We Computers
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A multilayered exploration of poetry, authorship, and digital intelligence by “a writer of immense poetic power” (The Guardian)
“Many paths cross in Ismailov’s beautiful new work—poetry, history and the infinite imagination. Every path winding into another. Every path worth taking.”—Patti Smith
In the late 1980s, French poet and psychologist Jon‑Perse finds himself in possession of one of the most promising inventions of the century: a computer. Enchanted by snippets of Persian poetry he learns from his Uzbek translation partner, Abdulhamid Ismail, Jon-Perse builds a computer program capable of both analyzing and generating literature. But beyond the text on his screen there are entire worlds—of history, philosophy, and maybe even of love—in the stories and people he and AI conjure.
Hamid Ismailov brings together his work as a poet, translator, and student of literature of both East and West to craft a postmodern ode to poetry across centuries and continents. Crossing the poètes maudits with beloved Sufi classics, blending absurdist dreams with the life of the famed Persian poet Hafez, moving from careful mathematical calculations to lyrical narratives, Ismailov invents an ingenious transnational poetics of love and longing for the digital age. Situated at the crossroads of a multilingual world and mediated by the unreliable sensibilities of digital intelligence, this book is a dazzling celebration of how poetry resonates across time and space.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A poet contemplates a world of artistry springing from lines of programming code in this thoughtful exploration of creativity from Uzbek author Hamid Ismailov. In 1980s Paris, Jon-Perse has spent years editing a respected poetry journal. When he gains access to the latest technological innovation—the personal computer—he uses the machine to analyze French and Persian poetry, and eventually it can write verses itself. Diving headlong into questions about inspiration and authorship, Ismailov’s story finds the PC becoming increasingly adept as a writer, eventually taking over as the narrator of the novel itself. Presciently, Ismailov first wrote this book before AI was often in the news. Free from the headline-grabbing discourse that would come later, Ismailov was able to explore these concepts in a way that’s purely fantastical and philosophical. We were struck when Jon-Perse sees reflections of Sufi mysticism in the program’s ability to create poetry without an author, likening it to the theology’s “denial of the self.” We Computers celebrates the creative voice in ways that are bold, expansive, and utterly unique.
