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BRITISH-IRISH-POETS  1998

BRITISH-IRISH-POETS 1998

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Subject:

Andrew Duncan

From:

"Anthony Frazer" <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Anthony Frazer

Date:

Wed, 29 Jul 1998 10:18:43 -0500

Content-Type:

text/plain

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Honest folks, all I did was announce an issue of Shearsman. Seems to have
led to an interesting thread though. I support Doug's comments, but then I
would since I've committed to two whole books of Andrew's work in 1999.

I'm not so sure about the "lack of production" on Andrew's part, though.
Truth to tell there's quite a bit of unpublished work there. The magazine
issue that I've just put out includes 20 pages of his work, of which 19 had
not previously appeared in print, despite the fact that many of the poems
date back to the 80s. I actually found this out while I was going over the
unpublished chunk of *Threads of Iron* and reading the manuscript of the
*Selected Poems* that Salt will put out some time in the future. Seemed too
good an opportunity to miss. Andrew's also a restless soul - there's a lot
of reworking of poems going on, and a lot of chopping and churning, which
I'm sure gets in the way of expanded productivity. *Pauper Estate* (much
more recent work than that in the magazine, and which I'm publishing in
book form next year) has shrunk considerably under the author's critical
eye, for instance.

Then there's the criticism: yes it's made up of the same thread, and
there's lots of it. No time to write poems if you spend much of your time
reading and researching others. Peter's right to say that the crit work is
largely historical in nature, but this is exactly because, for the last
five years or so, Andrew has been trying to make sense of developments in
British poetry since the war while consciously (perversely? I think not)
avoiding received opinion about the same, whether it's of the Hobsbaum
variety or, say, the Mottram variety, if I may take those two figures as
opposed exemplars. This means going back and reclaiming vast numbers of
writers that I imagine many of us have never heard of - sometimes with good
reason, sometimes by accidents of history, fashion or litpolitics. The
Havergal Brians of poetry, if you will. And he does get across the
vestigial borders within the UK to give serious attention to Scottish and
Anglo-Welsh poets, which is unusual in our somewhat ghettoised nation (says
he from outside it). 

I personally find his analyses very stimulating, even when I don't agree
with them, and I look forward to the final version of the book coming from
Liverpool UP. When Andrew does go into straight criticism, it's likewise
very stimulating. Karlien rightly mentions the valuable review of Grace
Lake's *Bernache Nonnette*, but there is also the excellent review of Barry
MacSweeney's *Demons* in Blade (dreadful magazine, but the issue's worth
having for the review). I think Andrew just needs a push to do more of
this, and I for one would welcome it. If some editor out there with space
to spare for long reviews could give him some room and a challenge, the
results would - I'm sure - be worth our attention.

And finally, yes, his lines can really jump off the page at you. In the
earlier work it's fascinating to see how a clear acknowledgement of past
styles and occasionally archaicised diction can co-exist with a sharp
modernity to produce something very exciting indeed - for this reader at
least.

The blue lash's drift of susurration
Lifts beside yours. Sea of winejars sheet of copper
Sea of chance! That medium
In which men fall like dice through air
Or drugs through flesh
Borne up and pinned down
Washed through the strophes of an unmoved voice;

(2nd stanza of *At Cumae* published in my anthology
A State of Independence, Stride, 1998).


Tony Frazer



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