oh jeeez david, we are all used and we are all 'working class heroes'
otherwise we would be on a 'tropical island (yes it is my riddle)' (and
we all use)
just don't let it get to you (that heart-breaking isn't good at all) and
grow out of it with mastery and style,
what can i send you this time?
oh yes, an old sepia colored carillon song, anny
> Well, Paul, I'm certainly 'working class' although I don't regard that as
a
> badge of inverted superiority, I'd love to escape it but I don't want to
be
> in any other class either. I just want out of status systems all round,
and
> that particularly applies to poetry, where I have had some of the most
> heart-breaking experiences, of people using me over and over again, your
> remark about the Arts Council is most apposite there, moral: don't trust
> anyone connected to it, they will exploit you, ruin your friendships, and
> spit you out afterwards, I speak from experience, and pain.
>
> Naow, I've never been to Zurich!
>
>
> Best
>
>
> Dave
>
>
>
> David Bircumshaw
>
> Leicester, England
>
> Home Page
>
> A Chide's Alphabet
>
> Painting Without Numbers
>
> http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/index.htm
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "paul murphy" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 2:15 AM
> Subject: Re: Padraic Fallon
>
>
> I'd love for Hofmann to say, before a reading, 'listen everyone, basically
> I'm a pretentious swine, now we've got that over with, let's get on and
> enjoy ourselves.' And then let off a massive fart to signify that he too
> is a corporeal being, and not someone floating about in a haze of literary
> references, obscure vocabulary, and okay yah PCness. I think some take it
> too far the other way, and think that because they're very 'working class'
> that that makes them some kind of martyr to the cause. Most of the
working
> class people I know would love to escape their class, and don't want to
live
> in a ghetto or an estate - I know, I'm one of them. Most of these
flunkies
> hang around, you guessed it, Arts Councils - the curse of the drinking
> classes. Flann O'Brien was still a very fine writer, he might have
> floundered on the Continent, Joyce certainly did, but was bailed out by
his
> brother and various rich people, as Sylvia Beech. For ! all that, he
still
> loved to eat in the best restaurants, when he couldn't, basically afford
it.
> It's shit, isn't it, were he alive today he could dine in the best
> restaurants anywhere in the world, and much more. Perhaps he realised he
> was ahead of his time, and decided to live it up before he died. Have you
> been to the Fluntern cemetery in Zuerich?
>
>
>
> >From: "david.bircumshaw"
> >Reply-To: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry
and
> poetics
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: Padraic Fallon
> >Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 01:07:53 -0000
> >
> >Hi, Paul
> >
> >Michael Hofman is an interesting case, as I feel his prose translations
of
> >German writers are very fine, yet his poems, although skilful, remind me
of
> >dead frogs' legs twitching on a lab table. I do agree with you about the
> >benefit of the Continent to Irish writers, Flann O'Brien was possibly
> undone
> >by never leaving. Otherwise, with the literary scene, I am so pissed off
> >with it, it is full of creeps, and when people that you regard start get
> >sucked into that it brings in the clouds, everything seems wrong at
present
> >to me. Especially if, as in my case, you've unintentionally facilitated,
a
> >lovely administrative verb that, the very thing you hate.
> >
> >Best
> >
> >Dave
> >
> >
> >
> >David Bircumshaw
> >
> >Leicester, England
> >
> >Home Page
> >
> >A Chide's Alphabet
> >
> >Painting Without Numbers
> >
> >http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/index.htm
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "paul murphy"
> >To:
> >Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 11:28 PM
> >Subject: Re: Padraic Fallon
> >
> >
> >Hi, I was talking about the contrast between a writer like Michael
Hofmann,
> >who is all too aware of convention and literature and someone as
refreshing
> >as Fallon, or Kavanagh, or even Yeats, who was admittedly, much more
> >cosmopolitan than the others mentioned. That's what I thought you meant?
