Alison, Duncan isn't claiming to be impartial in his editorial choices,
Holland is.
On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:24:07 +1100, Alison Croggon
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>How can an editor not display her "prejudices" or taste? Surely that's
>what makes good magazines? (Yes, as well as others not so good, but
>then you don't bother to read those ones). I don't agree with Jane
>Holland, but it seems silly to demand that she change her sensibility
>just because she edits a magazine. If so, then it makes as much sense
>to demand that Andrew Duncan publish Heaney.
>
>xA
>
>On Mon, Oct 12, 2009 at 9:13 AM, Jeffrey Side <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>> I’m bringing Holland's remark up because given that she’s the editor
of
>> Horizon (one of Salt's spin-offs) she is in a position of some
>> responsibility in that her tastes (if prejudiced) could affect the
stylistic
>> balance of the poetry appearing there. She claims on the Home
page of
>> the site:
>>
>> ‘I’m not interested in becoming too prescriptive about the sort of
>> poetry, fiction, critical prose or literary oddities I’d like to receive
from
>> contributors. I’m not positioning myself either left, right or dead
centre
>> of the mainstream. What I will be seeking, however, in the work
>> received, is an openness: to the physical, to the wider world, to
ideas
>> and language, and to the possibility of failure.’
>>
>> Yet, the comment from her I’ve posted here is:
>>
>> ‘As an editor, I am open to most things, including this ... type of
work.
>> As an editor, I have to be open to it, otherwise I wouldn't be doing
my
>> job properly. But as a poet myself, and as a reader/listener, I have
no
>> problems in saying that I dislike it intensely.’
>>
>> (http://www.saltpublishing.com/horizon/index.htm)
>>
>> Even though she acknowledges that a conflict of interest exists,
>> nevertheless, how can we really be sure that her prejudices don’t
come
>> into play in the majority of instances? The only way to ensure
balance
>> would be for Horizon to have two editors of poetry one such as
Holland
>> and one who doesn’t “intensely” dislike non-mainstream poetry.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:59:34 +0100, Peter Riley
>> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>>If you're going to make this kind of fuss every time somebody
makes a
>>>public statement attacking, or showing disinterest in, avant-garde,
>>>innovative, whatever, poetry--- you're going to be awfully busy for
>>>the rest of your life.
>>>
>>>Of course they do. The poetry elicits it, the poetry demands it, the
>>>poetry almost needs it. If it didn't happen the poetry wouldn't have
>>>registered as what it is.
>>>
>>>PR
>>
>
>
>
>--
>Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
>Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
>Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
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