Before Easter I went to a conference on Literature & the Natural
Environment in Swansea and members of this list might be interested
to hear of one of the sessions. Given by Harriet Tarlo, it was on:
Contemporary British Poets in the Bunting Tradition, and Harriet
provided generous handouts of work by Thomas A Clark, Maggie
O'Sullivan, Barry MacSweeney, Ric Caddel and others. The emphasis was
on introducing the work rather than interpreting it, though she did
put about the interesting idea that these poets (all associated in
different ways with what she called "Radical Pastoral") were doubly
marginal - because of their non-standard techniques but also because
of their "pastoral" deployment of what is normally associated with an
urban-privileging stance of radicalism. Many in the audience had not
read these poets before, and it was encouraging to see how reading
was beginning there and then. A refreshing aspect of ecocriticism,
though it is a largely academic current, is that it works with
writing rather than producing theoretic packages, and regards
literary production as fully on a par with itself. It's even prepared
to talk of the "beauty" of poetry and to see that as a relational
energy.
Peter
Peter Larkin
Philosophy & Literature Librarian
University of Warwick Library
Coventry CV4 7AL UK
Tel: 01203 528151 Fax: 01203 524211
Email: [log in to unmask]
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