On 3 July 2012 10:15, Tim Allen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

I know he was being funny Geraldine - it was funny. It just slightly irked that such a rich exchange between Ben and Sean should only get this response. As for some of the insults flying around between Sean and Ben, well, I think being mates is what makes the insults possible, if you know what I mean.

On 2 Jul 2012, at 23:20, Geraldine Monk wrote:

Jamie's not being cheap Tim, he's being funny. I thought Sean calling Ben silly and stupid and likening him to a buffoon was a bit cheap and rather disrespectful. I'm sorry to see Sean deploying this tactic

g

- ----- Original Message -----

From: [log in to unmask]" href="mailto:[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">Tim Allen

To: [log in to unmask]" href="mailto:[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">[log in to unmask]

Sent: Monday, July 02, 2012 1:08 PM
Subject: Re: Blake in Cambridge

Sorry Jamie, but I think that's a bit cheap. The argument between Ben and Sean, which I admit has its funny side, is in fact a real one. Both are writers who have a view of poetry as being a radical tool and if you see poetry as being a possible radical tool then you are going to have such arguments, however silly they might appear to those who just don't get that. That political radicalism used to be an important source of much of the British avant garde's particular texture and force, and it lives on in poets like Bonney, however much bourgeois aesthetics and the American influences have cooled it down over recent years.

Cheers

Tim A.

On 1 Jul 2012, at 17:32, Jamie McKendrick wrote:

Good game - can anyone play? To outradical the opponent with illuminating references to Finnegans Wake and adjust readings of Blake to the shifting exigencies of domestic politics between 2010-2012. Perhaps the SWP and the Cambridge English Dept could go halves on the trophy.