I've just heard that American writer Paul Metcalf died suddenly last
Sunday, seemingly heart attack, on his way to buy apples. His writing
steadfastly avoided being classified as poetry, fiction or non-fiction,
and drew on traditions of Olson (who he studied with) and Melville (whose
direct descendant he was). Despite a career stretching back to the
mid-1950s, he'd avoided entries in all the key reference works, tho there
was a special issue of Sagetrieb devoted to him in 1956.
His work typically collages fairly separate threads of facts, opinions,
narratives from all over (his bibliographies are extensive), and builds
its own narrative weave - one of his books is subtitled "a telling of
wonders" and this could stand for so much of his work. It includes: Genoa
(1965) Patagoni (1971) Apalache (1976) and Waters of Potomack (1982) - a
chunky 3-volume Collected Works was completed by Coffee House Press about
a year ago.
Sagetrieb says:
To honor the absorption of Paul Metcalf into the great collage of
the gone, the National Poetry Foundation offers its _SAGETRIEB_ special
issue on Metcalf (Vol. 5 No. 3: 1986). Reduced price $5, (plus $2.50
postage/handling, domestic, or $4.50 international).
e-mail orders to Gail Sapiel <[log in to unmask]> if you want to be
billed, or send to NPF, Room 302, Univ. of Maine, 5752 Neville Hall, Orono
ME 04469-5752.
RC
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|