Chris made a substantial and enlightening contribution to Cusp: Recollections of Poetry in Transition which is still available from Shearsman Books. Tilla is right though - his main form of communication is still via carrier pigeon which does have it's drawbacks.
Geraldine Monk
Affiliated Poet
Centre for Poetry & Poetics
The University of Sheffield
----- Original Message -----
From: Pierre Joris
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2014 3:28 PM
Subject: Re: Chris Torrance Reflected Upon
Chris Torrance was also in the very first of the anthologies to map the 60/70s "Brit Poetry renaissance," or whatever you want to call it, namely MATIERES D’ANGLETERRE edited by Paul Buck & myself in 1984 & published bi-lingually (English & French) in France (no English publisher wanted to touch the book with a ten-foot pole). I have always thought Chris’ work was central to those pivotal years, and Wilkinson’s review doesn’t change that. That the Cambridge school, or whatever you want to call it, was limited in their assessments of the wider range of interesting new work being produced in those years in the England, is not a big problem (except of course that there were so few reviews of any of the interesting poetry books at that time — Allen Fisher’s generous & wider view (more than re-view) being indeed a major counter-statement to those with limited vision). In MATIERES, Paul & I do have Prynne (& some other Cambridgers) meet Torrance (& other allied poetas). There should be, is in fact, room for a range of explorative poetry & poetics.
I too would very much like to see a Collected or large Selected Poems by Torrance from a reputable publisher. Hmm, any takers? Reality Street? Shearsman?
Pierre
On Nov 30, 2014, at 10:08 AM, Sean Carey <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Dear Tim and Tilla
Allen Fisher in his fine review of "A Various Art" in what I think was the last edition of Reality Studios cited the writers included having a civic thread running through their work within a Cambridge School poetic tradition. He listed others besides Chris Torrance who did not seem suited to being included in a fairly comprehensive review of the anthology. Working from memory as that book went up in smoke in a fire at my Dublin flat in 2006 Fisher understood the editors focus was different to poets such as Torrance and John Temple and others whose life projects are on a different wavelength to the overall ethos of the Cambridge School. Indeed one could draw up an entire list of poets excluded from any anthology of any kind. Once in an anthology of Irish poetry Thomas Kinsella included not one Irish female poet which he had to alter in the second edition after he came under fire from the ladies of Irish poetry.
The Paladin judgement on Torrance was harsh on Wilkinson's part as it gave a top class selection of work going back to Torrance's first book rooted in the nineteen sixties but very advanced. A problem in rating Barry MacSweeney and then knocking Torrance to my at least seems illogical as Barry and Chris's poetic styles are not dissimilar in tone and subject matter. Thomas A. Clark writes in a very original style with nature featuring strongly in his work. In fact I regret Paladin did not opt for a book of Torrance's work on its own merits. That would have redressed the neglect of Chris Torrance but I am a reader and my editing was limited to A4 or broadsheet formats in Dublin. I regret in a moment of lunacy I gave my copy of the Paladin to a writer friend in Chigago as a gift losing a really superb book. Torrance has mystical leanings but he is also a realist who engages with people in his poetry in a very open way. Iain Sinclair included Torrance in his edition of "Conductors Of Chaos" and rightly so he was in "The Children of Albion" and "British and Irish Poetry since 1970".
For me the outstanding books by Torrance are "The Diary of Pulag's Cat" and "The Book of Brychan". These contain work of a very high standard from his Magic Door sequence. Both were burned in a garden bonfire near Dublin aimed at exorcising another poet from an individual's life on assumption that they were his property and not mine! So over the years I gave the Paladin away and lost the other Torrance titles in a literary feud. If like Kerry Katona said to a tabloid holds currency her "my life is a car crash!" I could claim my own with Torrance is a ring of fire!
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-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Allen <[log in to unmask]>
To: BRITISH-IRISH-POETS <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sun, Nov 30, 2014 11:32 AM
Subject: Re: Chris Torrance Reflected Upon
Hi Tilla and Sean,
I've always been a Torrance fan, as you know Tilla, and see him as one of the poets most badly ignored by his contemporaries. I remember that Chris was very upset when the Paladin threesome of himself, MacSweeney and Thomas A. Clark (the Tempers of Hazard) was pulped when Murdock bought Paladin and even more upset when John Wilkinson, in a review of the book (might have been in Angel Exhaust or Parataxis, can't remember) dismissed Chris's contribution while showering praise on the other two. Can't locate that review at the moment but if I remember rightly it was something to do with Chris's poetry being too mystical in relation to the landscape or something.
I never say the Fisher review of A Various Art - can you remember the gist of what he said about the omissions?
Cheers
Tim
On 30 Nov 2014, at 09:53, Tilla Brading wrote:
> Hello,
> Possibly Chris is not alone in being a writer who is sidelined because, for all kinds of reasons, the writer may not self-promote & network at the speed of light now beneficial in raising awareness of work ….
> Tilla
>
> Tilla Brading
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> On 29 Nov 2014, at 01:03, Sean Carey <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Born in Scotland then moved to England and is by now more associated with Wales. In his review of "A Various Art" Allen Fisher ( Reality Studios) fully understood Torrance's ommission in a valid way along with others also not included. This was despite the time span Torrance shares with many who were included whose work is not a million miles away from the Torrance mode of poetics. Being excluded seems to go with the Chris Torrance M.O. which in my view is sad but accepted by Torrance and those who rate his work. His readings seem few and rare apart from venues near his home in South Wales and a quick google just now showed no sign of PATH from Sam Ward's press as indicated on CT's own site.
>
>
> By now most of Torrance's peers have by now had Selected or Collected Poems published and are household names in their own right. When I went to Wales to hear Chris read he was impressive with several poems read with real power. After the reading he expressed the wish he could have his Collected published within Wales. It would be a weighty book which no small press could hope to produce but I truly hope it happens in my lifetime. He has produced two books I rate as masterpieces which should have sold massive amounts and never be out of print. More on Chris anon.
>
> Sent from AOL Mobile Mail54
