 |
 |
A friend of mine, Kurt Brown, edited two anthologies that may be of interest-- Verse & Universe: Poems about Science and Mathematics http://www.milkweed.org/4_catalog/4_1_3_4075.html The Measured Word : On Poetry and Science by Kurt Brown (Editor), Albert Goldbarth (Introduction) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0820322873/qid=1010873270/sr=1-6/ref=sr _1_10_7/102-5887910-7966532 This is a collection of essays by Forrest Gander, Pattiann Rogers, Alice Fulton, Miroslav Holub, Jonothan Holden, etc. As an aside, it seems to me the Sokal hoax was just an aggressive form of skepticism...and it was successful in calling into question the ingrown and jargon-mongering nature of critical theory...pointing to ways it easily goes awry. (I'll stay away from the political agenda.) The point of any hoax is that those who should know better are fooled. It generally results in a stepping back, some shaking of heads, and taking a good look around....which is healthy now and again. I don't think of it as bad faith. We quote each other all the time. There are whole anthologies of quotes. Something in me wants to say that each sentence should stand alone, unassailable. But even the greatest thinkers err or let their tongues do their thinking, at times. If Baudrillard is correct in his notions then he can't be harmed by Sokal's skepticism. If he is being imprecise, then he's been called upon it. Concepts from science are stretched, grafted onto, or used sloppily in many disciplines (philosophy and poetry, notably). It happens innocently, through ignorance (this word should not be taken as necessarily perjorative because how could any person outside of astrophysics or neuroscience, say, really understand the details and full background of much of what the science entails) and purposefully. The last use is tricky for the poet. Because he/she may disregard accuracy in favor of other ends (metaphor, music, etc.) in the composing of the poem; or it may fit his/her purpose to stretch the "truth"...the supreme fiction. Science, and any other form or field based on purported fact or truth, may be twisted by the will or whim of the poet. Finnegan