Literature and Art

Comment

Comment by De Villo Sloan on August 17, 2011 at 3:14am

Guido, I see you mention David Stone frequently. I need to check him out. I only discovered David Chirot for myself about a year ago. I've been a follower ever since. We corresponded until he became really sick, not so much now. He filled filled me in on many things - since I took some years off from all this. Can't say enough nice things about David. I'm glad you two are friends - you would certainly have much in common. Eric Basso - I know that name from somewhere - will look into these folks. Thanks again.

Comment by Guido Vermeulen on August 17, 2011 at 3:00am

I know about David's condition. He's a good friend in fact. We do group email exchanges since years: Chirot- Eric Basso- David Stone-Harry Burrus- me and someone I don't know, all writers or poets or involved in Vispo. We use Yahoo for that. Harry did the O!!Zone zines in the past. Stone is behind the Blackbird anthologies. Eric is kind of a genius: writer of novels, poems, theatre plays, musical scores, painter, you name it! He knows more about French litterature than I do!

Comment by De Villo Sloan on August 17, 2011 at 2:57am

Sorry Guido, now I understand about the Poland book. Don't know that one or Pena - this is great! Keep your reading lists coming!

Comment by Guido Vermeulen on August 17, 2011 at 2:53am

Poland/ 1931 are one book, published by New Directions in 1960.

ISBN: 0 8112 0542 8.

I found it in a second hand shop in Antwerp. I remember well that day. I visited Saartje Stiers (daughter of Miche-Art Universalis, both are Belgian mail artists). Miche is into books like me, so we did a bookhunting afternoon and I found that book in De Slegte antiquariaat. De Slegte is a Dutch bookstore and they buy stocks of new books to sell them cheaply, but they have also a store for rare books and those are more expensive of course. Yes, it is a very good book!

 

Lorca, I have the complete works, also bilingual editions. Took me a while to "get" Lorca. Juan de Pena is another great Spanish poet but very difficult to find.

SORRA i VENT (SAND & WIND) is a fantastic collection, on the conditions of the Spanish refugees in French prison camps. The French welcomed the refugees of the Spanish republic by putting them in concentration camps (commies you know). de Pena wrote these poems while he was in such a camp in 1939-1940 and made even the illustrations. I did a project some years ago "Peace for refugees" and published a magazine in which I translated one de Pena poem in English.

Comment by De Villo Sloan on August 16, 2011 at 3:37am

Right, yes, Technicians of the Sacred - has been awhile but I know that. Must be the same person.

Comment by De Villo Sloan on August 16, 2011 at 3:34am

Really interesting Guido!

 

Yes, I am familiar with Jerome Rothenberg, who is akin to the Language poets. I hope we are talking about the same person because you have a publication date of 1931, and I think Rothenberg is still alive. He taught at SUNY Buffalo for a long time - not far from me. Rothenberg was also published by Dick Higgins' Something Else Press in NYC - and of course that is purely Fluxus. Rothenberg was a mentor to David Chirot, who is an IUOMA member but currently very ill.

 

The Language poets are arguably the dominant avant garde group in the US, although perhaps their influence is waning.

 

Thanks again for this wonderful material!

 

Comment by Guido Vermeulen on August 16, 2011 at 3:06am

About the language poets; did ring a bell, but not the names you mentioned (thanks for that). I saw by Googling them that Jerome Rothenberg’s Revolution of the Word was mentioned. That book is in my library together with other Rothenberg books: A book of witness, spells & gris-gris / Poland / 1931/ The technicians of the sacred (this I have in French, revised edition because in his first edition he made the huge mistake of being too American centered, thought at that time that all European traditions of native cultures were destroyed, christianity did a f**** good job on that level but not everything was lost, so the revised edition is more complete and a rectification of the first one). Rothenberg is well known and respected in Europe, believe it or not, some of his work has even been translated into Dutch.

By the way I mentioned Celan's Todesfugue poem. Rothenberg translated that into English and it is a damn good one!!! A masterpiece of translation even! I read the translation before a French audience because they can't understand the German anyway, come to think of that, the English neither, but the French translation that exists of the poem is sooo bad to my standards, I refused to "use it" during the reading.

 

G.

Comment by Nancy Bell Scott on August 16, 2011 at 2:17am

That *is* strange.  And I like it.

Comment by Guido Vermeulen on August 16, 2011 at 2:11am

Great images, reminds me of LORCA (I have a strange mind sometimes). This is one I know by heart:

 

NO ONE EATS ORANGES

UNDER THE FULL MOON

ONE MUST EAT FRUIT

WHICH IS GREEN AND COLD

 

G.

Comment by Nancy Bell Scott on August 15, 2011 at 2:54pm

And the poem is too, Bifidus -- I hope it can be posted here one day. I haven't discussed it since it's not posted, but Theresa, it's fabulous and I love it!  It has everything to do with the artwork itself.  Digs deep, with relatively few words; full of insight.

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