Dear List,
I regret any misreading of Doug Oliver's texts I may have
committed. My impressions about the Cambridge-London
antipathy were based on his letter of 18 Nov, points
3 and 4, and the phrase 'There's too much coincidence in
this line-up to be accidental', which suggested to me that
he saw local loyalties as the predominating motive in
recent discussions, which could be taken as forestalling or
belittling any attempt to defend Eric Mottram. Or at best,
disqualifying both sides.
My impressions about poets failing to react to the
Thatcherist era was drawn from his letter of 17 Nov,
paras.4 and 5, where on Andrew Duncan's behalf he muses,
'to what extent can an experimental poetry be said to be
democratic if it retreats from the public space
violated by the advent of Thatcher?' In calling this
'a serious concern' and 'an important point', Doug Oliver
gave me the impression that he was endorsing what Andrew
Duncan advanced, and risked validating his broader criticisms.
I could have this wrong. Certainly, we would need to
have a clearer definition of which experimental poets are
supposed to be undemocratic or involved in some (cowardly or
strategic?) retreat, if indeed such specific reference is intended.
Meanwhile, my hint at Chesterton related to his 'Napoleon of
Notting Hill'. The Little England of my previous critique could
perhaps be an unconscious even prophetic anticipation of Doug
Oliver's medieval-style reference (17 Nov, para.4) to "Eric's
crusade". Again, I am sensitive, but the idea could
easily be implanted that Mottram was an unreasonable or religious
zealot, much concerned in an attempt 'to realign power', and (by
implication) -- the sort of man who should be stopped?
But at what price? A little harmless violation of the facts for
instance? A proper disciplining of those who speak up too
much? Perhaps I am rightly chafed at for reading too partisanly Doug
Oliver's exactly balanced testimony; but I have shown, I hope, whence
my uneasiness sprang.
It is too easily triggered. How after all, can one person invalidate
another?
bill
----------------------
[log in to unmask]
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|