Thanks, Ken, for such a warm response: I see that,
otherwise, the discussion goes on in the field of
"aesthetics" separate from sociology; especially liked
Ken's:
"Certainly the langpo poets have been at ease with
the notion of well-printed and designed books and have
co-operated in self-help efforts to get them distributed
widely. They have not been content merely to moan about
their own marginalisation or to strike attitudes of radical
piety. Good for them."
And I accept Ken's reproach: I should have put
Uncle Tom's in the same quote marks he did; I agree with
his analysis of them.
The Microsoft analysis I hold to more: I used to
work for a small business that got taken over & diluted,
Waterstones books, and it is, like a lot of the last few
years LangPO imho, watered down, but still making some
sort of interaction with mainstream culture that's useful
(that a lot of Brit po ain't) - and I did want to add that
Ken's work, Ulli Freer's and Adrian Clarke's and Tom
Raworth's and others, do have the kind of less
aggressive atttitude to media language; not tar all Britpo.
Best
Ira
I agree with much of what Ira says, but can I just demur at
the descripti=
on
"Uncle Toms" for poets who now have academic jobs. Charles
Bernstein, for=
one, has done a great deal to promote radical poetries and
younger poets
since his appointment as professor at SUNY Buffalo, and his
own writing
remains challenging and thought-provoking. Bob Perelman has
attracted
criticism for his book _The Marginalisation of Poetry_,
which I look
forward to reading (and to hear him speak/read at the
Serpentine Gallery
Bookshop, 54 Warren St, London on 5 Dec), but his integrity
is
unquestionable for me.
I trust there are plenty of similar "Uncle Toms" lurking on
this list who=
agree with me!
The comparison with Microsoft also strikes me as a bit glib.
Certainly th=
e
langpo poets have been at ease with the notion of
well-printed and design=
ed
books and have co-operated in self-help efforts to get them
distributed
widely. They have not been contact merely to moan about
their own
marginalisation or to strike attitudes of radical piety.
Good for them.
K
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