Thank you, Douglas. I appreciate the welcome particularly from as
illustrious a poet/writer as yourself. I've read many of your critical
works. I'm hosting a half hour poetry show, Speaking of Poets, every Sunday
from 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. Winnipeg time on CKUW 95.9 FM, the University of
Winnipeg's community radio station which is  accessible on the web both for
live  listening, streaming and downloading. I'd love to have you at some
point as my guest. Backchannel me if you're interested and we can discuss.
John Herbert Cunningham

-----Original Message-----
From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Douglas Barbour
Sent: May-13-09 9:40 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Theoretically ... (corrected, what was I thinking)

Hey, and welcome to the group, another Canuck. A good point, John, &  
yes, 'learning' -- which includes just knowing a lot about the art  
from experiencing it, may be a version of theory, but not,  perhaps,  
the 'theory' many find anathema....

(of course, I always read Derrida as a kind of outrageous modernist  
'poetry'....)

Doug
On 13-May-09, at 6:15 AM, John Herbert Cunningham wrote:

> Hello. I'm new to the group. I've been finding this discussion quite  
> fascinating. I'd just like to respond to both Judy and Jon by asking  
> this: If the application of theory to a work of art debases the  
> viewing of that work of art, is this a fault of theory or is it that  
> our first perception was innocent and without knowledge so that we  
> saw the shiny surface of the work without seeing beneath whereas,  
> through being informed by theory, we could  see deeper and found it  
> wanting? At this past Winnipeg New Music Festival, the audience in  
> which I sat watched the Scrap Music Ensemble. We were mesmerized by  
> all these bright lights shining on metallic surfaces and all the  
> frenzy taking place on stage as the musicians ran out from the wings  
> pushing brighter and shinier pieces of equipment onto the stage at  
> times dancing with it in pirouettes. Half way through the  
> performance, I realized that all I was watching  was taiko drumming  
> with a little more glitz and glitter. Certainly, there!
>  is nothing wrong with taiko drumming and I can quite enjoy it given  
> the right context. But a festival that was supposedly dedicated to  
> the best of the new in classical music? My theoretical knowledge of  
> taiko drumming and classical music permitted me to see through the  
> veneer of the surface and question the appropriateness of this  
> performance in this context giving me, in essence, a much greater  
> appreciation of what constitutes new classical music.
> John Herbert Cunningham

Douglas Barbour
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http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/

Latest books:
Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
Wednesdays'
http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.h
tml

and this is 'life' and we owe at least this much
contemplation to our western fact: to Rise,
Decline, Fall, to futility and larks,
to the bright crustaceans of the oversky.

             Phyllis Webb