Adalaide Morris Explained

Adalaide Morris (Dee) (1898–1983) was an American critic for modern poetry including information art, counter mapping, documentary, and digital works.^[1] As well as a scholar, she was an artist.

Early life

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1898 and died in Crockett, Texas in 1983.^[2] She was active in New York City and Jamesville, New York.

Career

She taught at the University of Iowa from 1974.   While at the University of Iowa, she served as English Department Chair and also was an advisory board chair to The Iowa Review and the GRE Literature in English committee.

Art

Her work, 3 am, is in the Smithsonian Art Collections.

Critical and academic work

N. Katherine Hayles in Electronic Literature particularly mentions that Adalaide Morris as a critic connected with digital art, literature, and games with traditional critical approaches and philosophy. She further explains that Adalaide Morris focuses on networked and programs (code) to link digital art, literature, and games rather than on theoretical concerns.^[3]

Published works

Morris published critical works and journal articles on poetry, particularly focusing on the digital aspects of poetry.  She also edited publications about experimental writing and new media.

• New Media Poetics: Contexts, Technotexts, and Theories. A collection of 15 essays, coedited with Thom Swiss, growing out of a conference on digital poetics held October 10-13, 2002, at the University of Iowa. Contributors include John Cayley, Alan Filreis, Kenneth Goldsmith, N. Katherine Hayles, Talan Memmott, Marjorie Perloff, Stephanie Strickland, and Barrett Watten. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006. Adalaide Morris edited New Media Poetics: Contexts, Technotexts, and Theories, ed. Adalaide Morris and Thomas Swiss (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2006). This collection showcases essays and artist statements to introduce electronic literature,which was published and available from various sources, including UbuWeb, PennSound, and the Electronic Poetry Center. Contributors include: Giselle Beiguelman, John Cayley, Alan Filreis, Loss Pequeño Glazier, Alan Golding, Kenneth Goldsmith, N. Katherine Hayles, Cynthia Lawson, Jennifer Ley, Talan Memmott, Adalaide Morris, Carrie Noland, Marjorie Perloff, William Poundstone, Martin Spinelli, Stephanie Strickland, Brian Kim Stefans, Barrett Watten, Darren Wershler-Henry.^[4]

Morris studied H.D.'s poetics, including, How to Live / What to Do: H.D.’s Cultural Poetics. University of Illinois Press, 2003. Reissued in paperback, 2008.

Morris' essay in 2000, Angles of Incidence / Angels of Dust: Operatic Tilt in the Poetics of H.D. and Nathaniel Mackey compares Hilda Doolittle (H.D.)'s  work with Nathaniel Mackey's work was reviewed in the American Book Review.^[5]

Her collection of essays Sound States: Innovative Poetics and Acoustical Technologies focuses on the interplay between radio, tape, and loudspeaker technologies and modern and postmodern poetry and fiction, including contributions by Michael Davidson, Katherine Hayles, Marjorie Perloff, Jed Rasula, Garrett Stewart, and others, published with audio CD. Chapel Hill & London: University of North Carolina Press, January 1998.^[6]

• Extended Outlooks: The Iowa Review Collection of Contemporary Women Writers. Edited with Jane Cooper, Gwen Head, and Marcia Southwick. New York: Macmillan, 1982.
• Wallace Stevens: Imagination and Faith. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1974

Critical reception and external collections

Her works were reviewed  in the Chronicle of Higher Education, 17 February 1998, p. 24. Her papers are collected at the University of Iowa. These papers are from 1971 - 2001 and consist of her poetry and publications.

Awards and fellowships

University of Iowa

• Graduate College Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award, Arts and Humanities, 2011^[7]
• John C. Gerber Distinguished Professorship in English, 2000-10
• Regents’ Award for Faculty Excellence, 2000
• Michael J. Brody Award for Faculty Excellence,^[8]
• CIC Academic Leadership Fellow, 1995-96

Notes and References

1. Web site: Adalaide Morris The University of Iowa - Academia.edu . 2024-03-20 . uiowa.academia.edu.
2. Web site: Adelaide Morris Smithsonian American Art Museum . 2024-03-20 . americanart.si.edu . en.
3. Book: Hayles, N. Katherine . Electronic literature: new horizons for the literary . 2008 . University of Notre Dame . 978-0-268-03084-1 . The Ward-Phillips lectures in English language and literature . Notre Dame, Ind.
4. Book: New media poetics: contexts, technotexts, and theories . 2013 . The MIT Press . 978-0-262-51338-8 . Morris . Adalaide Kirby . First MIT Press paperback edition, 2009, 2nd pr . Leonardo . Cambridge, Massachusetts . Swiss . Thomas.
5. Morris . Adalaide . 2000 . Angles of Incidence / Angels of Dust: Operatic Tilt in the Poetics of H.D. and Nathaniel Mackey . Callaloo . 23 . 2 . 749–764 . 1080-6512.
6. Book: Sound states: innovative poetics and acoustical technologies . 1997 . University of North Carolina Press . 978-0-8078-2364-4 . Morris . Adalaide Kirby . Chapel Hill.
7. Web site: Past Winners Graduate College - The University of Iowa . 2024-03-21 . grad.uiowa.edu . en.
8. Web site: Michael J. Brody Award for Faculty Excellence in Service Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost - The University of Iowa . 2024-03-21 . provost.uiowa.edu . en.