Re-thinking "Non-retinal Literature": Citation, "Radical Mimesis," and Phenomenologies of Reading in Conceptual Writing

This article discusses the self-characterizations of the contemporary North American school of Conceptual writing, arguing that certain exponents of Conceptualism disavow a relation to Language writing, claiming an alternate predecessor in Conceptual art. The article in turn posits that the appropriative technique of "reframing" used by Conceptualists has been under-theorized, given its importance as a compositional strategy of unreadability, and in turn approaches the Conceptual textual readymade as "strategic medium translation" (one form of "medium envy"). Tracing other modes of radical mimesis in Conceptualism that shadow economic phenomena, the article analyzes works by Robert Fitterman as exemplary of radical mimesis critical of digital capitalism.