Fire, Fire, call in the Lawyers...
Neil Astley's StAnza piece is still up, and very much worth a read. I'd heard that StAnza had taken it down, after complaints from Peter Macdonald. These culminated apparently in a legal writ - presumably some kind of stay or desist order which might have to do with the references to Macdonald's Tower Poetry reviews. Astley has apparently complained to the Oxford authorities about the anonymous reviews on the site which savaged Kate Clanchy and Roddy Lumsden among others. The reviews were subsequently removed. Responses to Astley's piece (which also attacks the Guardian Review as mysogenist) can be found here. Paul and Sean cover the bust up best...
Paul Farley
Lester Bangs used to say there were only 10,000 or so pairs of ears on the planet capable of hearing and enjoying Captain Beefheart, and it's easy to draw an analogy with contemporary poetry. But I hope he was wrong. You could argue that poetry's marginal status gains it liberties from the marketplace. Concepts like a mainstream versus an experimental cohort, and perennial anxieties concerning gender or ethnic representation, start to become very relative when you realise hardly anyone's listening.
The relationship between poets and their critics is complex, but what I would say is that poets of my generation - born in the early 60s onwards - have, bar a few notable exceptions, not enjoyed the severe scrutiny, pruning, championing and advocacy a robust criticism affords. My generation haven't had criticism; they've had marketing. Which all sounds bleak. But I think there is a readership for poetry, and that most poets would like to be read, and that the contract between reader and poet may be injured but isn't broken beyond repair.
Sean O'Brien
As advocates for poetry know, the same problems recur every few years in different guises. There's a pull towards populism, followed by a balancing reaction from the academy. The avant-garde goes on typing, the professors discover the answer again (it's Geoffrey Hill) and the public browses and moves on. Meanwhile good work is written and (despite everything, including most bookshops) eventually finds a readership.
Paul Farley
Lester Bangs used to say there were only 10,000 or so pairs of ears on the planet capable of hearing and enjoying Captain Beefheart, and it's easy to draw an analogy with contemporary poetry. But I hope he was wrong. You could argue that poetry's marginal status gains it liberties from the marketplace. Concepts like a mainstream versus an experimental cohort, and perennial anxieties concerning gender or ethnic representation, start to become very relative when you realise hardly anyone's listening.
The relationship between poets and their critics is complex, but what I would say is that poets of my generation - born in the early 60s onwards - have, bar a few notable exceptions, not enjoyed the severe scrutiny, pruning, championing and advocacy a robust criticism affords. My generation haven't had criticism; they've had marketing. Which all sounds bleak. But I think there is a readership for poetry, and that most poets would like to be read, and that the contract between reader and poet may be injured but isn't broken beyond repair.
Sean O'Brien
As advocates for poetry know, the same problems recur every few years in different guises. There's a pull towards populism, followed by a balancing reaction from the academy. The avant-garde goes on typing, the professors discover the answer again (it's Geoffrey Hill) and the public browses and moves on. Meanwhile good work is written and (despite everything, including most bookshops) eventually finds a readership.
posted by Edward Barker at 12:36 AM
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