The (In)Voluntary Exile: Blogs Break the Boundary

The dominant perception of artists and thinkers throughout history has marginalized their role (or lack thereof) in society. Part of this is a flaw in collective ontology, but most of it is a valid response to the likes of Voltaire, Emily Dickinson, Ezra Pound, and Alan Ginsberg, who have defined the opposite of conventional behavior and assumed official "weirdo" status in the annals of cultural history.

Now the stereotype is a self-fulfilling prophecy; an aspiring or accomplished poet invariably relegates himself to reclusive cloisters or tight circles of fellow outcasts. This is why death, solitude, and unrequited affection have been the top subjects of poetry throughout the years. Profundity is a personal endeavor, and its quest is sometimes a righteous one. The best poets have a paucity of devotees who venerate them as "sacred heretics," although in common minds their heresy is commonplace and contemptible. They are too different, too dangerous; they always border the criminal and sometimes cross the line.

The world of online poetics, however, has proven an effective method of snapping such notions, not only thrusting the concept of literature and literary theory into the mainstream but catapulting its creators into the limelight as well. Modern poets can publish and publicize themselves in blogs, and although they may retreat into unorthodox seclusion while they write, their bloggerly persona remains just as accessible and public as Perez Hilton.

See also Gabriel Gudding's February 2nd Post entitled "Varieties of Masculine Experience."