> >Ireland has either teetered backwards upon itself in a self-absorbed but
> >occassionally useful parochialism, but mostly Irish writers have looked
to
> >the Continent, and this is when Irish writing is at its best - when the
> best
> >elements of the parochial mix with more sophisticated patterns -so ,we
have
> >Joyce, Beckett - I love their work, it goes beyond mere appreciation of
> >literature,
> >
> >PM
> >
> >
> >
> > >From: "david.bircumshaw"
> > >Reply-To: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry
> and
> >poetics
> > >To: [log in to unmask]
> > >Subject: Re: Padraic Fallon
> > >Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 23:01:31 -0000
> > >
> > >Paul
> > >
> > >your question has me totally lost - yup, living in backwaters might
help
> in
> > >being unaware of conventions, but that wasn't what I was thinking
about.
> I
> > >want to be angry about the way poetry is now: fraud, deceit, theft,
lies
> >are
> > >its commonplaces, I don't want to complacently burble on about theory,
I
> > >want to say: THIS IS NOT RIGHT.
> > >
> > >Essentially, poetry, like all the other arts, like our culture in
> general,
> > >is corrupt, poetry is a very minor participant, coz there ain't all
that
> > >much money in it, but it happens, I know all too well about the users
and
> > >abusers that inhabit the scene, who feign and fake moral concern while
> > >really looking out for themselves alone, you just try being ripped off
by
> > >people on the scale I have, it is not a nice experience.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >David Bircumshaw
> > >
> > >Leicester, England
> > >
> > >Home Page
> > >
> > >A Chide's Alphabet
> > >
> > >Painting Without Numbers
> > >
> > >http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/index.htm
> > >----- Original Message -----
> > >From: "paul murphy"
> > >To:
> > >Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 10:34 PM
> > >Subject: Re: Padraic Fallon
> > >
> > >
> > >you mean that it was written outside the conventions of what passed for
> > >literature in that period? For goodness sake, people living in
backwater
> > >Ireland are always going to be writing in the way you describe, simply
> > >because they don't know what the conventions of literature should be,
or
> >are
> > >probably reading writers who are at least 30 years out of date.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > >From: "david.bircumshaw"
> > > >Reply-To: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to
poetry
> >and
> > >poetics
> > > >To: [log in to unmask]
> > > >Subject: Re: Padraic Fallon
> > > >Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 19:52:48 -0000
> > > >
> > > >Doug
> > > >
> > > >I remember buying the very same out-of-date Padraic Fallon when I was
> >about
> > > >nineteen, I think. His poems struck me, very uneven but full of
> texture,
> >of
> > > >charges of rhythm and sound, very unlike the boring stuff that is
> mostly
> > > >produced today, they took risks, but when people are writing poems
not
> >from
> > > >an inner need but to an eye to grants, winning competitions, being
> >invited
> > > >to read, status in the the literary community, as it were, the result
> is
> > > >utter dullness. I could say more but I'd better not.
> > > >
> > > >Best
> > > >
> > > >Dave
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >David Bircumshaw
> > > >
> > > >Leicester, England
> > > >
> > > >Home Page
> > > >
> > > >A Chide's Alphabet
> > > >
> > > >Painting Without Numbers
> > > >
> > > >http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/index.htm
> > > >----- Original Message -----
> > > >From: "Douglas Clark"
> > > >To:
> > > >Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 4:39 PM
> > > >Subject: Padraic Fallon
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >Just to say that I got the new Carcanet catalogue in this
> > > >morning and see that in Autumn 2003 they intend issuing a
> > > >new Padraic Fallon Selected POems to replace the out-of-print
> > > >book that I have. I think it is the only book in the catalogue
> > > >that I will buy as basically I part company with keeping
> > > >up-to-date with poetry.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >Douglas Clark, Bath, England mailto: [log in to unmask]
> > > >Lynx: Poetry from Bath ..........
> >http://www.bath.ac.uk/~exxdgdc/lynx.html
> > >
> > >
> >
>
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