'New technology calls all in doubt', eh?, Rebecca. Seriously, I'd certainly
agree that changes in vocabulary and the psychological perception of poetry
can be altered by technological development, though I doubt if all moves in
modes of communication do have a great impact, for instance, I doubt if the
telegraph had much effect on poetry, the typewriter certainly opened some
possibilities of style, print obviously had a massive impact, the telephone,
pre-mobile, curiously little, radio's main effect seemed to have been in a
brief period of the BBC's history c.1945 - 1960, the web is obviously
opening up new areas yet what effect television had is very hard to
determine yet the early cinema certainly had an influence on writing.
All the 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: "Rebecca Seiferle" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2003 9:53 PM
Subject: Re: sHOw mE tHe sUNshINe [draft]
Janet, Dave,
I noticed in his earlier post questioning how technology had impacted
writing that Dave mentioned Vallejo. I'm away from my desk, so I can't look
up the exact quote, but Vallejo himself said that the word "radio" in a poem
would change poetry, and as a poet, he was always using the 'other'
languages of the sciences, for instance talking of shoulders as trapeziums,
with its suggestion of trapeze and balancing on nothing, as well as the
anatomical precision. And this is one of the qualities that makes his work
still new and of interest.
Best,
Rebecca
Rebecca Seiferle
www.thedrunkenboat.com
-------Original Message-------
From: kiosk <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 07/26/03 08:18 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: sHOw mE tHe sUNshINe [draft]
>
> On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 10:05:12 +0100
"david.bircumshaw" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Late reply on this one.
>
> Janet or 'kiosk' wrote:
>
> >I want Steve's work to be poetry, too. But maybe I'm naive. I'm
> >beginning
> to wonder if it matters. So many of our concepts seem to have to be
> rewritten to reflect realities which would have been unthinkable in even
> the recent past.<
>
> Which realities are those? Do you mean technological ones? I'm just
> curious here, and if it is so, how does that technology invalidate the
> writings of poets like Zbigniew Herbert, Rosewicz, Mandelstam,
> Tsvetaeva, Khlebnikov, Celan, Vallejo, Paz, Machado to name but a few
> from the more recent past?
Actually I was thinking more in terms of political realities. For
instance, who would have thought the Labour Party would become little more
than an extension of the elitist and deeply racist Republican Party and
the nameless ones that party represents? I was born a Labour voter. I
voted Labour whenever I voted. But now.. I think there are still some
Labour MP's who are not Fascists. But I don't understand why they still
support the Labour Party.
I'm not aware of technology invalidating the writings of anyone. I do
welcome some of the changes which seem to me to be due to technological
progress. I regard such things as the ability to publish on the web as
real progress, even if it does require a level of expertise which is not
for everyone (I'm working on it, even as it seems to be threatened by
politically motivated technological initiatives!).
And I do like a good book to go to bed with. I'm reading Prevert and Aran
Ashe at the moment.
Best wishes
Janet Blankfield
"The ideal love affair is one conducted by post." JBS
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... life's a beach ...
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