Uploaded January 2016 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In this paper I’ll define the critical term ‘The Necropastoral’ –an Anthropocene ecopoetics interested in such ecological dynamics as decomposition, contamination, proliferation, waste, mutancy, metastasis commingling, leaks and inflammation. I’ll examine the topography (and the topology) of the Necropastoral by looking at works by Marosa DiGiorgio, Kim Hyesoon, Wilfred Owen, the Smiths, the artist Nick Cave (of Chicago), the filmmaker Jack Smith, and the art collective Asco. I’ll argue for the political potential of the Necropastoral as a strategy of ex-termination-- a re-crossing of borders and boundaries, whereby the Dead and/or obscured move through media to stage spectacular productions and eruptions in the precincts of the living.
Presented by the Program in Poetry and Poetics and Poem Present.
If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to jmhaley@uchicago.edu.
In this paper I’ll define the critical term ‘The Necropastoral’ –an Anthropocene ecopoetics interested in such ecological dynamics as decomposition, contamination, proliferation, waste, mutancy, metastasis commingling, leaks and inflammation. I’ll examine the topography (and the topology) of the Necropastoral by looking at works by Marosa DiGiorgio, Kim Hyesoon, Wilfred Owen, the Smiths, the artist Nick Cave (of Chicago), the filmmaker Jack Smith, and the art collective Asco. I’ll argue for the political potential of the Necropastoral as a strategy of ex-termination-- a re-crossing of borders and boundaries, whereby the Dead and/or obscured move through media to stage spectacular productions and eruptions in the precincts of the living.
Presented by the Program in Poetry and Poetics and Poem Present.
If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to jmhaley@uchicago.edu.
