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Friday, November 13, 2009 02:06 PM
A. F. Moritz: 'Lines Written in Early Fall'
Judith Fitzgerald
In this month's issue of Poetry, Canada's brilliant Griffinian A. F. Moritz (b. 1947) leads off the rare and enrapturous riches with a gently probing think-piece, What Man Has Made of Man, containing the following dazzler of a paragraph which, ISTM, asks one of the few genuinely urgent questions confronting a truly human being in this, the closing of the first decade of our twenty-worst century:
Today, it seems to me, this isolation and communion question, as it relates to society and politics, has one formulation that is most important. Society certainly permits and in fact requires participation, but does it do so only at the cost of agreement to preordained structures and behaviours that are non-negotiable? In other words, can you only participate if you agree? Does society allow only certain forms of participation to be real, while others are basically illusions, distractions, games? For instance, are we required to work in the way the present economy dictates because otherwise society would collapse, while we're required to vote only to maintain the illusion we have true participation, an illusion without which we might revolt or despair and drop out, threatening the economy? Is the person who truly disagrees always thrust to the margins of social life?
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Friday, November 13, 2009 11:56 AM
The virtual Sasha Grey
Brian Joseph Davis
Our culture elevates “the film adaptation” as the ultimate honour a novel could achieve -- but a film adaptation seems positively lame compared to a renegade six-hour reading of your novel in a gallery, featuring among others, “crossover appeal” porn star Sasha Grey.
That’s what’s happening to William Gibson’s Neuromancer on Nov. 22 at New York’s New Museum. Artist Brody Condon created the event and cast guest stars such as Grey, who will be evoking the character “Molly.”
It’s a perfect appearance for Grey, who has become this year’s subject with which to gauge conversational hypocrisy. She was great in Steven Soderbergh’s underrated and quietly unsettling film The Girlfriend Experience.
According to Gibson’s Twitter entry about the event, “Gol' dang! It's news to me!”
Friday, November 13, 2009 08:32 AM
Une lettre d'amour à la famille Gervais et Black Moss Press
Judith Fitzgerald
Sit back, relax and grant me the distinct pleasure and honour of telling you the story of a life driven by dreams, favoured by angels, flummoxed by bureaucratic someones, moved by faith (with a nod in the direction of St. Francis and Thomas Merton) and -- always, always -- restored by the words, works and worth of writers, myself included. IOW? It's public, it's personal; but, above all else? It's passionate and it commences November 1969.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 05:10 PM
King Karl of Rampike: In his own words
Judith Fitzgerald
For those among us who may not know this remarkable man, his name is Karl Jirgens and he's a Rampikaholic. This is his story; and, you know, so far, so fab (with lots of zest and zoom-kaboom room to grow):
I've been editing Rampike magazine since 1979. So, on the magazine's Massive Three-Oh Anniversary, I'm delighted to say a few words as part of our on-going celebrations. During the past trio of decades, we've featured articles by -- and interviews with -- some of the finest internationally celebrated authors, artists and critics. The function of the magazine has always been to introduce new and emerging talent alongside the more established or experienced. It's proven a winning strategy.
I believe, at any rate, it's a strategy that provides a valuable service to the community (whether we speak of local, national or global issues); however, given its international recognition, the "community" Rampike now serves has expanded from the local (namely Windsor, Toronto and Ontario) to the whole of Canada and far beyond it.
Not bad, not bad at all for a publication that originally started in my basement in Toronto before it moved with me to Northern Ontario when I landed the job at Laurentian University prior to it accompanying me to my position as Head of the English Department at the University of Windsor. I'm happy to report that my term as Department Head concluded and I'm now busy on a research leave, during which time I've published this exciting 30th-anniversary issue while working on a couple of new books. We've had a great response to the cover on this issue with its image by Carole Condé and Karl Beveridge. A parody of a Renaissance painting by Breughel, it provides a visual critique of ecology and the sorry condition of our world's fresh-water supplies. In subtle (and sometimes in-your-face) ways, Rampike has covered important social issues. Our previous issue, for example, shone the spotlight on ecology; but, we have brought topics such as erotica, violence, propaganda, ontology, electronic media, First Nations peoples, the 400th-anniversary of Quebec City and crazy but fun topics (including "creative misunderstanding") into focus.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 12:16 PM
The art and science of guessing of the Giller
Brian Joseph Davis
“Guessing” is the theme of this year’s Giller Prize. While the nominated books seem diverse in subject, apparently they suffer from a tonal homogeneity. This has driven pundits to guess via body language and, in what is perhaps the best technique I’ve seen yet, Internet tag comparison on the book blog A Certain Bent Appeal.
To authors who wish to truck in future award bait, blogger B. Kienapple has one word of advice for you: alcoholism.
Monday, November 9, 2009 01:58 PM
BookFest Windsor: Groovy coolness!
Judith Fitzgerald
Insofar as those who attended various events and round-tables at this year's instalment of BookFest Windsor are concerned (and, happily, all are), the now concluded phenomenally successful annual extravaganza will go down in history as one unforgettable series of gatherings that succeeded beyond anyone's expectations. Hallelujah!
According to organizer Lenore Langs, the opening night's sessions for self-publishing and reading clubs drew 130 people (while Thursday night's Black Moss Press 40th Anniversary Gala saw nearly 150 eager souls cram-jammed into the Betty Wilkinson Room).
Alistair MacLeod
The publisher and editor of Black Moss Press, humbly brilliant and unassuming poet and photographer Marty Gervais, led the celebratory charge by noting that Black Moss now ranks as the longest-running small press in Canada. Gervais then passed the standard to a dazzling string of top-notch authors including Eugene McNamara, Marilyn Gear Pilling, Mary Ann Mulhern, Karen Mulhallen, Brantford Poet Laureate John B. Lee and Rosemary Sullivan -- who, incidentally, concurrently launched her latest Black Moss volume, Guthrie Road -- respectively.
