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Spanning four decades of meditation on the avant-garde in poetry, art, and philosophy, the essays collected in The Fire reveal Robin Blaser's strikingly fresh perspective on "New American" poets, deconstructive philosophies, current events, and the state of humanities now. The essays, gathered in one volume for the first time, include commentaries on Jack Spicer, Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Mary Butts, George Bowering, Louis Dudek, Christos Dikeakos, and J. S. Bach.
Blaser emerged from the "Berkeley Renaissance" of the 1940s and 1950s having studied under legendary medieval scholar Ernst Kantorowicz and having been a major participant in the burgeoning literary scene. His response to the cultural and political events of his time has been to construct a poetic voice that offers a singular perspective on a shareable world—and to pose that voice alongside others as a source of countermemory and potential agency. Conceived as conversations, these essays brilliantly reflect that ethos as they re-read the cultural events of the past fifty years.
Blaser emerged from the "Berkeley Renaissance" of the 1940s and 1950s having studied under legendary medieval scholar Ernst Kantorowicz and having been a major participant in the burgeoning literary scene. His response to the cultural and political events of his time has been to construct a poetic voice that offers a singular perspective on a shareable world—and to pose that voice alongside others as a source of countermemory and potential agency. Conceived as conversations, these essays brilliantly reflect that ethos as they re-read the cultural events of the past fifty years.
Price: $36.95
Pages: 535
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Publication Date:
29 September 2006
ISBN: 9780520938854
Format: eBook
List of Illustrations
Preface
PART I POETICS
The Fire (1967)
Particles (1969)
The Stadium of the Mirror (1974)
Poetry and Positivisms (1989)
The Recovery of the Public World (1993)
Among Afterthoughts on This Occasion (1993)
out of the velvet—the denim—the straw of my mind (1999)
The Irreparable (2003)
PART II COMMENTARIES
The Practice of Outside (1975)
Imaginary Letters by Mary Butts: Afterword (1979)
George Bowering’s Plain Song (1980)
The Violets: Charles Olson and Alfred North Whitehead (1983)
"Mind Canaries" (1986)
"My Vocabulary Did This to Me" (1987)
Infinite Worlds: The Poetry of Louis Dudek: Introduction (1988)
The "Elf" of It (1992) 283 Preface to the Early Poems of Robert Duncan (1995)
"Here Lies the Woodpecker Who Was Zeus" (1995)
Bach’s Belief (1995)
Love Will Eat the Empire: A Commentary on the Essays of Robin Blaser
Chronology
Editor’s Notes
Bibliography
Works Cited
Works by Robin Blaser
Works about Robin Blaser
Acknowledgments of Permissions
Index
Preface
PART I POETICS
The Fire (1967)
Particles (1969)
The Stadium of the Mirror (1974)
Poetry and Positivisms (1989)
The Recovery of the Public World (1993)
Among Afterthoughts on This Occasion (1993)
out of the velvet—the denim—the straw of my mind (1999)
The Irreparable (2003)
PART II COMMENTARIES
The Practice of Outside (1975)
Imaginary Letters by Mary Butts: Afterword (1979)
George Bowering’s Plain Song (1980)
The Violets: Charles Olson and Alfred North Whitehead (1983)
"Mind Canaries" (1986)
"My Vocabulary Did This to Me" (1987)
Infinite Worlds: The Poetry of Louis Dudek: Introduction (1988)
The "Elf" of It (1992) 283 Preface to the Early Poems of Robert Duncan (1995)
"Here Lies the Woodpecker Who Was Zeus" (1995)
Bach’s Belief (1995)
Love Will Eat the Empire: A Commentary on the Essays of Robin Blaser
Chronology
Editor’s Notes
Bibliography
Works Cited
Works by Robin Blaser
Works about Robin Blaser
Acknowledgments of Permissions
Index