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This is the section where I answer the questions nobody has been writing in
and asking repeatedly. If you would actually like to ask a question that
nobody has asked yet, please send it to
hdnr@floodgap.com.
Literally, "one person alone's renga," or, more freely, "one-man
linked verse."
I introduce the concept in "One Man Poetry."
Renga and renku (also referred to as haikai no renga)
are Japanese "linked poems," a form of
collaborative linked verse. Traditionally these poems were, as the description
implies, done by multiple poets, one giving a prompt, and another a response.
These poems were classically using a five sound unit/seven sound unit/five
sound unit stanza (technically morae in Japanese, a distinction we'll talk
about) for the first stanza (the hokku) and a 7-7 sound unit second
stanza called the waki. Subsequent stanzas have their own special terms,
but these first two are obligatory.
Thus, you'll notice every panel has a 5-7-5 and a 7-7, clearly marked (a
few have a couple sets). That's the central gag.
There are certain customs and traditions about
how the various stanzas of formal renga should be formed, which I
haven't strictly observed here; the 5-7-5 stanza, of course,
has taken on a life of its own and is today the well-known modern
haiku. There is more about the technical construction of formal
renga in this very complete
Wikipedia entry.
Sure. It's consciously something different than your usual webcomic, a little
mix of literature, graphic art and pop culture. My aim is your nerdy
intellectual side. If you don't have one, that's okay. This site will help
you develop it.
Solitary renga like this one have always existed, though
strictly speaking they would be part of the more general category of
tanka. However, I have endeavoured (wherever possible) to keep the
prompt-response format with sharp division between the stanzas
and preserve the flavour of a true collaborative
renga (in this case reminiscent of multiple personality disorder),
plus infect these poems with
the gleefully austere
doggerel style that especially characterizes haikai no renga
(for a particularly snarky vulgar example, see the
renku Wikipedia
entry). For that reason, these poems are best rated PG.
No, it isn't (I don't think). One problem is that English speakers who don't
understand the difference between morae and syllables will run multiple
phonemes together into valid English syllables when there are a greater number
of actual Japanese morae. For example, most English speakers would see
haiku as two syllables, haiy-KOOH, but in Japanese it would be three
morae ha-i-ku. Similarly, most English speakers would see n as
part of the coda of a syllable, rendering renga as REN-gah, but in
Japanese it also has three morae re-n-ga.
You'll notice I have avoided defining what a mora actually is, and in fact
nobody has a good formal definition (this is me speaking as someone with a
Bachelor's in linguistics) except to say that they are not syllables as we
think of them in English. In fact, syllables may have one or multiple morae.
The modern English haiku form gets around this problem by using syllables
as the sound unit, which virtually all English speakers can instinctively
parse, but syllabification between dialects naturally can vary. For example,
idea in my particular idiolect (Californian with an Australian
national mother) has three syllables. Since I'm the poet, my diction is
always the correct one by definition, darn you all, but where there is likely
to be contention I will use diereses to mark off syllables. For Japanese
words where morae should be counted instead, I have parsed them out for the
reader. However, if I have made a mathematical error, I would appreciate the
correction.
HDNR is under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 license. In a nutshell, this means you have
implicit
permission to redistribute my original work, or to screw around with it,
provided you give me credit and aren't doing it for money.
Blogs and stuff like that are also okay, even if you are making money on
the blog (you big fat liar),
as long as you aren't charging people to look at it and credit is given.
A link back is appreciated
and so is hosting a copy of the panel on your own server. I'd like to
hear about it, of course, but you
still have my implicit blessing.
If you are doing it for money, like merchandise you intend to sell
or a newspaper with paid circulation
or some such thing, I'll probably still let you do it
assuming you're not putting them into a book and selling them as an item
(unless you give me a big piece of the action), but you will need to get
permission from me first by mailing
hdnr@floodgap.com and depending on
your circulation and use I may ask for a formal arrangement to be made.
I put my original work in bold for a reason: in some of these panels I
use artwork that is the copyrighted property of other people. I believe this
use to be appropriate and legal under the concept of fair use in the United
States for purposes of social commentary, but that doesn't mean your use will
be construed the same and I can't give permission for images I didn't own in
the first place. For panels using those images, permission for their use
will need to be secured separately, if
required, and you will need to make the judgment call for yourself
to determine if it is. If you aren't sure about the sources for something
I've done, I will be happy to tell you.
No.
Probably. Mostly anime OSTs though.
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All art and verse except where noted are
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