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Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 23:38:52 -0500
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From: "L.Kelly"
<lpk9403@NEBRWESLEYAN.EDU>
Subject: ATTN: All those interested in WSB
In-Reply-To:
<Pine.HPP.3.91.960430221207.18585B-100000@ccshst08>
Attention
Beat readers:
URL: http://www.bigtable.com/wsb/
Project
Title: "The William Burroughs
Collection"
Based
on: "My Purpose Is to Write
for the Space Age"
William S. Burroughs, 1984.
Description: Using Burroughs' essay as a backbone, a
series
of explorative texts taken
from a large
number of sources were
compiled, combined
with interconnecting original
composition,
and hypertextualized.
Highlights: *
local search engine
* over 730k of text
* over 150
images
* bibliography
* RealAudio (coming soon)
* reader-review comment session
Stop by and take a look-- http://www.bigtable.com/wsb/
This project is part of a living
document and is
continually
expanding. Comments and contributions
(text,
graphics,
etc.) wanted: be sure to fill out the
reader-review
survey.
Regards,
Luke
Kelly
/\
/\ /\ /\ Luke Kelly
/\/
\/ \/\/ __o
/ \/\ lpk@kdsi.net or
/\ / /
\ / \<,_ / \
lpk@bigtable.com
/ /
..... \ ...(_)/-(_).. .. \ http://www.bigtable.com
Please don't drive. Ride a bike! http://www.kdsi.net
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 04:17:42 EDT
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From: Claire Davison
<Claire_Davison@FPKLON.CCMAIL.COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: Beat Publications
Hi,
Excuse me if this questionhas been asked
before, but I'm new here..
Are there any 'Beat' magazines in
circulation around the U.K. by these
I mean anything from Literary Magazines
to Fanzines, absoulutely
anything no matter how
professional/amateur it is.
If there isn't would anyone be willing to
help start one up in the
U.K., strictly an amateur affair mind
you, although I have access to
some equipment (DTP, Colour Scanner,
Photocopying etc)
It would be nice to have a voice for the
'Beat' community in Britain,
If of course there is one, for God sakes
let me know!
Laters
Claire
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 09:48:57 +0100
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From: "m.d.fascione" <m.d.fascione@CITY.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: Beat Publications (fwd)
> Excuse me if this questionhas been asked
before, but I'm new here..
> Are there any 'Beat' magazines in
circulation around the U.K. by these
> I mean anything from Literary Magazines
to Fanzines, absoulutely
> anything no matter how
professional/amateur it is.
There
is the excellent 'Beat Scene' run from Coventry UK. You can buy it
from
Compendium in Camden, London, who always stock back issues.
Unfortunately
the address for the magazine is not with me at present.
I'll
check it out and mail again later.
Daniel
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 05:46:15 EDT
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From: Claire Davison
<Claire_Davison@FPKLON.CCMAIL.COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: Re: Beat Publications
> Excuse me if this questionhas been
asked before, but I'm new here..
>Are there any 'Beat' magazines in
circulation around the U.K. bythese
>I mean anything from Literary
Magazines to Fanzines, absoulutely
>anything no matter how
professional/amateur it is.
>There is the excellent 'Beat Scene'
run from Coventry UK. You can buy
>it from Compendium in Camden, London,
who always stock back issues.
>Unfortunately the address for the
magazine is not with me at present.
>I'll check it out and mail again
later.
>Daniel
Funny you should say that!, I've just
been leafing through the back
posts to BEAT-L and found the address,
which is for the benefit of
anyone.
Kevin Ring
27 Court Leet
Binley Woods Nr Coventry
Warwickshire CV3 2JQ
But seeing as you can buy it in Camden
I'll venture down there for it,
incidentley do you know where abouts in
Camden it is?
i.e. on the High Street, or Near the
Docks?
Thanks anyway.
Claire
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 11:09:55 +0100
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From: "m.d.fascione"
<m.d.fascione@CITY.AC.UK>
Subject: Beat Scene
In-Reply-To:
<960501094614_702420.204300_BHD48-53@CompuServe.COM>
> But seeing as you can buy it in Camden
I'll venture down there for it,
> incidentley do you know where abouts in
Camden it is?
> i.e. on the High Street, or Near the
Docks?
>
> Thanks anyway.
>
> Claire
>
Claire
et al
To get
to Compendium bookshop you come out of the tube facing Holland and
Barrett
health food shop and take a right on to Camden High Street. Then you
keep
going and you'll pass the Elephant's Head pub on a corner. Cross over
the
road and just before the bridge you will see Compendium. It has a rather
good
beat collection always in stock.
Mail me
if this is confusing.
Daniel
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 09:37:14 EDT
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From: mARK hEMENWAY
<mhemenway@S1.DRC.COM>
Subject: Amira Baraka
Amira
Baraka's appearance in Boston was cancelled last night. He will be
reading
tonight (Wednesday 1 May) at UMASS-Dartmouth, 4:00PM, Main
Auditorium.
Info, call John Landry 508-999-8274.
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 09:38:56 EDT
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From: mARK hEMENWAY
<mhemenway@S1.DRC.COM>
Subject: Ed Sanders
Ed
Sanders will read at TT Bear's, Central Square, Cambridge, MA, Sunday,
May 12,
2-6 PM.
