Jim Andrews Drifting to (and from) Vancouver

Abstract

In this paper I look to the semantic and metaphorical connotations of Jim Andrews's "Seattle Drift" (1997) as a litmus test in order to define the uniquely Canadian, specifically Vancouverite, and transnational, transgeneric contributions to the fields of electronic literature and digital poetics. This paper tries to situate a work that “used to be poetry” but “drifted from the scene” to begin to theorize the role of place (Seattle, Vancouver) and national discourse (American, Canadian) in a digital literary world that increasingly works to blur borders and collapses national and generic conventions alike.