Jens Løfert Jørgensen

Bacillopoetics. Language pure and infectious
The notions of ‘pure’ and of ʻinfectious’ language are pivotal to a relationship between literature and bacteria. This paper deals with the collision of these notions in the work of the Canadian experimental poet Christian Bök. It argues that such a collision is a general tendency in contemporary literature that points to a more complex understanding of the attributes of bacteria.