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 09:33:53 EDT
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From: Claire Davison
<Claire_Davison@FPKLON.CCMAIL.COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: Beat Scene
>Claire et al
>To get to Compendium bookshop you
come out of the tube facing Holland
>and Barrett health food shop and take
a right on to Camden High
>Street. Then you keep going and
you'll pass the Elephant's Head pub
>on a corner. Cross over the road and
just before the bridge you will
>see Compendium. It has a rather good
beat collection always in stock.
>Mail me if this is confusing.
>Daniel
Cheers Mate, I've got a pretty good idea
of where you mean. Blimey all
these years and I've never noticed a
bookshop there!
Carry on Brother
Claire
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 15:03:04 +0100
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From: "m.d.fascione"
<m.d.fascione@CITY.AC.UK>
Subject: Beat Scene (fwd)
>To get to Compendium bookshop you
come out of the tube facing Holland
>and Barrett health food shop and take
a right on to Camden High
>Street. Then you keep going and
you'll pass the Elephant's Head pub
>on a corner. Cross over the road and just before the bridge you will
>see Compendium. It has a rather good
beat collection always in stock.
>Mail me if this is confusing.
>Daniel
Cheers Mate, I've got a pretty good idea
of where you mean. Blimey all
these years and I've never noticed a
bookshop there!
Carry on Brother
Claire
So you
know the Lock Tavern pub then?
Daniel
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 09:41:10 -0800
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From: BONNIE LEE HOWARD
<HOWARDB@SONOMA.EDU>
Subject: The Last Time I Committed Suicide
Hi all,
I am
just forwarding this from one of my cinema lists. I haven't seen any
discussion
of it here, but then I've been gone for awhile...
Bonnie
howardb@sonoma.edu
= NEW YORK -- Keanu Reeves is feeling independent,
according to industry
= sources, who say the actor will appear in
the $2 million "The Last
= Time I Committed Suicide," filming
this month. Reeves, who will be
= center screen in Fine Line's September
release "Feeling Minnesota,"
= will not be the leading man in
"Suicide." Thomas Jane will be the star
= of the movie, which focuses on a letter
that beatnik Neal Cassady
= wrote to Jack Kerouac.
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 11:52:01 +0000
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From: "John W. Hasbrouck"
<jhasbro@TEZCAT.COM>
Subject: Re: The Last Time I Committed Suicide
BONNIE
LEE HOWARD wrote:
>
> Hi
all,
>
> I
am just forwarding this from one of my cinema lists. I haven't seen any
>
discussion of it here, but then I've been gone for awhile...
>
>
Bonnie
>
howardb@sonoma.edu
>
>
= NEW YORK -- Keanu Reeves is feeling
independent, according to industry
>
= sources, who say the actor will
appear in the $2 million "The Last
>
= Time I Committed Suicide,"
filming this month. Reeves, who will be
>
= center screen in Fine Line's September
release "Feeling Minnesota,"
>
= will not be the leading man in
"Suicide." Thomas Jane will be the star
>
= of the movie, which focuses on a
letter that beatnik Neal Cassady
>
= wrote to Jack Kerouac.
Whoa!
This IS interesting news. I did a quick search (Open Text Index) and got 1
match.
The phrase "The last time I committed suicide" is found in the
Cassady
Rap
found
at the following URL:
ftp://gdead.berkeley.edu/pub/gdead/miscellaneous/Cassady-Rap
This
rap is from a Grateful Dead show, and is transcribed by Kim Spurlock and
wonderfully,
maticulously annotated by legendary pal of Ken Kesey and Neal
Cassady,
Ken
Babbs.
Let us
now all read and discuss this amazing Cassady Rap ad infinitum.
John H.
Chicago
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 12:26:28 -0700
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<BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>
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From: Timothy Gallaher <gallaher@HSC.USC.EDU>
Subject: Re: The Last Time I Committed Suicide
Here
wow is another url that has a rap probably the same one
http://www.halcyon.com/colinp/cassady1.htm
>BONNIE
LEE HOWARD wrote:
>>
>>
Hi all,
>>
>>
I am just forwarding this from one of my cinema lists. I haven't seen any
>>
discussion of it here, but then I've been gone for awhile...
>>
>>
Bonnie
>>
howardb@sonoma.edu
>>
>>
= NEW YORK -- Keanu Reeves is feeling
independent, according to industry
>>
= sources, who say the actor will
appear in the $2 million "The Last
>>
= Time I Committed Suicide,"
filming this month. Reeves, who will be
>>
= center screen in Fine Line's
September release "Feeling Minnesota,"
>>
= will not be the leading man in
"Suicide." Thomas Jane will be the star
>>
= of the movie, which focuses on a
letter that beatnik Neal Cassady
>>
= wrote to Jack Kerouac.
>
>Whoa!
This IS interesting news. I did a quick search (Open Text Index) and got
>1
>match.
The phrase "The last time I committed suicide" is found in the
Cassady
>
Rap
>found
at the following URL:
>
>ftp://gdead.berkeley.edu/pub/gdead/miscellaneous/Cassady-Rap
>
>This
rap is from a Grateful Dead show, and is transcribed by Kim Spurlock and
>wonderfully,
maticulously annotated by legendary pal of Ken Kesey and Neal
>
Cassady,
>Ken
Babbs.
