for example, exploit stereotypical images of ‘romance’, but Amanda
Stewart is ironising them, subverting their original purpose.
Creating a collage
So how can you make a collage? There are many methods, but try one first
which focuses on cutting and pasting texts with scissors and glue (see
Exercise 1a). This is an adaption of William Burroughs’s cut-up method
which he developed together with writer Brion Gysin: it became well
known and widely used during the twentieth century. Burroughs would
cut up texts (often his own) and then rearrange them to make new ones
which would not have arisen through ‘normal’ writing.
The following process will help you to experiment with collage:
1. Equip yourself with a large piece of paper and a pair of scissors. Sift
through texts you have been recently reading, such as newspaper articles,
extracts from books, material from websites (or texts you are particularly
fond of that you have read in the past). Photocopy the sources (you need to
do this because you will be cutting them up). You may find it easiest to
decide on a topic such as war, ethnicity or the body, and then search for a
range of texts which refer to this in varying ways. However, excellent effects
can also be obtained by welding together materials on unassociated topics,
especially with a good deal of intercutting between the texts. Whichever
way you approach the collage, try to draw on a number of contrasting
sources. You may want to research for your collage, or use favourite texts
you have read in the past, or cut up your own poetry/fiction/essay material
(a collage doesn’t have to consist entirely of borrowings from other people).
You may also wish to include photographs or drawings in your collage.
The visual images may be interspersed amongst the texts, but you may also
want to cut up the photographs. And you may want to play with the idea
of captions: for example by cutting out a photograph from the newspaper
and giving it a new heading.
2. Cut up the texts you have amassed into small chunks, or cut out chunks
that are particularly interesting to you. A small chunk may be a word, a
phrase or several sentences. Although very provocative collages can be
made from longer passages, you are likely to obtain the best, and the
most radical, results initially if you use a more intensive intercutting
technique—that is, juxtaposing smaller fragments of text. This allows the
texts to resonate with each other more closely, and is likely to result in a
greater transformation of the original material. Reading long extracts
cut out of newspaper articles, for instance, can become tedious, but small
72 The Writing Experiment