Chris Forster
@cforster.bsky.social
Associate English Prof., Syracuse University.
Interested in modernism, history of media, obscenity, and computational approaches to literary studies (uh, fine *digital humanities*).
https://cforster.com
Interested in modernism, history of media, obscenity, and computational approaches to literary studies (uh, fine *digital humanities*).
https://cforster.com
Reposted by Chris Forster
The most chilling thing about this is the way it feels like an ancient evil that has imbibed a thousand pharmaceutical ads to camouflage itself
November 14, 2025 at 12:27 PM
The most chilling thing about this is the way it feels like an ancient evil that has imbibed a thousand pharmaceutical ads to camouflage itself
Reposted by Chris Forster
Any news coverage of this?
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Any news coverage of this?
Reposted by Chris Forster
I'm so happy to be able to say that The Enclosures of Free Verse is now available for pre-order from UNC Press! 🎉
Use code 01SOCIAL30 to save 30%.
tinyurl.com/2jj23a4a
@uncpress.bsky.social
Use code 01SOCIAL30 to save 30%.
tinyurl.com/2jj23a4a
@uncpress.bsky.social
The Enclosures of Free Verse
Throughout the twentieth century, scholars accepted that there was something called “traditional” poetic meter, and that free verse liberated poets from ...
tinyurl.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:26 PM
I'm so happy to be able to say that The Enclosures of Free Verse is now available for pre-order from UNC Press! 🎉
Use code 01SOCIAL30 to save 30%.
tinyurl.com/2jj23a4a
@uncpress.bsky.social
Use code 01SOCIAL30 to save 30%.
tinyurl.com/2jj23a4a
@uncpress.bsky.social
Reposted by Chris Forster
Reposted by Chris Forster
DEAR GRAD STUDENTS,
This March @post45data.bsky.social will be holding a free, online mini-workshop for grads working in the fields of contemporary literature and culture.
More info / abstract submission here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
1/4
This March @post45data.bsky.social will be holding a free, online mini-workshop for grads working in the fields of contemporary literature and culture.
More info / abstract submission here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
1/4
CFP: The Data of Post45 Literature and Culture (Online Graduate Workshop)
How has encroaching climate disaster impacted how the future is imagined in science fiction novels? What can a century of NYT bestsellers lists tell us about trends in mainstream publishing? And how c...
docs.google.com
October 27, 2025 at 3:57 PM
DEAR GRAD STUDENTS,
This March @post45data.bsky.social will be holding a free, online mini-workshop for grads working in the fields of contemporary literature and culture.
More info / abstract submission here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
1/4
This March @post45data.bsky.social will be holding a free, online mini-workshop for grads working in the fields of contemporary literature and culture.
More info / abstract submission here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
1/4
This thread rightly describes bad social media logics, even if they aren’t traceable to Russian disinfo campaigns. Just be reasonable folks!
It's big Trump protest day so that means we are mere hours away from my least favorite Bluesky: the Russian disinfo surge.
Here's how it works, and what you can do about it. 🧵
Here's how it works, and what you can do about it. 🧵
October 18, 2025 at 7:30 PM
This thread rightly describes bad social media logics, even if they aren’t traceable to Russian disinfo campaigns. Just be reasonable folks!
Reposted by Chris Forster
Since it resonated with the audience, I’ll recap my main argument against AGI here. ‘General intelligence’ is like phlogiston, or the aether. It’s an outmoded scientific concept that does not refer to anything real. Any explanatory work it did can be done better by a richer scientific frame. 1/3
This was a truly heartening day, with deeply thoughtful challenges to the dominant narrative framed around AGI, coming from across disciplines and perspectives. Felt like the tide might finally be turning a bit, at least among the scientific community. Thanks @royalsociety.org!
1/2 I'm looking forward to taking part in a panel on AGI and the Turing Test, tomorrow afternoon (Thurs 2nd Oct) at the @royalsociety.org, w/ Dame Wendy Hall, Shannon Vallor, William Isaac, & Sir Nigel Shadbolt. royalsociety.org/science-even...
October 2, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Since it resonated with the audience, I’ll recap my main argument against AGI here. ‘General intelligence’ is like phlogiston, or the aether. It’s an outmoded scientific concept that does not refer to anything real. Any explanatory work it did can be done better by a richer scientific frame. 1/3
Reposted by Chris Forster
The Great Finnegans Wake Annotator!