>
>Let
us now all read and discuss this amazing Cassady Rap ad infinitum.
>
>John
H.
>Chicago
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 16:47:06 EST
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From: "J.D. P. Lafrance"
<J.D._P._Lafrance@RIDLEY.ON.CA>
Organization:
Ridley College
Subject: nighthawks at the diner....
I was just listening to Tom Waits'
excellent album, "Nighthawks at the
Diner"
recently and forgot how Kerouacesque that album is (and many of his early
efforts)...
Listening to songs such as "Emotional Weather Report" and "Eggs
and
Sausages"
on this album made me think of Kerouac's ability to catalogue the
minutae
of life and how this might have influenced Waits' songs... I mean,
tracks
like "Step Right Up" (off another album) seem to have come directly
from
Kerouac's
(or Cassady's) mouth.... Of course, Waits did a direct homage to all
things
Beat with his song, "Jack and Neal"....
bfn,
JDL
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 17:56:28 -0400
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From: William S Schofield
<wss@SAS.UPENN.EDU>
Subject: paper on Bataille:WARNING
Perry
lindstrom asked if i would post this awhile ago, so i know at
least
one person will read it -- This is not a specific beat-related post
but
deals with issues that all poets and writers (not all) face -- For
those
of you who are interested in poetry and writing in general and
like
insane french authors, you should browse this -- otherwise, just
delete
it -- -- IT IS A VERY
STRANGE
Paper -- the footnotes got fucked up when i pasted it here -- i
tried to
fix them -- i included a bibliography at the end -- tell me what
you
think --- It is titled "BATAILLE's
NIGHT: Poetry as LIMIT EXPERIENCE"
it is
about 12 pages
Introduction
Man is an echo in search of the Sound
which made it. That
is to say,
man, as a discontinuous being, wishes to possess the
ungraspable
whole, his 'opposite', the Other, the continuity
from
which he is divorced. Death alone can
return man to this
continuity,
this totality; consciousness of death,
however, is not
possible. For Bataille, it is conceptually impossible
to know or
communicate
with what is beyond death, since death is an absolute limit
of
human experience, beyond which we cannot travel and return. The most
one can
experience is the vertigo of the edge of the chasm. This
experience
of the edge, of the extreme limit of human possibilities, in
which
alone man can 'attain' the whole, requires a sudden negation of the
individual
in intense communication. Bataille points to the example of
eroticism
to illustrate his point: the supreme moment of erotic rapture
is
characterized by the dissolution and fusion of the individual lovers.
Another
example, the one which will be explored in this essay, is the
writing(and
reading) of poetry. These too have the
ability to suppress
the
individuals involved. Following
Mallarme on this point, and using
Sartre's
words, Bataille tells us that "(whenever literature really
appears),
reader and writer are canceled out simultaneously: they
extinguish
each other mutually, until the Word alone remains."( in
Literature
and Evil) Man,
however,
can only 'grasp' the whole for an instant, for it too slips into
darkness,
man having no means of identifying the whole as an entity to be
possessed. At this moment, there is communication, an
opening of the
sacred. At this moment, man transgresses the laws of
society, which are
devoted
to utility and the avoidance of death, with a completely
sovereign
gesture. He ceases to suppress the
present moment for some
future
end, he ceases to live negatively, to exert all his energy in the
perennial
pushing away of death, of the death his discontinuous being:
at this
moment of supreme expenditure, man experiences Life in all its
violent
jouissance, Being in its infinite profusion.
eroticisM
= Fusion
Bataille's notion of eroticism is key to
any understanding of his
philosophy,
and a preliminary discussion of it will help to familiarize
us with
his concept of the limit experience.
Bataille tells us in his
"Death
and Sensuality" that eroticism is "the assenting to life up to the
point
of death." What is at stake
in sex
for Bataille is communication between two beings, and in pushing
sexuality
to its limits, he wants to test to breaking point the emotional
boundaries
of the personality of the man and the woman.
It is the
relationship
with the other that is important. He is
not interested in
sex as
something that celebrates individuality and leads to the
sovereignty
of the isolated being -- this would strengthen the myth of
the
personality which Bataille wished to challenge.
Sex, for Bataille, is intimately
connected with and necessarily
includes
anguish. It is the intermediary between
birth and death, and in
the
erotic act we encounter the chasm at the edge of existence. When two
beings
embrace, they momentarily experience the surpassing of life that
is
death. In interpenetrating, two
partners advance to their limit,
which
is a state of undifferentiation in which their separate identities
merge. Two waves wrapping around each other for
eternity, two waves and
one,
everything all at once forever.....
Poetry
-- the Revelation of Man to Himself
In Death and Sensuality, Bataille tells
us that
"Poetry
leads to the same place as all forms of eroticism -- to the blending
and fusion of
separate
objects. It leads us to eternity, it
leads us to death, and
through
death to continuity."(Bataille -- Death and Sensuality)
Eternity
is the sun matched with the
sea. It is that impossible point in which
"life and death, the real and
the
imaginary, the past and the future, the communicable and the
incommunicable,
the high and the low cease to be perceived as
contradictions."(Breton,
2cd Manifesto) It is that instant in
which man's
original
condition
is
revealed. "It is man thrown to be
all the opposites that constitute
him."(Paz,
139) He can become them all because at
birth he has them in him
already,
he is already these opposites. 'Otherness' is in man himself.
