Writing as Struggle: Process After AI

Meghan O’Gieblyn is the author of Will & Attention and God Human Animal Machine.

Introduced by Joanna Biggs (The Yale Review). Talk and discussion (60 mins), followed by workshop activities facilitated by Steve Shoemaker (English, Yale University) (30 mins).

The struggle of writing is primarily the struggle against oneself. It’s a practice that compels us to reckon with our inner doubleness, a discipline that reveals just how little we understand about what we know, what we believe, and who we are. The ability to dialogue with oneself is not only the basis of good writing; it is also the necessary foundation of a moral life. Writing, at its best, is an ongoing conversation we have with ourselves, one that shapes our thinking and our character and is never entirely resolved.

Agenda:

9:30: Coffee and Pastries
9:50: Opening Remarks
10:00-11:30: Meghan O'Gieblyn Talk and Workshop

Lunch Available between Session 1 and Session 2 (see full schedule)

If you wish to attend the following sessions on Thursday, please be sure to sign up separately as we have capacity limits.

Website: https://campuspress.yale.edu/struggle/schedule/

Sheila Heti is the author of Alphabetical Diaries, Motherhood, and How Should a Person Be?

Introduced by Noreen Khawaja (Religious Studies, Yale University). Talk and activity led by Sheila Heti, followed by discussion (90 mins).

A discussion around the idea that not only are AIs created consciousnesses, but so are we. This session will include the presentation of some material that Sheila Heti has been playing with in the attempt to write a book about and with “Alice,” the chatbot she communicated with in 2022. She will discuss the difficulties of using this material in making art, and why working with A.I. has made the book-writing process more, not less, difficult.

11:30-12:30pm: Lunch available
12:30-2pm: Talk and Workshop
2-2:30pm: coffee available between sessions

Note: if you are interested in any other sessions, please register for them separately as space is limited.

Webpage: https://campuspress.yale.edu/struggle/schedule/

Dennis Yi Tenen (English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University) is the author of Literary Theory for Robots and Plain Text: The Poetics of Computation.

Introduced by John Durham Peters (English and Film and Media Studies, Yale University). Talk and activity led by Dennis Yi Tenen, followed by discussion (90 mins).

When, if ever, does a thought become inalienably mine? In this talk, we will try to capture that vague feeling of ownership that nevertheless emerges from writing in groups or with generative AI. Case studies of syndicate and institutional authorship will frame the question historically, with particular attention to the Stratemeyer Syndicate and reports “written” by the National Transportation Safety Board. Viewed from the perspective of collective labor, recent developments in machine learning invite us to reconsider several persistent assumptions about personal voice and collective style. Questioning these assumptions opens up new directions for research in literary history, with implications for academic policy and scholarly practice. In the workshop that follows, we will explore collective style experimentally, through group dynamics and specific prompting strategies.

2-2:30 Coffee available
2:30-4pm Talk and Workshop

Note: if you are interested in other sessions of the workshop, please register for each as space is limited.

Website: https://campuspress.yale.edu/struggle/schedule/

1:45–2:45 p.m.
Finding and Creating: A Session on Research Methods and the Archive

Beinecke collections visit with Anna Arays (Yale University Library)

Please sign up separately for any other sessions of the workshops. Space is limited.

Website: https://campuspress.yale.edu/struggle/schedule/










If you wish to attend events the previous day (Thursday), please be sure to sign up separately as we have capacity limits

Visit to the Yale University Art Gallery’s modern art galleries with Joanna Fiduccia (History of Art, Yale University)

Agenda:

11:15 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Note: Please register separately for other sessions. We have limited space.

Website: https://campuspress.yale.edu/struggle/schedule/



Please register separately for:


1:45–2:45 p.m.
Finding and Drafting

Beinecke collections visit with Anna Arays (Yale University Library)


If you wish to attend events the previous day (Thursday), please be sure to sign up separately as we have capacity limits

3–3:30 p.m.: Writing Partners
Discussion facilitators: Alison Coleman and Alfie Guy


3:30–4:30 p.m.: Faculty Roundtable: Felisa Baynes-Ross, Heather Klemann, Sarah Mesle, Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, Jennifer Stock
Discussion facilitator: Brad Inwood



Registration optional.

Note: if you are interested in other sessions of the workshop, please register for each as space is limited.

Website: https://campuspress.yale.edu/struggle/schedule/

Featuring Dan Greco (Philosophy, Yale University), Lily Hu (Philosophy, Yale University), and Dani S. Bassett (Biomedical Engineering and Psychology, Yale University)

Facilitated by Ben Glaser (Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning and Yale University Library)

9:30-10:45. Coffee available. Registration optional.

Note: if you are interested in other sessions of the workshop, please register for each as space is limited.

Website: https://campuspress.yale.edu/struggle/schedule/