Announcing: the Monkey's Paw Detournement Tournament In the late 1950s, a quarrelsome group of French theorists conceived the artistic practice of detournement: approximately, "the re-use of pre-existing cultural elements in a new ensemble." (In hip hop they call it "sampling," n'est-ce pas?) Inspired by the aesthetic possibilities -- and too lazy to write our own words anyway -- we at the Monkey's Paw decided to try generating literary texts composed of nothing but the titles of old books. After some experimentation, we concluded that book-title-detournement constitutes a legitimate literary sub-genre -- or at least a droll parlor game for bored shop clerks. Now we'd like to share the fun with our customers. Hence the Monkey's Paw Detournement Tournament. The object: to create a text (poem, prose, call it what you will) composed entirely from titles of books and pamphlets found on the shelves of the Monkey's Paw. No other words are allowed -- or necessary. Anyone may participate. During regular business hours, you may spend as long as you wish in our shop, copying down whichever titles serve your intentions -- we'll even provide you with paper. Alternately, you may view or download a current title list (below), and remain holed up in your garret. Once you've selected some promising titles, simply arrange them into a text that pleases you. We impose no limits on length, form, or meaning; any text composed of two or more Monkey's Paw titles qualifies for the contest. (The titles must remain whole, but it is acceptable to alter capitalization and punctuation to suit your needs.) Remember, though: we will summarily reject any submission containing a word or phrase which is NOT the title of a book in the Monkey's Paw stock. We'll accept book-title-detournements through Sunday, October 21. Submit your entry to the Monkey's Paw either in person (hard copy) or digitally (wish@monkeyspaw.com; subject line "detournement tournament submission"). Please include your name, phone number, and email address with your entry. Winning entries will be chosen at the whim of the Monkey's Paw management, and will be announced at a public ceremony in our shop on Thursday, October 25. The tournament winner will be awarded a $50 Monkey's Paw gift certificate, and each of two runners up will receive $25 certificates. All entrants will be eligible to declaim their compositions at the reception -- we'll even provide an old typewriter crate for you to stand on. Finally, by way of demonstration, we have inserted below two brief book-title-detournements, composed from actual Monkey's Paw titles (many of them long since sold). We hope you find these examples both piquant and illuminating: What is life? The exchange of energy between man and the environment: 2. Man’s posture: The chest and the heart The waking brain [Please note that the compiler of these particular texts opted to arrange the source-titles as lines of free verse, and included punctuation for emphasis. Tournament participants need not feel influenced or constrained by these decisions.] Your Source Material: The Monkey's Paw Alphabetical Title List Download PDF (it's a biggie) Recent arrivals: more titles eligible for inclusion in the contest (not so biggie) |