Octavio
Paz writes, "The poetic experience is an opening up of the
wellsprings
of being. An instant and never. An instant and forever.
Instant
in which we are that which we were and shall be. Being born and
dying: an instant.
In that instant we are life and death, this and
that."(Paz,
bow and the lyre, p139)
Writing,
sacrifice, REVOLT, etc....
"The purpose of poetry being to
make us supreme by
impersonalizing us, we reach by grace
of the poem the
plenitude of what is only hinted at, or
travestied, in the
rantings of the individual.
Poems are those bits of
incorruptible being we toss
into the repugnant jaws of death,
arching them high so
that they ricochet and fall into the
formative world of
unity." --- rene char
"ramparts of the twig"
"Genuine suicide can only be
literary. (It) implies the
sacrifice of he who writes, a sacrifice
'in relation to
personality' and unique in its
kind." (Sollers, p.68)
"The term poetry," Bataille writes in his essay The
Notion of
Expenditure,
"can be considered synonymous with expenditure; it in fact
signifies,
in the most precise way, creation by means of loss."
Through
writing, the individual slices his wrists, tears off his face,
'shakes
off his flesh', to allow the red ocean to thunder forth, the red
ocean
that sleeps in the hearts of all men. The writer sacrifices himself
for
true communication between beings. He
makes a sovereign gesture,
relinquishing
the restricted notion of the self as a defined entity, as a
thing,
and sacrificing the future for the immediacy of the moment. This
necessarily
puts poetry in opposition to society and its demands.
Society
is based upon action, which is utterly dependent upon project --
project
is the putting off of existence to a later point. In other
words,
it is the condemnation of the present moment for the sake of the
future,
embodied in the reality principle. The everyday utilitarian
activity
of such a society as ours, by ceaselessly reducing everything
that
surrounds us to the level of use value, alienates us from nature,
ourselves,
and each other. It turns us into
things. Poetry, which, for
Bataille,
embodies the complicity of our intimate relations with other
beings,
is a direct revolt against(and a sovereign refusal of) this
anonymous
process by which we become alienated from ourselves and our
world.
By definition, true poetry cannot be
subsumed to utilitarian value,
since
it is above all determined by its affect, something that refuses
translation
into a product which can be bought and sold.
Poetry has no
price. It exists only as an immediacy that takes
place in intimacy
between
writer and reader. It is an experience
that cannot be
recaptured
beyond the immediate impact of its telling.
If a poem
genuinely
affects, then it transforms being, doing so in a way that is
beyond
words (although it works only through a shared language); for
poetry,
as the surrealists always insisted, is not reducible to a poem
but
captures something beyond words that touches the heart. "This sense
of
shock -- of recognition and intimacy -- is the soul of poetry, and it
is what
connects it with sacrifice, which similarly effects a common
consecration
beyond expression." - (in Absence of Myth intro)
This notion of poetry as sacrifice
demands further discussion.
Bataille
saw poetry as the only real residue of the communal sense of the
sacred
that had survived into present-day society.
Sacrifice, Bataille
concluded
after studying the concept for many years, is in all cases a
failure.
As a form of mass (communal) expenditure, however, sacrifice is
wholly
necessary. The fact that sacrifice is
always unsuccessful and is
essentially
useless is a virtue in this sense. It
purges the community
of its
excess negativity in its attempt to gain mastery over death by
rendering
it personal, present and possible.
These statements point to
the
fact that Bataille does not see the origins of sacrifice as the
institution
on which the social bond was based, a widely held
assumption. His analysis is much more grim. In Literature and Evil, he
writes:
"If we must approach as closely as
possible, and as often as
possible, the very object of our disgust,
if our nature can
be defined by introducing into life the
greatest number of
elements which contradict it, but at the
same time harm it
as little as possible, sacrifice no
longer remains that
elementary, but none the less
intelligible, form of behavior
which it has been hitherto. So eminent a custom had, in the
end, 'to correspond to some elementary
necessity which
should be perfectly obvious.'"
-(literature and evil, p69)
Bataille goes on to say that if human
life did not contain this
violent
instinct we could dispense with the arts.
Bataille feels that
these
"moments of intensity" are the moments of excess and of fusion of
beings. When man reaches these states of
fusion(laughter and tears are
his
cases in point) through anguish and its transcendence, he is,
according
to Bataille, satisfying an elementary requirement of finite
beings. Man, as a mortal individual, cannot endure
his limitations,
although
they are no doubt necessary to his being.
It is by going beyond
these
limitations that he asserts the nature of his being. Bataille
asks us
merely to recall that those arts which sustain anguish and the
recovery
from anguish within us are the heirs of religion. Our tragedies
and our
comedies are the (necessary) continuation of ancient sacrificial
rites.
Let us return now to the idea of the
writer's sacrifice.
This
literary suicide has no reward; in many
cases, it is a
total
expenditure. Any hoped-for
resurrection, recuperation,
and
reincarnation of the self in the text is impossible. What survives
is a
text that is impersonal in nature. The
attempt of personalized
consciousness
to go through death and survive it is foiled.
