on 6/2/01 10:16 AM, John Kinsella at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> ironic in the sense that many critics tend to use anthologies to create
> connections that are at best tenuous. though there is a community within
> that vol that DOES interact is an interesting intertextual way.
Some of the people in that anthology also interact in an interesting
intertextual, intellectual and personal way with a lot of other poets with
whom their work shares as much 'commonality' as they do with those people in
that volume.
I am uneasy about these 'camps' and 'communities' that seem to being 'set
up' (I use the term deliberately) in the article. I don't think it reflects
the myriad inter-linkings at various levels that I am aware of, say, in
Sydney and elsewhere - and, remember, this just little ol' me here, there'll
be many more besides. I know a number of people whose work appears in that
anthology - at least one I am quite close to in age and publishing history
and we have critiqued each other's manuscripts (a process which is often
never discussed or considered) and exchanged any number of ideas. This
person's work is as close to other groups in Sydney (and elsewhere) that
would never fit the neat categories set up by any anthology or article.
Look, I hope this isn't a shocking notion to people out there but all sorts
of poets talk to and share ideas with all sorts of other poets in Sydney
(and elsewhere, some of my closest poet friends have been outside Sydney).
Most people don't give a rats about the old poetry wars - we just get on
with it. I meet regularly with one group of people to talk about poetry etc
and I think it might be surprising to some as to who those people are.
According to the 'rules of engagement' this shouldn't happen. Perhaps we
should be meeting in secret and swallowing any papers that pass between us -
so 'no names no pack drill'.
Anyway, enough of Sydney. I'm getting worried now as I have been given an
assignment to write about recent poetry publishing in Australia for a
US/international audience. Better remember to step lightly - we are such
sensitive souls.
Cheers,
Jill
________________________
Jill Jones
50 Ruby Street
Marrickville NSW 2204
AUSTRALIA
[log in to unmask]
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~jpjones
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