charles. "English Composition as a Happening." College English<\/i>
\n 29 (Nov. 1967): 121-126.<\/dd>\n
Rodrigues, Raymond J. "Moving Away from Writing-Process Worship."
\n English Journal<\/i> Sept. 1985: 24-27.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u23f3 Approximate reading time: <\/span> 5<\/span> mins<\/span><\/span>Sirc, Geoffrey. English Composition as a Happening. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2002.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[174],"tags":[444,1684,290,294,713,1255,616,1685,800,1686,625,840,816,1209,178,183,1681,679,1213,1135,1687,591,319,1688,413,218,1068,1689,1503,1468,555,278,1634,909,1682,288,130,672,1690,1691,1692,1693,1277,1694,289,1695,1696,638,370,1141,1683,140],"class_list":["post-7084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing_technol","tag-aesthetics","tag-allegory","tag-architecture","tag-art","tag-audience","tag-bartholomae","tag-basic","tag-boredom","tag-bricolage","tag-canonicity","tag-carnival","tag-change","tag-choice","tag-classroom","tag-composition","tag-curriculum","tag-deemer","tag-drift","tag-duchamp","tag-flaneur","tag-fluxus","tag-gallery","tag-genre","tag-hacienda","tag-happenings","tag-history","tag-ideology","tag-intensification","tag-material","tag-modern","tag-music","tag-pedagogy","tag-pleasure","tag-politics","tag-pollock","tag-practice","tag-process","tag-professionalization","tag-psychogeography","tag-punk","tag-readymade","tag-residue","tag-sampling","tag-situationist","tag-space","tag-tour","tag-transformation","tag-travel","tag-urban","tag-urbanism","tag-venturi","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nSirc, English Composition as a Happening - Earth Wide Moth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/23\/sirc-english-co-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sirc, English Composition as a Happening - Earth Wide Moth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u23f3 Approximate reading time: 5 minsSirc, Geoffrey. 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Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2002.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/23\/sirc-english-co-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Earth Wide Moth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/derek.mueller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/derek.mueller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-11-23T09:07:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/static.flickr.com\/29\/44408880_569c2e59ea_m.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Derek Mueller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Derek Mueller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/11\\\/23\\\/sirc-english-co-1\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/11\\\/23\\\/sirc-english-co-1\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Derek Mueller\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b\"},\"headline\":\"Sirc, English Composition as a Happening\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-11-23T09:07:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/11\\\/23\\\/sirc-english-co-1\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1473,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/11\\\/23\\\/sirc-english-co-1\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/static.flickr.com\\\/29\\\/44408880_569c2e59ea_m.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"aesthetics\",\"allegory\",\"architecture\",\"art\",\"audience\",\"Bartholomae\",\"basic\",\"boredom\",\"bricolage\",\"canonicity\",\"carnival\",\"change\",\"choice\",\"classroom\",\"composition\",\"curriculum\",\"Deemer\",\"drift\",\"Duchamp\",\"flaneur\",\"fluxus\",\"gallery\",\"genre\",\"hacienda\",\"happenings\",\"history\",\"ideology\",\"intensification\",\"material\",\"modern\",\"music\",\"pedagogy\",\"pleasure\",\"politics\",\"Pollock\",\"practice\",\"process\",\"professionalization\",\"psychogeography\",\"punk\",\"readymade\",\"residue\",\"sampling\",\"situationist\",\"space\",\"tour\",\"transformation\",\"travel\",\"Urban\",\"urbanism\",\"Venturi\",\"writing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Writing Technologies\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/11\\\/23\\\/sirc-english-co-1\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/11\\\/23\\\/sirc-english-co-1\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sirc, English Composition as a Happening - 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They are almost wholly determined by the texts that have gone before; a radical break from the conventions of a form or genre\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Genre"","block_context":{"text":"Genre","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/genre\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7452,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/13\/inevitable\/","url_meta":{"origin":7084,"position":3},"title":"Inevitable","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"March 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In early April:","rel":"","context":"In "Writing Program Adhocracy"","block_context":{"text":"Writing Program Adhocracy","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/writing_program\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7447,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/01\/somehow\/","url_meta":{"origin":7084,"position":4},"title":"Somehow","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"December 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Somehow, the dark sun will illuminate us. 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