Oneiric Weirdness

In an omnibus review of four works of fabulist writing, Zachariah Wells wonders if our fiction is sometimes too rational for its own good:

In a recent interview Molly Peacock, talking about her collection of unconventional fictions Alphabétique, says “we’re missing out on the fable. Literature that comes out of essential needs for identity is necessarily realist. But there’s a different tradition of literature that comes out of the play of imagination. Because fantasy traditions come out of folklore, folk tale, fairy tale, mythology, and what we think of as 'old culture.' I’m wondering: is Canadian culture old enough to make a literature of fantasy?”

Even if one bristles at the too-oft-repeated canard about the youth of Canadian culture, it's hard not to nod along with Peacock's main point. While Canadians have made top-calibre contributions to the canon of the short story, the heavy-hitters we think of immediately—Munro, MacLeod, Gallant—are famed for crafting stories that reflect plausible, “real life” dramas. Which is not to say that such stories could ever be written without bringing to bear “the play of imagination,” nor that such stories are not, in their way, stylized artifices. Rather, the conventions of the realistic short story do not typically permit acts of magic, surreal leaps, or oneiric weirdness.

(Illustration of Inuit folktale by Eva Widermann)

Ice Cream Poetics

In conversation with Laura Bast, Molly Peacock tries to define the "Canadianness" of her new book Alphabetique:

MP: Why would you call this book “Canadian”? Other than the fact that it was written in Canada. I think you could call it Canadian because of the contract with the reader. There’s a certain faith on the part of Canadians that the writer is going to lead the reader somewhere. This is opposed to the quick culture in the United States. In the quick culture, if you don’t see what the author intends immediately, you don’t have time to stop and find out. A reader’s reaction can almost be anger at that.

LB: Where do you think that difference comes from?

MP: How about an ice cream analogy? In New York, the number of brands and flavours of ice cream in a supermarket will be extravagant. Here, the economy doesn’t support the terrifying multiplicity of that variety. A person doesn’t have so much pressure on the choice button. So what has really interested me is that the reviewers of Alphabetique got it right away. Because there isn’t the same kind of pressure, because they had time to process this unusual, beautifully illustrated abecedarian book for adults.

(Painting by Wayne Thiebaud.) 

Molly Peacock: A Critical Introduction by Jason Guriel, Toronto Launch

Molly Peacock, Jason Guriel

Add caption

Showmanship

In a fascinating round-table discussion with Molly Peacock, Robert McGill, and E Martin Nolan, Jason Guriel complains that Canadian poets don't pay enough attention to readers:

I get that we live in an age of very diverse audiences, but I don’t entirely think that’s true. It’s easier to simply say, “We’re never going to get that reader again, anyway, so it’s fine if my poem isn’t calibrated to get someone’s attention.” There’s a way in which Canadian poets are not always orienting themselves toward a reader. I remember reviewing an anthology that Shane Neilson edited called Approaches to Poetry: The Pre-Poem Moment. The anthology featured a number of poets, and printed a poem by each and an essay about how they came to write that poem. I was struck by the poets who were like, “I don’t have any designs on the reader. I don’t have any calculations and I’m not trying to impress anybody.” I remember thinking that a little bit more calculation, a little bit more showmanship, wouldn’t necessarily have been a horrible thing.

Sunday Poem

DEPICTION OF A MAN AND A WOMAN ON THE PIONEER 10 SPACE PROBE PLAQUE 

If a representation of a man with a penis
and a woman without a vagina
is hurtling at 20 clicks a second
away from earth and makes contact
with an alien who thinks
just as we do
so admires the woman’s hairdo but gets
the method of procreation wrong, well,
it won’t be by accident, will it.
The man, I must say, is anatomically lovely and I like
how his raised hand illustrates the opposable thumb
while doubling as a sign of good will.
But would it have killed us
to add a short line for her cleft?
To make her an artifact, not space junk,
mound of Venus with a Brazilian wax job instead of Barbie Mattel?
They say Greek statuary omits it, but come on,
we talk about being safe then spend our days splitting the atom.
In the time it takes me to write snatch, cunt, beaver, quim, poontang,
pussy, muff,
the impression’s a further 300 miles away.
The chances of correction are, I’ll face it, nil.
When the earth’s shriveled up like a douche bag in a campfire
the plaque will carry on; ambassador
of the easily offended, the quickly aroused.
It hopes you will understand.

From The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2013 (ed. Sue Goyette) by Donna Kane.

First We Take Manhattan

The Best Canadian Poetry 2012 trip to New York last Friday—with well-attended launches at the Lilian Vernon Writer's House and the Corner Bookstore—was a triumph. That's Molly Peacock up there, standing beside me in front of the bookstore (they filled their window with our books, which was a lovely sight). We then celebrated in style with a three-course meal at Pascalou. You'll find a recording of our reading here.

Too Sexy for This Poem

Last thursday, Tightrope was in Montreal to launch the The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2008 edited by Stephanie Bolster (Molly Peacock is the series editor). Modeled after the American anthology, BCP promises to be an annual series. A.F. Moritz has apparently already been lined up as guest editor for 2009

This year, two Signal Edition poets got swept into the net. One made it into the longlist (Patrick Warner) where he stayed. The other slipped thorough: Jason Guriel, whose poem "Spineless Sonnet" was originally published in Maisonneuve. Guriel's second book, Pure Product, is slated to be published by us in Spring 2009.

BCP is a excellent anthology, with lots of arresting poems. My favorites at the moment are by Todd Swift, Jeramy Dodds, Michael Lista, Jeffery Donaldson, Craig Poile and Jim Nason. Almost as rare as the ability to write good poetry, is the ability to recognize good poetry. Stephanie Bolster clearly possesses both gifts.