Jennifer S. Cheng

A Poetics of Blank Space

Monday, June 17, 2024, 10:30 a.m to 12:00 p.m.

The concept of 間 mā in Japanese culture refers in social contexts to how one must ‘read’ the air in the space between words, and its meaning carries aesthetic and philosophical dimensions. In this interactive seminar we will draw on various critical and creative texts across cultures to consider the meaning-making and lyric potential of blank space. What if what isn’t said carries as much importance as what is said? How do boundaries of absence haunt their textual surroundings and vice versa? Together we will examine the formal use of empty space, negative space, gaps, silences, and shadows, along with their material and immaterial reverberations, observing a spectrum of evocative possibility and considering the implications for our poetics, our writing practice, and even our ethics. This seminar will include at least one generative writing experiment.

Required Reading (in Reader):

Cheng, Jennifer S.  “Dear Blank Space: A Literacy Narrative.” Literary Hub, 6 Dec 2022.

 Available online at: www.lithub.com/dear-blank-space-a-literary-narrative/

Fujii, Haruka. “Discover: Haruka explains ma (間) | Silkroad.” Youtube, uploaded by Silkroad, 2019. Video and Transcript. 

Available online at: https://youtu.be/TfgEVRYhV8U?si=CDv4AhHwvP0dXt5a

Glissant, Édouard. “For Opacity.” Poetics of Relation. Translated by Betsy Wing, University of Michigan Press, 2010, pp.189-194. 

Available online at: www.jackie-inhalt.net/reh/bilder/edouard-glissant-for-opacity.pdf

Tanizaki, Junichiro. In Praise of Shadows. Excerpts. Translated by Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker, Leete’s Island Books, 1977, pp.9-11, 13-18, 42.