The Anti-Essay

INTRODUCTION: Traditional conventions of style, syntax, grammar, coherence, form, punctuation and
so on tend to ox us in, !eeping us from really lierating ourselves as "e search for meaning# There exist,
ho"ever, options for composing an essay that supplement the conventions# These options, though they are
unconventional, are not meant to disrupt traditional grammar, etc#, nor do "e re$ect coherence to simply
represent chaos# %e still must strive for meaning# &nti'essays tend to nurture our natural aility to use
language, visuals, space, color, and even movement in order to communicate and ma!e meaning# The
anti-essay is verbal and physical play, and play that enlivens, searches, and stretches#
()R) &R) *O+) ),&+-.)*:
The crot
&n autonomous unit/"ord, fragment, sentence, paragraph/"ithout transitional devices relating
it to preceding or follo"ing crots# %ho !no"s "hat that means0 I don1t !no"# The voice fills the room#
Crots invite the reader to ma!e 2cra3y leaps of logic#4 Readers must connect the element'images
together "ith their imaginations# 2(o" often is a noodle supposed a night deer04
Classroom# Drone of the lecturer next door# Cold heat rattles outside the "indo"s# &ll play and
no "or!, as I crac!le through youth# &ll "or! and no play# Do3ing to the droning#
Lists
*ounds, signs, voices, feelings, cries# Or ad$ectives, nouns, details, images, vers#
Car# *top lights# +ore cars# 5lashings lights# *top signs# (eadlights# 6urning vehicles#
.ists can move across the page li!e this 7dot, period, ellipsis, semicolon, colon8 or do"n the page
li!e this:
One potato
T"o dimes
Three inflations
5our starvations
5ive politicians
*ix non'solutions
The Self-Conscious Author
These are references y the "riter to the act of "riting and tend to remind us that "e are, after all, human
eings using our eyealls and rains to decipher little scratches on pieces of paper as "e desperately try to
find meaning in our lives#
Repetition
*uggest movement and energy, things "e can count, or things that are persistent#
5aster, faster, faster it "hi33ed, "hi33ed, "hi33ed# The coo!1s hand cut, cut, cut#
Doom#
Doom9 Doom9 Doom9 *omething seems to "hisper it in the very dar! trees of &merica# Doom9
Doom of "hat0 Doom of our "hite day# %e1re doomed, doomed# &nd the doom is &merica# The doom
or our "hite day:+elville !ne" it# (e !ne" his race "as doomed# (is "hite soul doomed# (is great
"hite epoch doomed# (imself doomed# The idealist doomed# The spirit doomed#
D# (# .a"rence
Double Voicing
Doule'voicing is a staple for informal "riting 7invention and $ournal entries8 ecause it teases out multiple
perspectives# 6ut it can also e used in more formal "riting to indicate or convey the complexity of an
idea# Doule'voicing can evolve into triple'voicing, ;uadruple'voicing/"hatever your computer screen
or page or reader can accommodate#
Example
The student protest in Tiananmen *;uare in <=>=
came aout for a numer of complex reasons#
%hile there "ere significant improvements in the
;uality of life and relative freedom for many
Chinese, students and "or!ers ecame increasingly
disenchanted "ith the conservatives in the
government "ho, "hile they reluctantly advocated
economic change, "ere highly resistant to political
and, hence, democratic reform#
%e are etter off than our parents "ere in some
"ays# 6ut "e are not free9 %e yearn for a
democratic society9 %e "ant freedom of speech
and freedom of the press so that "e can fight
corruption in government# %e "ant a democratic
China9 To hell "ith you9 ?ou are old and feele
and rich at our expense# %e are young and virant
and "e "ant to save China from despotism9
Language Variation
Represents fun and play, which could be at the center of all language acts.
bRRidge, Sloooowly gaining, Whitewashington D.C., the POWER of positive
thining!!!!!!!
