After Brockman: A Symposium
1973
There are certain writers whose thought is so important that it doesn't matter whether you agree with them or not.
In 1969 and 1970, the first volumes of John Brockman's work were published. By The Late John Brockman (Macmillan) and 37 (Holt Rinehart and Winston) received little notice when they appeared. These two early works have been included in his remarkable Afterwords (Anchor Press, 1973), a book which has stirred profound interest among his contemporaries because of the serious challenge it poses to contemporary ideas of language, thought and reality. Many people are beginning to believe that Brockman, at 33, is unique among the writers and thinkers of our time. Still, the public reception to his work remains, at best, a puzzled silence.
This volume is the first attempt to remedy the situation by offering readers a series of approaches to his work. The Symposium consists of contributions by artists, critics, cyberneticists, logicians, mathematicians, novelists, philosophers, poets, and sociologists. Each of the contributors has an established reputation in his own field: Jay Bail, Jeff Berner, Magda Cordell, Ira Einhorn, Hugh Fox, John Hackett, Dan Isaac, Douglas Kelley, Richard Kostelanetz, Paul A. Lee, John C. Lilly, John McHale, Richard Morris, Michael Perkins, R.S. Picciotto, Bern Porter, Edwin Schlossberg, Alan Sondheim, Gerd Stern, Heinz Von Foerster.