This is
to say,
the subject of any intended self-portrait cannot pronounce his
own
Lazare, veni foras, to use Blanchot's terminology; only a future
reader
can. This is the meaning of Octavio
PazUs statement, "...The
poem
demands the demise of the poet who writes it and the birth of the
poet
who reads it." There are as many
Lazaruses summoned up by reading
as
their are readers. The book is a
monument, a tomb, but it is empty.
It is
not a resting place from which surges forth an integral, inviolate
self. This has been dispersed; no one in particular is there.(gregg, 69)
The notion of poetry of sacrifice then
implies the abandonment of
the
hopeless task of so-called self-expression.
The writer who tries to
express
himself is directed against the very nature of the word, which
contains
a plurality of senses and not a mere univocal concept. The
modern
scripter throws down his claims to authorship, and realizes that
he is
more of a servant to language than language is a servant to him.
He
abandons discursive thought and its smothering confines, acknowledging
the
fact that "writing is that neutral, composite, oblique space where
our
subject slips away, the negative where all identity is lost, starting
with
the very identity of the body writing." -- (Barthes - death of the
author)
Theory,
language, and tangent/rant
This major theoretical shift in the
notions of writing, and
subsequently
of reading, occurred with the poetics of Mallarme. Much
earlier
manifestations of his ideas can be found in the language theories
of the
German Romantics, most notably those of Novalis, and in the
prophetic
sentiments of William Blake. Writing,
with Mallarme, however,
takes
on a whole new meaning: in a poem like
Un Coup de Des, writing
orchestrates
its new powers. In the words of
Phillipe Sollers :
No longer is (writing) the mere
transcription of a
meaning, but the virtually spontaneous upheaval of the
written surface; no longer the recording and comprehension
of a previous word, but an active
inscription in the
process of forging its own course; no longer the truth or
secret of one person alone, the usual
humanist reference,
but nonpersonal literality in a world
based on a dice
toss.( Sollers -- literature and
totality)
Mallarme's logic thus demanded a break
with discourse. The
expression
of oneself is no longer possible. It
denies the gap that lies
between
words and their meanings. The gap that
is filled by another, the
reader/listener,
does not necessarily(and in no sense does it have to)
coincide
with the intention of the
author/speaker. The intention
must
therefore be abandoned in favor of
suggestion,
which indeed is only recognition of the gap that must be
filled
for any sense to arise. In shared
everyday affairs, this gap is
filled
by an agreement between social bodies.
This discourse, based on
rational
thought in the service of utility, can of course never abandon
the
ambiguities inherent in the language..... but it can, to a point,
ignore
them.
This discourse, in Sollers words,
"ultimately can refer only to an
unresolvable
man-world duality." This duality
in language, which
always
leads to a hierarchy of one term over another, is perpetuated by
the
power structure of a society. Knowledge
is power, power is
knowledge. Power has the dangerous ability to demand
that one accept its
logic
and its ideology as the Word. The
consequences have a profound
effect
on man's social being. Dissent places
him outside of the norm of
his
society. Dissent divorces him from the shared reality that he once
thought
was the only reality. This puts man in
a precarious position.
This
puts the poet in a precarious position: in Bataille's words, "(the
poet)
is often forced to choose between the destiny of a reprobate, who
is
profoundly separated from society as dejecta are from apparent life,
and a
renunciation whose price is a mediocre activity, subordinated to
vulgar
and superficial needs."(I also must mention this quote by Char: To
escape
the shameful constraint of choosing
between obedience and
madness,
to dodge over and over again the stroke of the despot's axe
against
which we have no protection though we struggle without stay:
that is
the justification of our role, of our destination and our
dawdling. We must jump the barrier of the worst, run
the perilous race,
hunt on
even beyond, cut to pieces the wicked one, and finally disappear
without
too much paraphenalia. A faint thanks
given or recieved, and
nothing
more."-- The Rampart of Twigs.)
This unfortunate paradox of the
poet
is the
paradox of modern man -- his alienation leads him to this choice:
shall I
alienate myself from this alien society that my friends and
family
belong to, and in which any possible source of material
well-being(the
only goal placed before me as sensible to pursue) and any
hoped-for
comfort can be found; or(and the answer
has already been
given)
shall I conform to the outrageous demands of a society whose
surplus
of repression has bitten large holes in my stomach. Needless to
say,
man usually 'chooses' to be swept along in the polluted river,
swallowing
gallons of dirty water and passively accepting an endless
onslaught
of debris which slaps him in the head like the seconds
screaming
hurry-up from the clocks all around him until, finally, when he
almost
remembers how to be useless (how to live)
as a crippled
eighty-year
old, the government pulls the plug on his respirator due to
cutbacks
in Medicare. It is Bataille's feeling
that the poet would have
something
important to communicate to this sad soul.
Poetry
-- the curse
In my
craft or sullen art
Exercised
in the still night
When
only the moon rages
And the
lovers lie abed
With
all their griefs in their arms,
I labor
by singing light
Not for
ambition or bread
Or the
strut and trade of charms
On the
ivory stages
But for
the common wages
Of
their most secret heart -- Dylan Thomas (from In My Craft or Sullen Art)
'If you
meet death during your labor
Recieve
it like a sweating neck welcomes a dry hankerchief.' - rene char
The poet, of course, is involved in the
same struggle. His
activity,
however, as discussed above, already places him outside of and
in
opposition to his society. For those
rare poetes maudits, the
situation
is much more grim: their lives consist
in simply trying to
hold on
to their minds, which reel from the carpet ripped from under
their
feet by the profound absence inside them.