October 10, 2025 at 11:54 AM
The Great Finnegans Wake Annotator!
Back in the Twitter days, when critics suggested that the character limit impoverished discourse and reshaped communication to bite-sized morsels, I (confident and sophisticated) thought it was a silly critique. "You can tweet more than one tweet, duh."
October 8, 2025 at 4:25 AM
Back in the Twitter days, when critics suggested that the character limit impoverished discourse and reshaped communication to bite-sized morsels, I (confident and sophisticated) thought it was a silly critique. "You can tweet more than one tweet, duh."
Reposted by Chris Forster
that users could prefer a generated simulation to actual old clips for nostalgia purposes clarifies how nostalgia is about consuming "decontextualization" in itself — nostalgia negates history under the auspices of longing for it
YouTube has a legit library of recordings from quotidian settings (which are interesting, mostly as historical markers) but instead of promoting that social media pushes soulless facsimiles solely meant to associate a feeling with a moment sans the immediate, substantive context
This is doing numbers on social media right now and it's so depressing how people truly yearn for this shit and want to preserve that feeling indefinitely like a mausoleum of false memories.
October 7, 2025 at 5:44 PM
that users could prefer a generated simulation to actual old clips for nostalgia purposes clarifies how nostalgia is about consuming "decontextualization" in itself — nostalgia negates history under the auspices of longing for it
Laurence Sterne (whom I'm thinking about this morning) started work on TRISTRAM SHANDY, his first real/major piece of fiction, at 46.
I was well over 30 when I wrote and published my first novel, and fully agree with you!
When I turned 30 I had not yet written my first published book or my first published novel and did not know (or know of) some of the most important people in my life. I didn't know how much my life could still change, and did, after the age of 30. There is so much your life still yet to live.
October 7, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Laurence Sterne (whom I'm thinking about this morning) started work on TRISTRAM SHANDY, his first real/major piece of fiction, at 46.
Reposted by Chris Forster
Does anyone know the purpose or typical use of the "next line" character, Unicode 0x85? How does it relate to CR and LF?
September 19, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Does anyone know the purpose or typical use of the "next line" character, Unicode 0x85? How does it relate to CR and LF?
Reposted by Chris Forster
more than a decade ago, one Fraction-Aja Hawkeye panel captured the vibe of this entire era we're living in now
September 17, 2025 at 11:40 PM
more than a decade ago, one Fraction-Aja Hawkeye panel captured the vibe of this entire era we're living in now
Reposted by Chris Forster
my loneliness is killing me
and I must confess, I still believe
when I'm not with you I lose my mind
give me a sign
hit me baby one more time
thank you for reading this abridged version of FIGHT CLUB by Chuck Palahniuk
and I must confess, I still believe
when I'm not with you I lose my mind
give me a sign
hit me baby one more time
thank you for reading this abridged version of FIGHT CLUB by Chuck Palahniuk
September 16, 2025 at 8:08 PM
my loneliness is killing me
and I must confess, I still believe
when I'm not with you I lose my mind
give me a sign
hit me baby one more time
thank you for reading this abridged version of FIGHT CLUB by Chuck Palahniuk
and I must confess, I still believe
when I'm not with you I lose my mind
give me a sign
hit me baby one more time
thank you for reading this abridged version of FIGHT CLUB by Chuck Palahniuk
Reposted by Chris Forster
I repeat: This is WILDLY illegal.
Trump is just outright, explicitly, egregiously ignoring the law.
The fact that NONE of these words in the Times post say so is a failure of journalism.
Trump is just outright, explicitly, egregiously ignoring the law.
The fact that NONE of these words in the Times post say so is a failure of journalism.
For the fourth time, President Trump extended the deadline for when TikTok had to be separated from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, or face a ban in the U.S. Officials have said they are nearing a deal to address national security concerns about the company and its ties to China.
Trump Delays TikTok Ban Again
It was the fourth time President Trump extended the deadline for TikTok to find a new owner or face a ban in the United States. This time, officials have said they are nearing a deal to address concerns about the app.
nyti.ms
September 16, 2025 at 8:32 PM
I repeat: This is WILDLY illegal.
