Billy--been waiting here to respond in the hopes that others might raise
more general issues from your note: so far, seems pretty quiet, so here's a
few random points.
Backslapping & coziness are two dangers in the poetry world, sure, & ones I
have no great respect for: so much should be clear from the report in
question! Or from the magazine I've been publishing, where I've tried to
keep blanket enthusiasm & hyperbole out of the essay & reviews section.
But why value sheer oppositionality? It's of no intrinsic value as a
_stance_, if it doesn't form a helpful component of dialogue & critique.
I have my doubts that Maurice Scully's being discussed "endlessly", which
is a pity considering the significance of his poetry.
It's hard to imagine _anyone_ approaching unfamiliar writing without
working from the grounds of what they are already familiar with.
Misunderstandings & plain different understandings are surely part & parcel
of the act of reading, & things would become pretty stale if not: this list
has already had one go-around on the issue of consensual readings of poetry
& perhaps you'd find the archives of the past few weeks of interest. -- I'm
glad that a number of Irish poets' work has (in particular since the
Assembling Alternatives conference) gained a number of North American
readers, & this seems cause for optimism I'd think: something's getting
through, on this showing, whatever cultural & national barriers stand in
the way. Given the language poets' own skepticism about the term "language
poetry", & given the broad spectrum of work that's been included under that
name, I doubt that that particular (now surely historical) grouping has
tried to absorb the Irish avantgarde under its aegis. I'm delighted for
instance that a writer such as Karen Mac Cormack might find much to respond
to in the work of Randolph Healy, & vice versa. I don't think she knows
Gaelic, sad to say.
The Wittgenstein quote was an offhand comment in your text about poets who
mistakenly took LW as an authority, "an author who had no idea of how
language works" (I'm quoting from memory). A touch severe, I'd think.
Glad you've got email capability at the moment, as I'm sure you'll have
much to contribute to discussions on the list. --N
Nate & Jane Dorward
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109 Hounslow Ave., Willowdale, ON, M2N 2B1, Canada
ph: (416) 221 6865
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