Monday, November 9, 2009 10:07 AM
Leonard Cohen: The latest on the greatest
Judith Fitzgerald
So, you thought you'd missed your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see this world's contemporary Shakespeare -- Leonard Cohen -- up-close and personable since his wildly successful world-wide tour concludes next Friday the 13th @ San Jose's HP Pavilion?
Have I got news for you. More dates for the European leg of the tour have just been announced. Commencing in Caen, France on March 1st next year, the maestro of munificent magnanimity will call it a wrap in Zagreb, Croatia March 15th. Visit his Official Sony 'Site for the latest on the greatest (including details and trailer on the release of the hotly anticipated double-disc DVD/CD Leonard Cohen: Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970 set; what Beck's planning to do with the music of Our Main Man [a.k.a. Boss 1.0]; plus, of course, the full roster of musicians currently accompanying him onstage, the Webb Sisters, Roscoe Beck, Neil Larsen, Sharon Robinson and Bob Metzger foremost among same).
But, wait! There's more . . . and, you *will* respect me in the morning :) . . .
Friday, November 6, 2009 10:53 AM
Night of the living authors
Brian Joseph Davis
The act of writing, and attending galas celebrating writing, bleed into each other in interesting ways when they happen on the same day. The former involves, for me, waking up at 6 a.m., running with the dog and then sitting down to stare for several hours at an index card that reads, “Scene #1 breakdown: Male nurse in helicopter with BATF agents. Below them, the smoldering ruins of a gated retirement community after the siege.”
The latter involves, as was the case at last night’s Writers’ Trust fundraising gala, magically refilled wine glasses late into the evening and another writer at your table working up the nerve to confront you about “that review” you wrote two years ago. There were, however, medals for us authors to wear, and a medal is just about as good as a ceremonial sash for an ego boost, especially after confrontations like the above. (This clip is a good guide for understanding the peculiarities of our kind.)
The Writers’ Trust, which will be giving out its yearly Rogers Fiction prize literary awards on Nov. 24, puts on a good gala. It was my first ever but there were very wealthy people raising money for culture, which is what they should do, and there was literary trivia, which our table of young Toronto authors completely blew at. That part was my fault. Next time, teammates, don’t listen to the guy who can’t even correctly spell his wrong answer of “Baudelaire.”
I am, however, wearing my medal as I go back to writing.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 03:44 PM
You’re pre-approved to buy my friend’s book. The catch? It costs $199.99
Brian Joseph Davis
Mathew Timmons is a Los Angeles poet and a teacher at CalArts. For several years he’s collected volumes of junk mail and warnings sent from his credit card companies and assembled them into an 800-page, full colour, hardcover book of collages and found poetry titled, appropriately, Credit.
The thing is, the book doesn’t quite exist yet. It is for sale though. Timmons has utilized Lulu, one of endless stream of print-on-demand companies popping up on the web. Credit, which runs at the maximum page count offered by the company, will not be printed until someone orders a copy for S199.99. For now, that means the book is as conceptual as the idea of credit itself, and just as punishing.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 03:35 PM
Talks for jocks
Brian Joseph Davis
Dear moody poets and football players, high school was a long time ago, and there is much you can learn from each other. A good start will be the free Bodyworks Symposium being held in Toronto on Nov. 5 and 6 at York University. Bringing athletes, poets, artists, and academics together for lectures and performances, Bodyworks is putting on its “own cultural Olympiad as it celebrates the return of the Olympics to Canada.”
It will probably be the only time when poets George Bowering and Michael Holmes share stages with Olympians like Kevin Light and Mary Ellen Clark.
Be sure to stretch properly before hand; injuries while strenuously reading poetry can be severe.
In Other Words Contributors
Peter Scowen
Peter Scowen is a communities editor with the Globe and Mail and is responsible for the Globe Books website. He is a veteran reporter and editor who has worked for a number of dailies and alternative weeklies in Toronto and Montreal. He is the author of Rogue Nation: The America the Rest of the World Knows.
Judith Fitzgerald
Judith Fitzgerald -- poet, editor and cultural critic with 30 works (including poetry, biography, anthologies and children's books) to her credit -- writes about poetry for In Other Words and is a contributing reviewer for this newspaper as well as a Poetry Fellow of the Chalmers Arts Foundation. Short-listed for (or recipient of) several major honours including the Fiona Mee, Trillium, Governor-General's Poetry and Writers’ Choice Awards (among others), she recently completed The Adagios Quartet. The ex-Torontonian now calls the Almaguin Highlands home.
Linda Leith
Linda Leith is the founder and artistic director of the Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival. The annual festival was the world's first multilingual (including English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi, Italian, Urdu...) books festival when it was launched in 1999. Linda's most recent book is Marrying Hungary (2008).
Brian Joseph Davis
Brian Joseph Davis is an artist and writer based in Toronto. He's the co-founder of Joyland.ca and has written for Arthur Magazine, The Utne Reader, and Eye Weekly. He's the author of the books Portable Altamont (Coach House, 2005) and I,Tania (ECW, 2008), which Slate.com called "the book of your fever dreams."
Ben McNally
Ben McNally has been a bookseller in Toronto for more than 30 years and has been operating his own store, Ben McNally Books, in the heart of Toronto's financial district on Bay Street since September 2007. In partnership with the Globe and Mail, he co-ordinates the popular Sunday Authors Brunch Series at the King Edward Hotel, and has, for the past two years, been the bookseller at the International Festival of Authors.