Nonsense nor Sensibility
Nonsense Nor Sensibility, Volume 1 by Juan Sateen 512 pages paper, pasteboard, glue, linen thread, and book cloth Approximately 8.6 x 14.5" when open
“Nonsense Nor Sensibility” is a simulated book. Every aspect of “Nonsense Nor Sensibility” has been created from the outward appearance of an historical novel. “Nonsense Nor Sensibility” has all the measurable aura of a rare possession, but lacks precisely that which we value in authorship: order, meaning, and delight.
The book was physically assembled using binding techniques from the early 19th century. It is composed of 16 64-page signatures which have been sewn together with linen thread and cased in the Bradel binding style. Though the outward appearance of the book is antique, the materials are wholly modern. They include vellum paper, synthetic composition boards, PVA glue, and vinyl. The book was laid-out using software with type and layout conventions having the appearance of a book produced in 1811.
The text of “Nonsense Nor Sensibility” was generated using software employed in academic research to codify the style of textual corpii. This kind of analysis is typically used to attribute text to great authors such as Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, and Jane Austen. For “Nonsense Nor Sensibility,” the analysis was inverted in order to produce new text in the style of an original. Each sentence is grammatically correct, readable, and familiar. The sentences have been broken into appropriate paragraphs, and these are linked into sections and chapters all of which possess the outward appearance of a novel. If the software were asked to report on the authorship of this text, it would conclude that “Nonsense Nor Sensibility” had a 99.9% chance of having been written by a well-known British author working in the early 1800’s. Yet the narrative moves forward with obsessive circularity, and nobody to my knowledge has managed to read more than 100 consecutive pages. In spite of its formal correctness, the 1024 pages of “Nonsense Nor Sensibility” remains wholly unreadable.
The process of generating “Nonsense Nor Sensibility” reveals deep structures in the novel which are normally hidden by narrative devices. Higher level concepts such as place, time, and action (described by Aristotle as ÎµÎ½ÏŚÏ„Î·Ï„Î±) are ignored by statistical analysis. “Nonsense Nor Sensibility” graphically demonstrates the failure of this kind of attribution, and the arrogance implicit in these techniques. I hope that it also makes everyone aware of the limits of computers when it comes to high-level tasks such as composition and narrative.
-Doug Goodwin
February 2005
dgoodwin@cairn.com