Remediation and Epistemological Revelation in the Archimedes Palimpsest and Twenty-First-Century Erasure Poetry

Abstract:

Contemporary erasure poetry and the poetics of remediated forms are often taken as serving as political battlegrounds and sites of epistemic transference. At the same time, what is missing from the literature is a discussion of medieval manuscripts and the history of palimpsests. This paper explores two topics: (1) how the Archimedes palimpsest allows us to understand blackout poems as sites of knowledge production as well as conversations between polemic positions and (2) how poetic remediation can inform our valuation of the erasures situated in the Archimedes palimpsest. Through analysis of Travis Macdonald’s The O Mission Repo, Rachel Stempel’s “Natal Girl (& Other Repeat Offenses),” Molly R. Sullivan’s “Levonorgestrel,” and the Archimedes palimpsest, this paper explores how both medieval manuscripts and modern forms of poetry serve us as classroom realia, illustrating that their value extends beyond disciplinary boundaries to reveal new ways of conceiving artistic and pedagogical praxes.