Trump is just outright, explicitly, egregiously ignoring the law.
The fact that NONE of these words in the Times post say so is a failure of journalism.
Trump is just outright, explicitly, egregiously ignoring the law.
The fact that NONE of these words in the Times post say so is a failure of journalism.
"the new springs from the old, but that is just what makes it new" (Brecht, "The Popular and the Realistic")
"Some one said: 'The dead writers are remote from us because we know so much more than they did.' Precisely, and they are that which we know." (Eliot, "Tradition and the Individual Talent")
"Some one said: 'The dead writers are remote from us because we know so much more than they did.' Precisely, and they are that which we know." (Eliot, "Tradition and the Individual Talent")
September 8, 2025 at 12:20 AM
"the new springs from the old, but that is just what makes it new" (Brecht, "The Popular and the Realistic")
"Some one said: 'The dead writers are remote from us because we know so much more than they did.' Precisely, and they are that which we know." (Eliot, "Tradition and the Individual Talent")
"Some one said: 'The dead writers are remote from us because we know so much more than they did.' Precisely, and they are that which we know." (Eliot, "Tradition and the Individual Talent")
Reposted by Chris Forster
I just got word that the faculty senate of my university is now dissolved and no longer exists, in compliance with the new Texas law. Yikes! I thought my university would somehow find a loophole, or an exemption, but it's official. It's a sad day for shared governance and checks and balances.
September 4, 2025 at 8:32 PM
I just got word that the faculty senate of my university is now dissolved and no longer exists, in compliance with the new Texas law. Yikes! I thought my university would somehow find a loophole, or an exemption, but it's official. It's a sad day for shared governance and checks and balances.
Reposted by Chris Forster
The payoff to this thread is malevolence itself 😅
It's seven years since we posted on Twitter about how kids kept coming into the library asking if we had any books about FORTNITE. We didn't back then, and we'd never heard of it so we tried asking what it was.
September 3, 2025 at 1:54 PM
The payoff to this thread is malevolence itself 😅
This episode on the Dreyfus Affair, and its contemporary resonances, is excellent.
www.ppfideas.com/episodes/pol...
www.ppfideas.com/episodes/pol...
Politics on Trial: Dreyfus vs the Conspiracy Theory
212
www.ppfideas.com
August 17, 2025 at 5:37 PM
This episode on the Dreyfus Affair, and its contemporary resonances, is excellent.
www.ppfideas.com/episodes/pol...
www.ppfideas.com/episodes/pol...
Reposted by Chris Forster
Considering getting this passage from the NYT article printed on totes for our art history majors. Too much?
August 15, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Considering getting this passage from the NYT article printed on totes for our art history majors. Too much?
Reposted by Chris Forster
a belated #modwrite announcement: my first academic book should be out with the Edinburgh UP in October. On its cover is Alexandra Hughes's stunning art. More on what’s between the covers soon, but for now, enjoy Alex’s stunning work, and see more here: alexandrahughes.co.uk
August 5, 2025 at 11:32 AM
a belated #modwrite announcement: my first academic book should be out with the Edinburgh UP in October. On its cover is Alexandra Hughes's stunning art. More on what’s between the covers soon, but for now, enjoy Alex’s stunning work, and see more here: alexandrahughes.co.uk
Reposted by Chris Forster
Introducing the new and improved logo for Omnivorous, my queerly voracious newsletter, where you can find pop culture takes and fiction with a queer bite. Consider subscribing if you haven't. You won't regret it!
omnivorous.substack.com
omnivorous.substack.com
August 6, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Introducing the new and improved logo for Omnivorous, my queerly voracious newsletter, where you can find pop culture takes and fiction with a queer bite. Consider subscribing if you haven't. You won't regret it!
omnivorous.substack.com
omnivorous.substack.com
Reposted by Chris Forster
Reposting for the work week crowd:
Everything from U Toronto Press (@uoftpress.bsky.social), including my book, is 50% in their summer sale! Code is SUMMERSALE50.
utppublishing.com/doi/book/10....
utppublishing.com/doi/book/10....
Watching Women - University of Toronto Press
utppublishing.com
August 5, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Reposting for the work week crowd: