Temporal writing is transitory, a study of self and surroundings in a moment of time. It is not perfect. In its purest form, it is not outlined. The practice of temporal writing is not new, but it is enjoying a resurgence of attention, namely Writing On It All, NYC, a project founded by Alexandra Chasin, a professor at The New School. We encourage you to visit Writing On It All.
In temporal writing, the writer/artist considers the work’s journey, the act of creation as the ultimate goal. As Derrida asserted, there is no single truth. It is not about truth, but rather the journey toward an unknowable truth, how we defer and differ in this journey and discourse, the differànce in our path and experience, accepting that we will never fully understand or identify an absolute. A jettison of the theoretical absolute.
Eckleburg seeks to support the practice of temporal writing. We hold that though our crafts require precision and painstaking revision, temporal expression is the practice that brought us originally to our crafts, the fledgling moments when we put imperfect words onto paper or screen, and for a moment, felt less alone, more connected to something larger than ourselves. We glimpsed humanity and/or individual perceptions of self. Over time, it is too easy to minimize this authentic practice original to our crafts. We are so quickly absorbed into the publishing and querying and editing and “perfecting.” With The Temporal Writing Contest, we seek to leverage and reassert value in the simple act of expression and journey, once again. Think of this as a return to the aesthetic and intellectual “playground.”
Please join us,
Rae Bryant
Founding Editor in Chief, Eckleburg
Previously Moon Milk Review