Nate /Alaric
I did not set out to provoke or annoy. I am genuinely interested how the
reception of one poem differs from another. It seems most of it does turn
upon politics rather than poetry --though some would claim they are
inseparable. For example how one reads a poem read by a friend, another
local poet, an avant-garde poet, a mainstream poet, and one from the
canon --all differ. Why? Because in the former one has more at stake than
the poetry, in the second it is to do with being in a group, the third to do
with one's credentials as a poet in public, and as for the mainstream poet
and poets from the canon -- well one can be honest and say what one thinks.
That is what I meant by playing safe. If people attack the mainstream poets
and poets of the canon, then they should allow themselves to be accessible
to the same criticism -- however this is not the case, because they are
protective, sensitive, fragile and ...avant-garde. This was exactly the
point I made about Adorno and how avant-garde artists and writers and their
works are privileged over the writings of mainstream and popular works in
Mass-cult. I used the word molly-coddled deliberately in a previouis
posting.
Keston,
Nice to see you back from Germany. I would like to see names and examples
from your Year book 2000. Regarding the situation with German literature and
poetry, I wonder if you might elaborate. You mentioned the race question.
Are you referring to a specific problem? I see you digested a lot of Hegel
and use a lot of the lingo --reminds one of what was said about Hegel:
"The reader of Hegel's works is struck from the first, not only by the
abstract character of his developments, but still more by the many technical
expressions he employs. This is especially deterrent to a modern reader. But
he who succeeds in penetrating this outer husk will become aware of another
characteristic which presses into the foreground, and which must occupy this
foremost place if Hegel's portrait as a thinker is to be drawn with
historical accuracy."
So I ask myself what is beneath the outer husk of your hin und zuruck--it
looks interesting --will read later. Now must go to Tokyo --you are probably
asleep now anyway.
Yours.
Stephen
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