Thanks, Doug. Perhaps demonically, I was trying to see how Finlay's quote
might play into your sense of space, poetic and otherwise.
And you have done that, some!
Stephen
> Goddamn, Stephen, I haven't a clue how to answer any of those questions!
>
> I came across it recently in an article on Finlay & Little Sparta, his
> garden of concrete poetry, or concrete poetry garden. There was a
> battle there way back when, when it was about to be closed down by the
> Scottish Arts Council or some such governmental organization. Now it's
> being taken over & saved for posterity by the govt.
>
> I love it just for the pay &, yes, that you can grow against as well as
> for. And that within, even contemplation might be active, & also
> against, outraged, trying hard to change things.
>
> Something like that.
>
> What Finlay has done with the massive 'library' of the past that he has
> quoted in(to) his active space is certainly more than just accepting
> that past, much closer to what Alison & others were suggesting is using
> given patterns to undermine their inherent 'politics'....
>
> It's a sublimely gorgeous place that troubles you further (in delight
> etc) every turn you take on its paths....
>
> Doug
> On 30-Aug-05, at 9:40 AM, Stephen Vincent wrote:
>
>>> Certain gardens are described as retreats when they are really
>>> attacks.
>>> Ian Hamilton Finlay
>>
>> Doug - perhaps in the context of both parenting and formalism - I
>> remain
>> intrigued by this Finlay quote. How do you interpret it?
>> What is the garden's role in the "attack"?
>> What is the gardener's role - attacked or on the attack? Feminine or
>> masculine!!??
>> Does Finlay define his garden as an "attack" in the sense of an
>> aggressive
>> statement about the nature of gardens and the outside community,
>> including
>> the State that impinges on the garden?
>>
>> Does a garden require an heroic couplet to both contain and nurture?
>> If I remember right, Finlay has at least one couplet cut into stone on
>> one
>> of the edges of his garden. Ironically - in terms of the George
>> Bowering
>> quote - the couplet invokes both Rousseau and Poussin! I did a little
>> Google
>> research and could not find the quote, but Mark Scroggins, a critic
>> whose
>> work I really like, has a piece on Finlay in Jacket which I want to
>> get back
>> to and read:
>> http://jacketmagazine.com/15/finlay-by-scroggins.html
>>
>> I must say I am somewhat enthralled by the Finlay quote. I just want
>> to know
>> if he's talking about a problem with invasive weeds or, as most likely,
>> something else. And how is the quote in service of your own work?
>> (Briefly,
>> of course).
>> Speaking of work I have to get down to it!
>>
>>
> Douglas Barbour
> 11655 - 72 Avenue NW
> Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9
> (780) 436 3320
>
> Certain gardens are described as retreats when they are really attacks.
> Ian Hamilton Finlay
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