Archival versos: Unwritten, unread, unreadable, unwritable

A “verso” is the side of a leaf that is to be read second. British conceptual artist Cornelia Parker uses the term in her practice to show the deconstruction of everyday objects, and how “even the most insignificant things can trigger a deeper meaning” (2016). This paper uses a Calvino-inspired creativecritical approach toward archival research to explore potential “versos” in archived text. It explores this from four viewpoints: the unwritten, unread, unreadable and unwritable. This exploration is founded on a claim by Italo Calvino: “We write to give the unwritten world a chance to express itself through us” (1983). From the unwritten, this paper moves to the unread as embodied by “unreadable” programming language as verso in digital writing. The final aspects – “unreadable” and “unwritable” – focus on my attempts to read Georges Perec’s materials at the UQ Fryer Library. In August 1981, Perec was writer-in-residence in the French Department, during which he intended to write a novel in fifty-three days, titled 53 Days. My first attempt to read the materials found them “missing”. When located, the notes on offer were not sufficient to comprehend Perec’s proposed unfinished project. I therefore use “unreadable” programming language to program poetry from Perec’s archival remains to explore digital methodological approaches to contemporary creative writing.