I met Les a while ago and, although I wasn't keen on being either nice or polite to
someone (a boring writer at that) who works for the extreme right-wing
publication 'Quadrant', I ended up shaking hands and sharing a laugh with him. He's
a lot more likable in person than he is on the page. Which make me agree with
Douglas C; he probably won't survive as a writer. In a few decades he may be
remembered as Australia's belated imitation of Henry Longfellow, but that'd be it.
As far as Vendler's attitude towards other post-colonial poets is concerned, I
wouldn't call her ignorant. From what I know of her work, Vendler is a passionate
and private reader and doesn't get invovled in the social aspects of promoting
poetry and publishing a la Perloff. I think a lot of the hyperbolic praise heaped
upon Australian poets in particular has been the result of desperate altruism,
unabashed nepotism and trans-continental back-scratching i.e. the 'cringe'. I'm not
surprised that Vendler doesn't want a bar of it.
Ali
P.S. Sorry if my views offend. No offence was intended.
---- Original Message ----
From: Douglas Clark
Date: Tue 7/2/02 7:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Vendler on Les Murray?
I never thought anything of Les Murray despite reading him a lot
until I saw an hour-long film of him on the South Bank Show.
PLacing his poetry among the images and sounds of his everyday
life placed him in a completely different perspective and it
was possible to appreciate him as a poet. But I still could
never return to his poems on the page where they seem a
disorganised illiterate sprawl. But he is a genuine poet
who I dont think will survive on paper.
Douglas Clark, Bath, England mailto: [log in to unmask]
Lynx: Poetry from Bath .......... http://www.bath.ac.uk/~exxdgdc/lynx.html
On Tue, 2 Jul 2002, Alison Croggon wrote:
> Given my own shameful ignorance of NZ poetry, wouldn't surprise me
> one bit (no, haven't forgotten about the putative feature, folks, but
> have been a bit swamped with other business). Perhaps Vendler can't
> "hear" Murray; I remember Kinsella saying that Murray puzzled UK
> students until the poems were read in an Australian accent, because
> they couldn't "get" the rhythms; and not getting the rhythms meant
> the poetry made no sense to them.
>
> Best
>
> A
>
> >
> >
> >But then I'd be interested to see if Vendler knows anything at all about
> >the poetry of Australia & New ealand (let alone Canada) for example. What
> >would she say, then, of Wright, Campbell, Dobson, Harwood, or Webb, to
> >choose just some of the elders of the 20th century Australian poetic tribe?
> >I shudder at the thought.
> --
>
> "The only real revolt is the revolt against war."
> Albert Camus
>
> Alison Croggon
> Home page
> http://www.users.bigpond.com/acroggon/
>
> Masthead Online
> http://au.geocities.com/masthead_2/
>
|