Avant Canada
Poets, Prophets, Revolutionaries
Published on 30. January 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
350 pages
978-1-77112-352-5 (ISBN)
Description
Avant Canada presents a rich collection of original essays and creative works on a representative array of avant-garde literary movements in Canada from the past fifty years. From the work of Leonard Cohen and bpNichol to that of Jordan Abel and Liz Howard, Avant Canada features twenty-eight of the best writers and critics in the field.The book proposes four dominant modes of avant-garde production: ""Concrete Poetics,"" which accentuates the visual and material aspects of language; ""Language Writing,"" which challenges the interconnection between words and things; ""Identity Writing,"" which interrogates the self and its sociopolitical position; and ""Copyleft Poetics,"" which undermines our habitual assumptions about the ownership of expression. A fifth section commemorates the importance of the Centennial in the 1960s at a time when avant-garde cultures in Canada began to emerge.
Readers of this book will become familiar with some of the most challenging works of literature - and their creators - that this country has ever produced. From Concrete Poetry in the 1960s through to Indigenous Literature in the 2010s, Avant Canada offers the most sweeping study of the literary avant-garde in Canada to date.
Readers of this book will become familiar with some of the most challenging works of literature - and their creators - that this country has ever produced. From Concrete Poetry in the 1960s through to Indigenous Literature in the 2010s, Avant Canada offers the most sweeping study of the literary avant-garde in Canada to date.
Reviews / Votes
This collection of academic essays and creative pieces takes an enthusiastic, engaged attitude to the unrolling of Canadian literature, starting with an intelligent introduction by editors Gregory Betts and Christian Boek [...] -- Derek Webster -- Canadian Notes and Queries, 2018More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Waterloo, Ontario
Canada
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
15 images
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
472 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-77112-352-5 (9781771123525)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Gregory Betts is the Chancellor's Chair for Research Excellence at Brock University and the director of the Centre for Canadian Studies. He is the author of Avant-Garde Canadian Literature: The Early Manifestations (2013) as well as six books of experimental poetry. He is currently the artistic director of the Festival of Readers in St. Catharines.
Christian Boek won the Griffin Poetry Prize for his book Eunoia. He is currently working on The Xenotext, a project that requires him to encode a poem into the genome of a microbe capable of thriving in any inhospitable environment. Boek is a Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada, and he teaches at Charles Darwin University.
Christian Boek won the Griffin Poetry Prize for his book Eunoia. He is currently working on The Xenotext, a project that requires him to encode a poem into the genome of a microbe capable of thriving in any inhospitable environment. Boek is a Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada, and he teaches at Charles Darwin University.
Content
List of Figures
I INTRODUCTION
1 Gregory Betts and Christian Boek-Time for the Avant-Garde in Canada
II PROLOGUE
2 Lisa Robertson-The Collective
3 Liz Howard-Against Assimilation I Rose into Poetry
III THE CENTENNIAL
4 Kristine Smitka-The Sublation of Obduracy: Nationalism and the Avant-Garde Marketing of Beautiful Losers
5 Stephen Cain-""A Vision in the UofT Stacks"": bpNichol in the Library
IV CONCRETE POLITICS
6 Julia Polyck-O'Neill-Words With(out) Syntax: Reconsidering Concrete Poetry: An Exhibition in Four Parts
7 Mike Borkent-Post/Avant Comics: bpNichol's Material Poetics and Comics Art Manifestos
8 Eric Schmaltz-A Field Guide to North Concrete: Identification Chart
9 Kelly Mark-National and Time
10 Kaie Kellough-Continents
V LANGUAGE WRITING
11 Michael Roberson-Transformation or Resistance: The Kootenay School of Writing in Context
12 Kit Dobson-A Poetics of Neoliberalism
13 Dorothy Trujillo Lusk-Sleek Vinyl Drill
14 Erin Moure-Pillage 12 (""Anaximenes"")
15 Donato Mancini-If Violence (Hey You)
VI IDENTITY WRITING
16 Myra Bloom-Messy Confessions: Sheila Heti's How Should a Person Be?
17 Sonnet L'Abbe-Erasures from the Territories Called Canada: Sharpening the Gaze at White Backgrounds
18 Leanne Betasamosake Simpson-caribou ghosts & untold stories
19 Lee Maracle-Bobbi Lee, Indian Rebel
20 Annharte-cum cum how cum dat cums around even from behind
VII COPYLEFT POLITICS
21 Katie L. Price-A ? A: The Potential for a Pataphysical Poetics in Dan Farrell's The Inkblot Record
22 Darren Wershler-Everyday Practice Before and After Conceptual Writing
23 Derek Beaulieu-Prose of the TransCanada
24 Moez Surani-1988
25 Dani Spinosa-Anxious Influence: Reading John Cage Theoretically
VIII EPILOGUE
26 Andre Alexis-On Amanda PL's Cancelled Exhibit
27 An Interview with Jordan Abel-A Line Can Be Drawn
IX AFTER MATTER
Notes and Acknowledgements
Bibliography
About the Authors
Index
I INTRODUCTION
1 Gregory Betts and Christian Boek-Time for the Avant-Garde in Canada
II PROLOGUE
2 Lisa Robertson-The Collective
3 Liz Howard-Against Assimilation I Rose into Poetry
III THE CENTENNIAL
4 Kristine Smitka-The Sublation of Obduracy: Nationalism and the Avant-Garde Marketing of Beautiful Losers
5 Stephen Cain-""A Vision in the UofT Stacks"": bpNichol in the Library
IV CONCRETE POLITICS
6 Julia Polyck-O'Neill-Words With(out) Syntax: Reconsidering Concrete Poetry: An Exhibition in Four Parts
7 Mike Borkent-Post/Avant Comics: bpNichol's Material Poetics and Comics Art Manifestos
8 Eric Schmaltz-A Field Guide to North Concrete: Identification Chart
9 Kelly Mark-National and Time
10 Kaie Kellough-Continents
V LANGUAGE WRITING
11 Michael Roberson-Transformation or Resistance: The Kootenay School of Writing in Context
12 Kit Dobson-A Poetics of Neoliberalism
13 Dorothy Trujillo Lusk-Sleek Vinyl Drill
14 Erin Moure-Pillage 12 (""Anaximenes"")
15 Donato Mancini-If Violence (Hey You)
VI IDENTITY WRITING
16 Myra Bloom-Messy Confessions: Sheila Heti's How Should a Person Be?
17 Sonnet L'Abbe-Erasures from the Territories Called Canada: Sharpening the Gaze at White Backgrounds
18 Leanne Betasamosake Simpson-caribou ghosts & untold stories
19 Lee Maracle-Bobbi Lee, Indian Rebel
20 Annharte-cum cum how cum dat cums around even from behind
VII COPYLEFT POLITICS
21 Katie L. Price-A ? A: The Potential for a Pataphysical Poetics in Dan Farrell's The Inkblot Record
22 Darren Wershler-Everyday Practice Before and After Conceptual Writing
23 Derek Beaulieu-Prose of the TransCanada
24 Moez Surani-1988
25 Dani Spinosa-Anxious Influence: Reading John Cage Theoretically
VIII EPILOGUE
26 Andre Alexis-On Amanda PL's Cancelled Exhibit
27 An Interview with Jordan Abel-A Line Can Be Drawn
IX AFTER MATTER
Notes and Acknowledgements
Bibliography
About the Authors
Index