Glasfryn Project

1. Olson Then: A Necessary Clearing

A succinct summing up of Olson’s place in poetry was given on the back cover of Ralph Maud’s corrective biography of Olson, entitled Charles Olson at the Harbor. After suggesting that Olson was “without question the most influential of the ‘New American Poets’ published by Grove Press in the mid-twentieth century,” the blurb states: “Synthesizing the experimental avant-garde of the Black Mountain School with the uncompromising existentialism of the Beat Generation; the new structuralism of the San Francisco Renaissance; and heralding the postmodern deconstructionism of the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets; his spirit, mind and intellect are ubiquitous in late twentieth century poetry”.

 

To read this article click here: Pierre Joris: Olson Now

Born in 1946 in Strasbourg, France, raised in Luxembourg, Pierre Joris has moved between the US, Europe & North Africa for 50 years, publishing close to 50 books of poetry, essays, anthologies, plays and translations.  In 1992 he returned to New York, first the state, where he taught poetry & poetics at SUNY-Albany until 2012,  but also, since 2008, the city — happily humming Bob Dylan’s “I’m going back to New York City, I believe I’ve had enough…”. When not on the road (see the “Events Calendar” page on his blog: Nomadics or on his website: pierrejoris.com), he lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn — baptized Sorrentinostan by him — with his wife, painter, singer & multimedia performance artist Nicole Peyrafitte.

View all: Issue 11, Junction Box | Posted on 23 Dec 2018 |