[New-Poetry] Goldsmith, et al

[David Graham]

Has anyone yet mentioned Borges in this thread?  Pierre Menard,  
author of The Quixote, etc?


========================================
David Graham
grahamd at ripon.edu

Home Page:
http://web.mac.com/drjazz/iWeb/Site/About%20Me.html

Poetry Library:
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==========================================



On May 22, 2007, at 2:13 PM, Skip Fox wrote:

> I can’t remember, but one modern fiction writer (Hunter Thompson?)  
> copied the works of another (Thomas Wolf?) when he sat down and  
> started to become a writer. Brian Richards, friend, poet and  
> letterpress publisher (Bloody Twin Press), says setting type is his  
> most intimate way into the creative process of another. Ralph Maud,  
> Olson scholar and editor of the Minutes of the Charles Olson  
> Society, used to travel to collections of Olson’s letters and  
> rewrite at least the holographic ones by hand, rather than to have  
> them photocopied. When I asked him about this, he asked why I  
> thought he did it. I said to inhabit Olson’s mind as closely as he  
> could by/while replicating the same motions on the same places on  
> his page. That was the reason.
>
>
> What mind might one inhabit “behind” the Times? A deafening urbane  
> sameness? A sophisticated yawn? A slightly arch cynicism mixed with  
> a muted idealism? I’ll bet Goldsmith addresses this. I’ll look for  
> it on the web.
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu [mailto:new-poetry- 
> bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu] On Behalf Of Anny Ballardini
> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 12:38 AM
> To: NewPoetry: Contemporary Poetry News &Views
> Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] Re: Re: Bok, Goldsmith, et al
>
>
> I think his retyping The New York times has to be drawn back to  
> concept art rather than poetry. The same fact that he is retyping  
> it instead of using other mediums (colors, collage, handwriting, or  
> other) shows an austere concept in the way he is facing / producing  
> this work. The idea of having to upackage the message is what we  
> are allowed to do and what fundamentally the author wishes.  
> Directions in this case are given by the Artist's statement, if  
> any, or by his other works.
>
> I am saying this because - I wish this does not come through as  
> boasting or as a way to advertise my work - I "recopied" Montale's  
> work, the first book of Faust by Goethe and the Pisan Cantos over  
> ten years ago. By hand and on different mediums. The time required  
> to do that brought me to add several different thoughts on why I  
> was doing it, and some people might have added some of theirs, too,  
> which was the aim of this work.
>
>
>
> From: jforjames at aol.com
>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 4:38 AM
>
>
> Going back to Goldsmith's original comment that 'I don't exist as a  
> poet a outside of the academy', I want to posit that that is not  
> surprising either. Writing that is so focused on 'the language as  
> instrument' (& that has no emotional content, per se, or that isn't  
> 'about' something) is perfect fodder for academic discourse.  
> Because one can easily erect the scaffolding of any kind of theory  
> around it. As an academic critic, one doesn't have to delve into  
> the work beyond its surface and the employed techniques; thus, one  
> is free to avoid the messiness of the human pysche or to argue with  
> a notion put forth by the poet.
>
>
> Let's say, instead of retyping The New York Times, the poet says  
> "reading The New York Times is like retyping the words inside my  
> head, I feel I know what I've read before I read it." Now, I'm not  
> saying that is great poetry...but unpacking the idea, addressing  
> the assertion in the context of the poem, is not going to be as  
> easy or as straightforward as addressing a 'text' that just retypes  
> The New York Times.
>
>
> Finnegan
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: chris.lott at gmail.com
> Sent: Mon, 21 May 2007 9:47 PM
> Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] Re: Re: Bok, Goldsmith, et al
>
> On 5/21/07, jforjames at aol.com <jforjames at aol.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Skip and Cris
> > I'm enjoying the thoughts/thinking about Goldsmith's work. The  
> thing I'd ask
> > about what
> > Goldsmith says below is: What did he expect? Wouldn't any  
> automaton retyping
> > The NY Times be tempted to step outside the text, to be creative.  
> In the
> > end, it's a notion that many of us learned early in life when  
> asked to do
> > repetitive tasks.
>
> It does seem obvious in one sense, but is there a lesson to be learned
> there that would be helpful anyway?
>
> And why isn't more creativity inspired by lives of repetition and
> tedium than seems to be the case?
>
> c
>
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