tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post925044555089014615..comments2024-03-19T21:14:01.007-07:00Comments on The Compass Rose: Foust N'est pas FoutuCurtis Favillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-28251418962857135172010-08-03T18:26:56.629-07:002010-08-03T18:26:56.629-07:00Thanks Curtis:
I was aware of Ashbery using those...Thanks Curtis:<br /><br />I was aware of Ashbery using those methods...and in no way do I think it was easy! I think my concern is one of polish. Foust has mentioned Barry Hannah as an influence and think both are best when a little dirty.<br /><br />..."I'm so old"- a blessing to this blog. I'm young enough that evolving is a concern--your observations of the ways in which Creeley and Grenier were able to continue a method without it growing stale are why I return here.Chad Scheelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08124614548667431391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-59864053203649712932010-08-03T18:12:32.147-07:002010-08-03T18:12:32.147-07:00Hi Curtis,
What a weird concept, a comment box. ...Hi Curtis, <br /><br />What a weird concept, a comment box. <br /><br />All I'd like to do -- because you mention twice I think it is the use here of "sentences" -- that many other Foust poems are in sentences. <br /><br />The difference is <br /><br />that the others <br /><br />are <br /><br />lineated.<br /><br />Interesting to think about why the switch-up here to prose. And how it changes things, not just generally, but particularly with Foust. Or rather, it may be interesting for <i>you</i> to think about, and report here to us some of your thoughts.<br /><br />I'd do it, but I haven't seen the book. As you know -- and I think should have said -- it's not just a limited edition, but not even for sale (I've e-mailed my request).Steven Famahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13733977161680651117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-61580391015948932662010-08-02T21:12:26.207-07:002010-08-02T21:12:26.207-07:00Chad:
Very incisive comment here.
I don't kn...Chad:<br /><br />Very incisive comment here.<br /><br />I don't know Foust's work well enough to know when he's "straining" and when not. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Anacreon seems just a bit more polished than the earlier works of his I've read. It may be difficult to imagine, but Foust may already be in his "middle" phase--as Ashbery was after Houseboat Days. <br /><br />I'm so old, these questions of development begin to seem irrelevant. But they're not. <br /><br />Ashbery is rumored to have used "automated" methods to compose some of his early poems (in Tennis Court Oath, if not elsewhere), and that may be a problem we've yet to work out critically. I still find nearly everything in Tennis Court to be work of genius, so if some of it is robotic, then the joke's on me. The language is so juicy! Could this be the result of "planned" accident? Hard to imagine.<br /><br />Do I see Wittgenstein in Anacreon?Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-676259535163772702010-08-02T20:30:17.049-07:002010-08-02T20:30:17.049-07:00Curtis, I agree. Foust is as intriguing as one fin...Curtis, I agree. Foust is as intriguing as one finds in the current landscape. I must admit, my first reaction in finding that he'd gone to a long poem was 1) seeing him on a Silliman-like trajectory from "Crow" to something like "Albany" and 2) that those Beckettesque inside-out (with the seams showing) stanzas had become easy. I remember once reading a mock review of Ashbery written narrative that accused him of allowing a machine to write his poems. The intent, it seemed, was the work had become too easy. With Foust, my fear is that there can be too much of a good thing. My fear is that a long-form "Necessary Stranger" would seem easy; Foust works best when strained.Chad Scheelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08124614548667431391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-28375618670008202372010-08-02T19:40:56.754-07:002010-08-02T19:40:56.754-07:00It took me three tries before I realized you meant...It took me three tries before I realized you meant Alexander and not The Pope.Ian Keenanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16596558654735506132noreply@blogger.com