Subject to Change Liveblog 7



Amanda Montei (SUNY Buffalo)


“Transcorporeality and Ecological Critique in Hanna Weiner’s The Fast”



Hanna Weiner as a marginal poet who claimed she was clairvoyant (she was schizophrenic)
often she is analyzed as a pathological symptom
ignoring her radical relation to the environment
early performance works: vacuuming the streets and giving hot dogs away
Stacy Alaimo: transcorporeality
The Fast: a record of a period of acute chemical sensitivity
claimed to see words on her forehead: printed on outside or emerging from beyond, or inside?
words have a political-ecological awareness, she claims
destabilization of the “anthropomorphic, autopoetic lyric I”
vs “the spectral nature of Cartesian duality”
hard to draw a line between human and nonhuman these days
“viscous porosity” of distinction (Nancy Tuana)
hot dog performance: hidden ingredients, “the traffic in toxins” (Alaimo)
relation to chemical sensitivity in The Fast, an autobiographical novella
acid trips and release of energy in spine
urinating in pots to avoid bathroom
living in the sink to avoid metal
frustrating and futile attempts to find a nontoxic place to live >> grim humor
could feel electricity in walls and nylon carpeting
pesticides and formaldehyde
how to disengage from capitalism: very difficult! 

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