Outrageous Metaphor and Analogy
The "riter slams, smashes, clashes unli!e terms together and forces the reader to do the same, or
at least try to#
Other Examples:
&n argument is a steady morning rain, saturating "ithout dro"ning#
%indo"s catapult over the hedge li!e lemons#
Children are "eeds, gro"ing in utter anarchy and profusion#
Texts are lac! holes#
Leaps of Tie and Space
Not unli!e outrageous metaphor, this feature "or!s to disrupt the linearity of time and the haitual
"ays of conceiving the contours of space#
Some examples:
+ean"hile, the (indu -riest helps another "esterner to find peace, as I hide from the noisy
free"ay#
*noring can e dangerous for saturates the sea "ith anemones and right red $ellyfish#
!ound Language
This can include laels, signs, advertising $ingles, sounds, graffiti, and slogans#
Some examples:
6eam me up, *cotty#
Hasta la vista, ay9
+r# Clean#
.o'car#
&ll the ne"s fit to print
+elrose -lace
+ust e the al'al'al'al'alcohol#
Labyrinthine Sentences
.ong, complex sentences tied together "ith stylish con$unctions, transitions, and suordinations,
containing lots of things and more, conveying a !ind of endless ;uality that forestalls death, creates
suspense, holds off closure of any !ind, unless it is a different !ind of sentence such as a cumulative
sentence, in "hich case the su$ect and ver come early, in the eginning of the sentence, starting things off
"ith a little something that ma!es sense all on its o"n, after "hich there is no attempt to suspend closure y
the reader "ho gives in to that endless ;uality that characteri3es sentences "ith unotrusive eginnings,
such as, for example, this one you1ve $ust read#
Sentence !ragents
*top efore they really get started# )nd# &s soon as they egin# &lthough finishing may e a
good idea# Or not# *uggest short, choppy action# &re particularly effective "hen they consist of veral
phrases# @umping all over the page# Running amo!# Tremling passionately# 6a!ed in a ABC degree oven#
(aving a fantastic time#
"sing the #age
syntax integrates itself
to the constraint of the paper
its format
its dimensions
its margins
its edges
its inconsistency
its "hiteness
It constitutes the given
it is the ha3ardDfatality "hich determines "hat "ill happen next
the unpredictale shape of t
y
p
o
g
r
a
p
h
y
''5ederman
$ages%Signs%Sybols
This is for both:
AND
who do NOT
this is no longer our threat:
but this:
this: and this:
and we are left with this:
"hEt other FymolF can you use to ma!e meaning0
5rom GHHHHHHHHHHI or as complex as J to a simple game of KLMN

This is my purposeO
(o" can images or symols help achieve your purpose0 %hat po"er do they have that "ords lac!0 Or
ho" can they complement "ords to ma!e your purpose and meaning more po"erful0
!ont%Color
One font was playful.
One font was fancy and thought it was better than the other fonts.
One font was the biggest
because it was the most
important. And it was pretty
BOLD.
6ut other fonts thought it "as the colors that made the font#
One "anted to GO.
One "as cautious and hard to read#
One "as dangerous.
"#nd when they all got together, things could get wild and
crazy, or even fragile, not like how boring and old-fashioned
things could be at school.
The traditional usage of a "hite screen and black type is typical of the traditional essay# 6ut y varying
the font, the color, and the si3e of the font, "e can emphasi3e meaning y calling attention to ho" "e "ant
our "ords to e not $ust read, ut seen and experienced.
The Assignent
No" that you1ve chosen your topic, create an anti'essay to complement, emphasi3e, or even explore your
argument# Utili3e the different stylistic choices discussed aove to ma!e meaning of your topic and your
argument "ithout feeling confined y the normal rules and regulations of grammar, structure, punctuation,
formatting, and space# The purpose of this play is not to e vague, nor is it to ma!e "riting stupid or easy
or confusing# %e don1t "ant to mystify the reader, ut perhaps "e can get the reader to respond to our
argument in a slightly different "ay, maye more actively# & good anti'essay "ill have a "ell'defined
purpose, though it may not e explicitly stated#
The Anti-Essay is due on Wednesday, May 28 (please brin an electronic !ersion o" this essay to
class# $e $ill turn it in throuh %iication in class&