textshop means A kind of writing laboratory where students can experiment with, and attempt to reproduce, the styles and techniques being studied. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 90 out of 100.
Why “textshop” is a great word
TEXTSHOP — [Noun] A writing laboratory where students experiment with and attempt to reproduce the styles and techniques being studied. From text (referring to written work) + shop (as a place of activity), modelled on workshop but de-emphasizing the idea of work, inspired by Roland Barthes' essay 'From Work to Text'; coined by Gregory Ulmer. Unlike a workshop (which emphasizes collaborative labor and skill-building) or a seminar (which centers on analytical discussion), a textshop is a studio for theoretical play and stylistic mimicry. It is the clatter of keys as a dozen students try to channel Gertrude Stein’s cadence, the ink-stained page where a sonnet is dismantled into a surrealist manifesto, and the quiet, focused air of a room not analyzing a style but inhabiting it—a temporary suspension of authorship in the pursuit of understanding form.
Etymology
From text + shop, modelled on workshop but de-emphasizing the idea of work, inspired by Roland Barthes' essay From Work to Text. Coined by Gregory Ulmer. See Textshop for Psychoanalysis.
noun
- A kind of writing laboratory where students can experiment with, and attempt to reproduce, the styles and techniques being studied.