Modernist Poetry as Forensics: A Conversation with Chrissie Dobson (Online and in Person 23rd April 2024)

Forensics is the investigative practice necessary for criminal and/or legal proceedings. Forensics is often connected to particular state apparatuses known as the criminal justice system.

In contrast to the criminal justice system, modernist literature deploys the forensic for different, often critical, purposes.

Drawing on writers such as Gertrude Stein, Aimé Césaire and Anna Mendelssohn we will explore how modernist writers address crimes that the state doesn’t address, or is actively complicit in, crimes of capital, race and misogyny.

According to Chrissie Dobson, “Modernist Forensics are in opposition to state forensics as they seek ambiguity as opposed to facts. Yet at the same time, they are like state forensics because they look into things with great scrutiny, picking them apart, emphasizing the material over abstract.”

In this session, we will be joined by Chrissie Dobson to discuss what is forensic about modernism, and how modernism subverts forensics.

Session Lead: Bradley Tuck

In Person: Southern Belle, 3, Waterloo Street, Hove

Click to join: On Zoom

Meeting ID: 836 9146 8736

Passcode: 366214

Time: 7:00 pm Doors. 7:30pm-10:00pm

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