Writers feel this
absence
most acutely because of the tool that they work with, language,
the
tool that itself creates man. The
modern poet is all too aware of
the
arbitrariness of the sign, and recognizes that he himself is just
another
signifier which has no relation to any signified. He refuses,
however,
to be this empty signifier denying (denied) life. He instead
takes
on the impossible task of discovering the hidden, unnameable who?
that he
is. He must do this in the midst of a
society which has a
ready-made
label for 'types' like him: madman.
The poet takes tremendous risks in the
acceptance of his destiny.
His
flirting at the boundaries of being implies a voyage from which he
may not
return. He embarks on the voyage alone,
in a boat with no oars
and a
broken rudder. He sails into the Night
to discover the unknown, to
(re)discover
man's origin, to find that Word, that impossible Word, that
impossible
voyage, which are, all the same, necessary tasks. The poet
knows
before he leaves shore: a throw of the
dice will never abolish
chance.
He cannot care. He knows that he may
not return from this
voyage,
but this means nothing to him. One word echoes in his head: on.
His
heart begins to give out, his boat is busted in a pause, he cannot go
on: I'LL GO ON.
Bataille's Night is the Night of all
poets and artists. The
sovereign
gesture of the artist opens up the possibility of true
communication
between beings. 'Poetry', as Bataille
eloquently puts it
in his
aphorism, 'is the only sovereign cry,'
In the poetic moment man
regains
that whole which is lost at birth, or at least during childhood.
The
echo suddenly realizes that it is the Sound: it realizes the unity of
Nature
from which it is so hopelessly divorced.
In these instants of
communication,
man experiences life in all of its violence and ecstasy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bataille,
George, Absence of Myth: Writings on Surrealism.
Trans. Michael Richardson. London:
Verso, 1994
---. 'Death and Sensuality.' Eroticism, San Francisco:
City Lights, 1986
---. Inner Experience, Trans. Leslie Anne Bolt.
New York: State University of New York Press, 1988
---. Literature and Evil, Trans. Alastair
Hamilton.
London:
Marion Boyers, 1985\
---. 'The Notion of Expenditure' Visions of Excess, ???
Breton,
Andre, Manifestoes of Surrealism, Trans.
Richard Seaver
and Helen Lane. University of Michigan Press, 1969
Gregg,
John, Maurice Blanchot and the
Literature of
Transgression, Princeton:
Princeton University Press,
1994
Paz,
Octavio, The Bow and the Lyre. Trans Ruth L.C.Simms
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991
Sollers,
Philippe, Writing and the Experience of Limits . Trans.
Philip Barnard with David Hayman. New York:
Columbia
University Press, 1983
have a
nice day
will,
your disturbed freshman theorist
(wss@sas.upenn.edu)
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 18:09:22 -0400
Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List"
<BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>
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From: William S Schofield
<wss@SAS.UPENN.EDU>
Subject: kaufnam -- kaufMAN
For
those interested in a true beat soul, a collection of Bob Kaufman's
writings
has finally been published called Cranial Guitar-- it includes
all of
golden sardine,
alot of
Ancient Rain Poems and Solitudes Crowded with Loneliness and
uncollected
stuff -- it is published by coffeehouse press(27 North Fourth
street,
suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401) -- it
is edited by Gerald
Nicosia
and has a great introduction with alot of quotes about bob by
those
who knew him --
he is
also known as one of the true surrealist american poets: here is a
sampling
from his incredible "Picasso's Balcony"
"Crying
love rising from the lips of wounded flowers, wailing,
sobbing,
breathing uneven sounds of sorrow, lying in wells of
earth,
throbbing, covered with desperate laughter, out of cool
angels,
spread over night. Dancing blue images,
shades of blue
pasts,
all yesterdays, tomorrows, breaking on pebbled bodies,
on
sands of blue and coral, spent....."
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 09:11:17 +0100
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From: "m.d.fascione"
<m.d.fascione@CITY.AC.UK>
Subject: nighthawks at the diner.... (fwd)
Kerouac's
(or Cassady's) mouth.... Of course, Waits did a direct homage to all
things
Beat with his song, "Jack and Neal"....
Which
album is 'Jack and Neal' from then?
Of
course the beat link continues with Waits and Burroughs on 'Black
Rider'
album from a couple of years back.
Daniel
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 07:29:03 EST
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From: "J.D. P. Lafrance"
<J.D._P._Lafrance@RIDLEY.ON.CA>
Organization:
Ridley College
Subject: Re: nighthawks at the diner.... (fwd)
"Jack
and Neal" can be found on Waits' "Foreign Affairs" (1977) album
I
believe...
I would also highly recommend the song, "Step Right Up" off of his
"Small
Change" (1977) album... And you're right about that Burroughs link with
"Black
Rider" interesting album - especially to hear Burroughs sing!
bfn,
JDL
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 09:26:00 -0400
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From: Howard Park <Hpark4@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Symposium in DC
Comments:
cc: lor@crest.org
I
attended the "Rebel Voices Speak Again" symposium at the National
Portrait
Gallery
in DC in April 27. I've forgotten much
as I went on a business trip
the
next morning, so I hope someone else will also post thier experience of
this
great event.
