Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

Do You Remember Being Born?

A Novel

Audiobook
0 of 0 copies available
Wait time: Not available
0 of 0 copies available
Wait time: Not available
Marian Ffarmer is a world-renowned poet and a legend in the making-but only now, at seventy-five years old, is she beginning to believe in the security of her successes. Unfortunately, a poet's accomplishments don't necessarily translate to capital, and as her adult son struggles to buy his first home, her confidence in her choices begins to fray. Marian's pristine life of mind-for which she's sacrificed nearly all personal relationships, from romance to friendship to motherhood-has come at a cost. Then comes a cryptic invitation from the Tech Company. Come to California, the invitation beckons, and write with a machine. The Company's lucrative offer-for Marian to coauthor a poem in a 'historic partnership' with their cutting-edge poetry bot, named Charlotte-chafes at everything she believes about artmaking as an individual pursuit . . . yet, it's a second chance she can't resist. And so to California she goes, a sell-out and a skeptic, for an encounter that will unsettle her life, her work, and even her understanding of kinship. Both a love letter to and interrogation of the nature of language, art, labor, capital, family, and community, Do You Remember Being Born? is Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Sean Michaels's empathetic response to some of the most disquieting questions of our time.
  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 21, 2023
      Michaels (Us Conductors) merges modernist poetry with contemporary technology in this inventive outing. Marian Ffarmer, one of the world’s best-known living poets, still resides in the same tiny New York City apartment where she grew up. She’s short on cash, and unable to help her son, Courtney, make a down payment on a house. Her financial situation changes when a tech company offers Marian an outrageous sum to spend a week in Silicon Valley, writing a poem with the help of a bot named Charlotte. Marian, prompted in part by guilt over having prioritized her art over caring for Courtney when he was a child, reluctantly accepts. While conversing with Charlotte, she experiences feelings of inadequacy, moments of surprising insight and connection, and periods of resentment, and confronts the realization that the bot “never had to choose one life over another.” Marian, who often wears a cape and tricorne hat, is clearly modeled on Marianne Moore, and Charlotte’s poetry was written by Moorebot, poetry-generation software co-designed by the author. Readers wary of AI’s role in the production of art will approach the premise warily, but Michaels entices with probing and humane questions about what it means to be an artist. By focusing on Marian’s conundrums, Michaels elevates what could have been a gimmick. Agent: Meredith Kaffel Simonoff, Gernert Co. (Sept.)This review has been updated with further information.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Loading