Recapitating Massive: A Markov Model of John Trefry's Massive
About this Project
This basic web application allows the reader to become an automatic author.
By pressing the 'Generate Paragraph' button, you will develop a unique paragraph based on the 1,000,000+ words that make up Massive.
Use this model as often as you need to build your novel. If you run into any issues, please click the 'Generate Paragraph' button again.
About Massive
The 4th book by John Trefry, concerning the life of Osip Mandelstam between his first arrest in 1933 and his death in 1938 transposed into the eternalist block time of a vast nationstate called the ADA and composed in such a way that the text can be read an infinite number of ways and is only actualized by reading, does not sit inertly as a complete work within its closed covers.
Read an excerpt from Massive
Massive at Asterism Books.
Rationale
This project embodies the principles of critical making, bridging creative practice and scholarly inquiry to explore the potential of constrained generativity in experimental literature. Drawing on the theoretical insights of Joanna Zylinska’s The Perception Machine and John Trefry’s novel Massive, Auto-Author: Recapitating Massive engages with the dynamic interplay between human creativity and generative technologies. This framework aims to foster collaboration between users and text-generation processes, emphasizing the user’s active role in shaping outputs that align with their creative vision. Inspired by Trefry’s vision of effortless literary production tempered by the labor-intensive realities of experimental writing, Auto-Author: Recapitating Massive offers a generative tool that reimagines authorship. Leveraging the curated materials of Inside the Castle’s “literature in the expanded field” and drawing from Massive’s 1,000,000+ words, the framework allows users to generate unique sentence sequences and refine them through an interactive editing interface. By foregrounding user agency, the tool rejects the myth of AI as an autonomous creator, positioning it instead as a collaborator—a “prosthetic extension” of the writer’s creative process. This project challenges the traditional boundaries of authorship and text production by embracing Zylinska’s concept of the "perception machine"—an assemblage of human and machinic agents that reconfigures how we engage with creative practices. Like Zylinska’s call to reclaim perception as a multisensory and collaborative act, Auto-Author: Recapitating Massive invites users to interact with generative tools as co-creators, engaging in the iterative labor that defines experimental writing.Theoretical Context
This project’s approach draws from Zylinska’s advocacy for constrained creativity and Trefry’s resistance to the inertness of traditional texts. Zylinska’s assertion that “photographs do things” parallels the generative process of Auto-Author: Recapitating Massive, which treats text as an active agent in the creative exchange between human and machine. Trefry’s sentiment that "a manuscript on a computer is not a book" underscores the tool’s focus on generating raw materials for collaborative refinement, ensuring that users retain control over the final work’s aesthetic and conceptual integrity. Recapitating Massive also reflects my broader academic focus on the intersections of digital humanities, postcolonial studies, and media production, honed during my M.A. in Literary, Cultural, and Textual Studies at UCF.
Key Features
- Interactive Collaboration: Users generate and refine text sequences through a dynamic editing interface, creating a feedback loop that foregrounds their agency.
- Constrained Generativity: Outputs are intentionally limited to curated materials, fostering aesthetic cohesion and encouraging interpretive labor.
- Ethical Design: The framework incorporates feminist and decolonial critiques of AI, promoting inclusivity and accessibility in generative tools.
- Pedagogical Application: Auto-Author: Recapitating Massive functions as a teaching tool, introducing students to the possibilities and ethical considerations of generative technologies.
Applications and Goals
As both a research prototype and pedagogical resource, Auto-Author: Recapitating Massive exemplifies the principles of critical making, offering insights into the evolving relationship between automation and creativity. It aims to:- Foster Inclusive Storytelling: By democratizing access to experimental writing practices, the framework enables diverse voices to engage with and contribute to literary production.
Future Directions
This project opens pathways for continued exploration in critical making and digital humanities, including:- Expanded Multimodal Capabilities: Incorporating soundscapes, visual elements, and interactive features to create immersive user experiences.
- Diverse Textual Corpora: Expanding the framework to include texts from global literary traditions, fostering cross-cultural engagement in experimental writing.
- Algorithmic Innovation: Developing proprietary algorithms tailored to constrained generativity, ensuring outputs align with experimental aesthetics.
- Ethnographic User Studies: Conducting research on how different user groups (e.g., students, writers, educators) interact with the tool to refine its design and expand its applications.
- Pedagogical Integration: Collaborating with educators to develop curriculum modules that use Auto-Author to teach creative digital writing and interdisciplinary scholarship.
- Ethical AI Development: Publishing research on the ethical considerations of generative tools, contributing to fields such as postcolonial and decolonial AI ethics and digital media studies.
- Decentralized Publishing Platforms: Designing platforms that integrate generative tools to empower marginalized individuals in storytelling.