The
event was held in the Great Hall of the Portrait Gallery, on the third
floor. It was held in conjunction with an exhibition
of "Rebel Poets and
Painters"
at the Gallery - the poets portion focuses on four "schools", the
Beats,
San Fran Reinassance, Black Mountain and New York.
It was
slow in getting started so I went outside for a cigarette (Yes, I'm
addidicted
to that awful habit) and who walks up, unaccompanied, but the
great
bard himself, Allen Ginsberg. On the
elevator going up to the ornate,
historic
hall, we briefly discussed Whitman, who nursed wounded soldiers in
the
building during the civil war.
The
first panal "Conversation and
Poetry" consisted of Robert Creeley,
Kenward
Elmslie, Lawrence Ferlingetti and publisher Jonathon Williams,
resplendent
in a bright yellow suit. Ann Layterbach was the moderator. Each
panalist
first gave a reading of a short poem.
Most of the talk was
remininces
of bygone days, all except Creeley had been active in publishing.
Williams, active at Black Mountain Collage,
was the first to publish
Creeley. And of course, Ferlingetti was the first to
publish AG, who sat in
the
front row and took many pictures. Much
of the discussion focused on
"place",
Creeley spoke of his home in Buffalo, NY, Williams of his longtime
home in
rural western North Carolina.
Ferlingetti did not make too much of
an
impression on me other than he looked quite well and was in good spirits.
The
second panel featured AG, Michael McClure and Kenneth Koch, moderated by
Ron
Padgett. Amiri Baraka was listed, but
was a no-show. The discussion, at
first,
seemed stilted and less stimilating than I had expected, focusing of
details
of where the participants had been or what they had done back on this
or that
day sometime in the 1950's or 60's, something to do with where they
had
been when they sat for various portraits that are featured in the
exhibition
on the first floor of the Gallery. The
discussion got more
interesting
as it progressed (AG on censorship of TV and radio among other
topics)
culminating in an inspiring reading of Death to Van Gogh's Ear by AG.
The bard definately was showing his age, but
let there be no doubt that he
can
read as well, as firey, as wonderfully as I've ever heard him. Several
poets
invoked the sprit of Whitman and Kerouac.
After the panel I hung
around
and spoke to McClure and AG, who were both generious with thier time
and
insights.
I
should mention that AG was often beseiged with requests for signings and
complained
more than once that "they are trying to turn me into an autograph
machine." My experience is that eager fans (like
myself) should wait for the
right
time (not when he is encircled or clearly pressed for time) and have
something
intelligent to say to the great bard other than "I love your poetry
so
much", etc... I cannot blame him
for being slightly cranky at times as
one
book after another is shoved into his face.
Still, my observation was
that
over the course of the day, about 90% of the requests for signings were
fulfilled.
After
the panel events featured slides by J. Williams, a documentary about
Frank
O'Hara and another about Gary Snyder. I
missed these.
The
main event was a reading, at night, featuring (in rough order) Gregory
Corso,
J. Williams, R. Creeley, K. Elmsley, Lawrence Ferlingetti, Kenneth
Koch,
Michael McClure, AG followed by music by David Amram and friends.
Corso
was quite enjoyable, his 11 year old son (forget his name) also read a
touching,
innocent poem and showed great poise before the crowd of 350 or so.
Gregory was in a good mood. All read for about 10-15 minutes. I enjoyed
each
one very much and was often moved.
Elmsley was the most humerious,
doing a
funny, kitchy, partial drag reading accompanied by music and
graphics. Ferlingetti, as usual, was political. I was honestly impressed by
each,
culminating with AG who read, among others, his 1995 poem "The Ballad
of the
Skeletons." By the way, AG will
have a new selected poems volume out
later
this year.
David
Avram was, well, David Avram (of Pull My Daisy fame, among many other
things). Standard, skilled, some improvization, 3-piece jazz interspersed
with
raps about the greatness of Jack Kerouac (So, who's got the last laugh
now Mr.
Truman "it's typing, not writing, ha, ha, ha... Capote). One
observer
described Avram as the "Mr. Rogers of the Beat Generation". Avram
is
delightful, approachable, and full of joy --
A real pleasure.
Steven
Watson was the MC for the days activities.
After
the reading there was a surprise reception on the second floor of the
historic,
wonderful gallery (one of DC's lesser known gems). Lots of book
signing,
schmoozing, etc. I stayed till the
end. As I exited, there was the
bard,
AG, still there, still imparting wisdom, or at least his thoughts to
young
fans as the guards shooshed us away.
AG, I hope you slept well. A
good
time was had by all.
No, it
was not the Six Gallery revisited. Yes,
the program would have been
stronger
with more sexual, racial, etc. diversity (Diane DiPrima was invited,
but had
a conflict, Baraka did not show.) No
there was little or no
"controversy"
which might have livened things up.
But, it was Beat indeed!
