Jim,
I don't know about books on the identity thing in particular - it is
something which I've talked about a lot but as far as I know what I've
said about it has not been picked-up elsewhere, or at least, not to
the extent of it being seen as so important with regard to this
subject. There are people who say they agree with me though - Andrew
Duncan for example. To me it is pretty obvious.
And what you say about the national identity push from the top in
Canadian poetry does''t surprise me in the least. I have also made a
case for the main players and powers in the Brit mainstream being
unconsciously influenced in their antipathy to American and European
modernisms by some imperative to define and mark-out a 'Britishness'
etc - but I could never prove it, of course. There is certainly a
parallel here with what you say about funding in the arts 'always
under pressure to rescue the other half to national identity.' And
because of the claustrophobic nature of the British scene such
projects go very deep relatively quickly.
Cheers
Tim A.
On 27 Oct 2009, at 09:58, Jim Andrews wrote:
> That's a really interesting post, Tim. Thanks.
>
> I'm particularly interested in your distinction between e"xpansive"
> or "avant" and "identity driven poetry". And how you characterize
> them and the gulf between them.
>
> I live in Canada. The government has an interest in identity-driven
> art here, given that the country is thousands of miles wide with a
> population of only thirty million; what holds the country together
> often seems more a matter of quest for the Canadian identity than
> more typical matters. And then there's also the matter of the very
> large cultural, political, economic (etc) influence here from the
> USA; we are at least, erm, half USAmerican, as it were, between the
> ears. Funding to the arts, for instance, is always under some
> pressure to rescue the other half to national identity. Identity-
> driven poetry--national, ethnic, and so on--is very prominent here
> and, well, not that interesting to me as poetry, usually, though it
> often is in other ways. As testament, for instance. Or as a view
> from a particular social perspective. As a particular perspective,
> then, perhaps, more genrally.
>
> You speak very knowlegeably on this matter. Are there any
> interesting books you'd recommend on the topic(s)? Written from a
> perspective knowlegeable about "expansive" poetry?
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