Silliman's Blog

George Kalamaras, hands down, has some of the most astonishing language of any poet writing.

Kent
 

I like this line of yours, Eileen:

"Sigh. Isn't it a pain in the butt when, in discussing poetics, one must be led to actually read ... poems?"

sye: I would say it a bit less politely than you have... well, maybe a great deal less politely...
 

It's G.C., R.S. :)
 

As expected I clicked on the link 'Breton's Martinique' which directed me to the Broad Street Review, a really awful local rag. A lot of your links to journalistic coverage of the arts irritate me and the times I respond here constitute a small sampling of the irritation.

This clicking prompted me to email the "editor," Dan Rottenberg, at 10 this morning...
Dear Dan, BSR's article 'Andre Breton's Martinique' says "Of course, the fact that Breton later supported the worst excesses of Stalin—himself little more than a "Red Star Fascist"—suggests that maybe Breton didn't disapprove of the treatment, so much as he rued the fact that he was on the receiving end of it.)" This is libel. Breton did not express support for Stalin at any time. Please delete this paragraph from the article as the editors should have done ahead of time. Best regards,

So far The Editor That Doesn't Fact Check hasn't deleted the paragraph. Book reviewers are supposed to display some cursury knowledge of what they're talking about, but the three or four unfortunate folks that read this are treated to statements like "one of the finest passages Breton ever wrote" by someone who quite obviously hasn't read much by the author.
 

Amish,

The appalling thing is that I think I've made that mistake before. Thanks for pointing it out,

Ron
 

I think that AB supported Trotsky...
besides NADJA

http://www.geocities.com/youth4sa/art2.html

so, this guy you mention makes an huge error..

using as an "opening" to a piece I done:

"the imaginary is what tends to become real"
-Andre Breton


it is important to edit/check... someone might get hurt... or worst! an entire nation might bomb-the-shit out of an innocent nation/country...

but, what do I know?
 

Ian, libel is when you KNOWINGLY spread false knowledge about someone.

When you do it out of utter ignorance, it's not a legal matter. The reviewer was doing his best, which obviously wasn't very good, but since I didn't know about the book, I'm glad to hear about it. Of course Breton stood against Stalin, and also against Mao. He had a nose, after all, unlike Sartre, who went for both.

Try to relax now, and eat a cheese sandwich. Just keep out of the smellier cheeses.
 

P.S. Ian, Breton would also have been against Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. For the same reasons he was against Mao and Stalin.
 

Kirbs, you need to make up your mind whether you want me to relax or assign posthumous political views to Breton. The only reason he'd be against Ortega and Chavez is if he'd cooled to the concept of democracy as you seem to have. It's not a legal matter since I can't recover damages for the Breton estate, especially since he opposed such an estate, but it is malicious and/or criminally negligent.
 

Yes, 'twill be the strangest of Lears in years.

http://puppetuprising.org/
 

Hey Ron,

40-50 million thanks for link to 'Martinique'

to Breton/Rothenberg:

"the next beer's on me"

and,
we are just Lucky to be here...
a generation not to have those images in our mind/memory..


I just ordered 'Martinique'.. AT THE FULL PRICE..

just let the whiners whine...

what did Kafka call 'em

"Jackals" ?

in the penal colony and etc..

sure was a lucky stroke that that guy didn't burn up all of FK's mss (as Kafka) wished/instructed..