Howard
Park
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 10:11:05 -0400
Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>
Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation
List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>
From: Robert Peltier
<rpeltier@MAIL.TRINCOLL.EDU>
Subject: Re: kaufnam -- kaufMAN
>
>he
is also known as one of the true surrealist american poets: here is a
>sampling
from his incredible "Picasso's Balcony"
>
>"Crying
love rising from the lips of wounded flowers, wailing,
>sobbing,
breathing uneven sounds of sorrow, lying in wells of
>earth,
throbbing, covered with desperate laughter, out of cool
>angels,
spread over night. Dancing blue images,
shades of blue
>pasts,
all yesterdays, tomorrows, breaking on pebbled bodies,
>on
sands of blue and coral, spent....."
>
"wounded
flowers"? "desperate
laughter"? Weak.
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 15:29:53 +0100
Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List"
<BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>
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From: "m.d.fascione"
<m.d.fascione@CITY.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: nighthawks at the diner.... (fwd)
"Jack
and Neal" can be found on Waits' "Foreign Affairs" (1977) album
I
believe...
I would also highly recommend the song, "Step Right Up" off of his
"Small
Change" (1977) album... And you're right about that Burroughs link with
"Black
Rider" interesting album - especially to hear Burroughs sing!
bfn,
JDL
Speaking
of Uncle Bill singing, check out his version of 'Falling in Love
Again'
from the album Dead City Radio. It's great and sung totally in German!
Daniel
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 14:30:54 -0400
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From: Ed Hertzog <exh112@PSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Symposium in DC
Comments:
To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List"
<BEAT-L%CUNYVM.BITNET@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
unsuscribe
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 16:57:18 +0000
Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List"
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From: "John W. Hasbrouck"
<jhasbro@TEZCAT.COM>
Subject: Re: The Last Time I Committed Suicide
In
regards to the on-line Cassady Rap mentioned yesterday (Wednesday), I
have a
question for the list. Perhaps somebody out there can help settle
and
argument my boss and I are having about the rap.
About a
third of the way through the rap, Neal uses the term
"Keroassady".
Ken Babbs' annotation (#30) states, "KEROASSADY: the
composite
Jack/Neal: a hybrid personality that did 'em both in."
The
first time I heard this word I was fascinated not only by the beauty
of its
aural power (specifically, the way the middle "a" bridges the
third
syllable in "Kerouac" to "Cassady") but also by the fact
that,
when
spoken, one hears the word "acid" quite clearly. One could even
argue
that you hear the word "acid-y" (or "aciddy").
My boss
thinks this is too much of a stretch. I, however, argue by
speculating
that when Neal used the word "Keroassady" it was in an
entirely
ORAL context, rather than a WRITTEN context. When reading
"Keroassady",
one may not immediately perceive the word "acid" within
it.
Spoken aloud, however, I maintain its undeniable, albeit subliminal,
presence.
I'm
very interested in some feedback on this. Ultimately, we might want
to
email the question to Zane Kesey over at Key-Z Productions. If we ask
nice,
maybe we could get a response from Babbs himself. He was there.
John
Hasbrouck
Chicago
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 16:07:52 -0700
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From: Bobby Singh <EABU354@UCI.EDU>
Subject: Re: Beat Publications
In-Reply-To:
<960501081742_702420.204300_BHD48-14@CompuServe.COM>
Hi all,
I am new to this list and generally to
the whole "Beat" thing. I
was
wondering if there are any magazines (paper or electronic) about this
topic
here in USA. If yes, any addresses will be appreciated. Thanks for
any
help.
Bobby
Singh
eabu354@ea.oac.uci.edu
_______________________________________________________________________________
And I
got sick...it was the feeling that the great, deadly pointing forefinger
of
society was pointing at me--and the great voice of millions chanting,
'Shame.
Shame. Shame.' It's society's way of dealing with someone different.
--One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest
Three
passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the
longing
for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the
suffering
of mankind.
--Bertrand Russell
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 01:13:09 EDT
Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List"
<BEAT-L@CUNYVM.BITNET>
Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation
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From: Chris Hartley
<chris.hartley@GS.COM>
Subject: Re: Beat Publications
Comments:
To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List"
<BEAT-L%CUNYVM.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu>
In-Reply-To: Bobby Singh <EABU354@UCI.EDU>
"Re: Beat Publications" (May
2,
4:07pm)
jackass
mothrffucker'
whhaat
up you duumb mothhre=e==erfycker
love,
love, ovee.
how we
do love the sweggch]][\\riight, we all you.
yoou have the sweetesy
little
pussy that i'd like to lick............dig iit, seems like i need aa
littlee
ffacceassauge. ssooo -yum
--
--
_________________________________________________________________
_/_/_/
_/_/ _/ _/ Chris Hartley
_/ _/
_/ _/_/_/_/ Emerging Debt
Markets
_/_/ _/
_/ _/ _/ _/
_/ _/
_/ _/ _/ voice: (212)-902-8110
_/_/_/
_/_/ _/ _/ email:
hartlc@fi.gs.com
_________________________________________________________________
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 09:31:20 +1000
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From: JENS MOELLENHOFF
<JMOELLEN@NW80.CIP.FAK14.UNI-MUENCHEN.DE>
Subject: nighthawks at the diner.... (fwd)
"Jack
and Neal" can be found on Waits' "Foreign Affairs" (1977) album