Perhaps it's safe to return to this now...
On Sun, 11 May 1997, A. Brady wrote:
> I've got general questions which this circus debate has thrown up: why is
> it easier to break normal codes of civility over e-mail, does anyone think
> this has happened, and why would it be especially prompted by this
> particular instance?
This was a lovely sane and timely interjection when things were getting
not only raucous (which I don't mind) but somewhat ill-mannered (which I
do). I for one 'pologise to anyone caught in the real or imagined
crossfire.
I can only excuse my own grumpiness (or "bitterness" - why is it wrong to
be bitter at times?) by relating this "particular instance" to the
circumstances of my daily life. After so many years on this particular
beat, I'm known locally as something between alien and fool - a status
which I'm used to and which doesn't harm. In order to "reach out",
well-meaning folks will initiate a kinda kulture chat in which it's
assumed that I'd be writing like Larkin, Pam Ayers, H or H if only I could
get the hang of it, and that one day I too might strike it rich with
something between crow and the whitsun wheddings (I hope those who know my
work are in stitches by now). My reply, being a truthful person (well,
mostly) is, thanks, I'd rather not. I'll add something about the positive
things I find in these worthies, but have to stress that this ain't what
I'm doing. But still they come, these well meaning external amateurs who
ask me to adulate at shrines which have nothing to do with me.
That's why I raised the point about professionalism: the long-term
commitment you find in so many members of this list, which perhaps
mitigates against abilities to join in generalised gushes. You won't -
other than by "chance" - get a good talk about clarinet making from a
violin maker. Whatever qualities I see in other writers (H&H, Cobbing,
Bernstein, Creeley, Prynne, Raworth, Niedecker, Howe, Bunting, Fishers A
and R etc) their long-term impact on the way I work is is either
calculably or incalculably low. But it's good to hear other people's
enthusiasms, when they're supported - that spark of someone else's life is
great to catch, and is indeed one of the things which this list can - at
some remove - provide. And above all, it's good to get sent back to the
texts by a fresh take. But, that hasn't happened in this case.
Grump over.
___________________________________________________________
Richard Caddel
Durham University Library, Stockton Rd., Durham DH1 3LY, UK
E-mail: R.I.Caddel @ durham.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)191 374 3044 Fax: +44 (0)191 374 7481
WWW: http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dul0ric
"Words! Pens are too light. Take a chisel to write."
- Basil Bunting
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