Hannah Weiner

Hannah Adelle Weiner (née Finegold) (November 4, 1928—September 11, 1997) was an American poet who is often grouped with the "Language poets" because of the prominent place she assumed in the poetics of that group.

Early life and writings

Hannah Weiner was born in Providence, Rhode Island and attended Classical High School, until 1946, and then Radcliffe College.cite web
last = Bernstein
first = Charles
authorlink = Charles Bernstein
title = Hannah Weiner
publisher = Jacket Magazine
year = 2000
url = http://jacketmagazine.com/12/wein-bern.html
accessdate = 2008-08-19 ] She graduated with a B.A. in 1950, with a dissertation on Henry James. Working in publishing and then in Bloomingdale's department store, she was married and then divorced after four years. Weiner started writing poetry in 1963 though her first chapbook, "The Magritte Poems" after Rene Magritte, was published in 1970. It is not indicative of her latter work, being "basically a New York School attempt to write verse in response to the paintings of Rene Magritte".cite web
last = Durgin
first = Patrick
authorlink =
title = Introduction. Avant-Garde Journalism: Hannah Weiner’s Early and Clairvoyant Journals
publisher = University of California, San Diego
year = 2004
url = http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/m504/intro.pdf
format = Pdf
accessdate = 2008-08-19 ] During the sixties she also organised and participated in a number of happenings with other members of the New York art scene, where she had been living for some time. These included 'Hannah Weiner at Her Job', "a sort of open house hosted by her employer, A.H. Schreiber Co., Inc." and 'Fashion Show Poetry Event' with Eduardo Costa, John Perreault, Andy Warhol and others in a "collaborative and innovative enterprise that incorporated conceptual art, design, poetry and performance." [cite web
title = Beyond Geography
publisher = e-flux
date = 2005-06-07
url = http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/2125
accessdate = 2008-08-19 ]

Mature work

In the early 1970s, Weiner began writing a series of journals that were partly the result of her experiments with clairvoyant or automatic writing and partly a result of her schizophrenia. She influenced a number of the Language poets and was included in the "In the American Tree" anthology of Language poetry. Beginning with "Little Books/Indians" (1980) and "Spoke" (1984) Weiner's work engaged with with Native American politics, particularly the American Indian Movement and the case of imprisoned activist Leonard Peltier. [cite conference
first = Thom
last = Donovan
authorlink =
title = Every Name in History is Hannah
publisher = University of Pennsylvania
date =
location =
url = http://www.writing.upenn.edu/library/Thom_Donovan-Hannah.html
accessdate = 2008-09-22] [cite journal
last = Goldman
first = Judith
authorlink =
title = Hannah=hannaH: Politics, Ethics, and Clairvoyance in the Work of Hannah Weiner
journal = differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies
volume = 12
issue = 2
pages = 149
publisher = Brown University
location =
year = 2001
url = http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/weiner/goldman.html
accessdate = 2008-09-22
quote = From a thematic standpoint, Weiner's poetry shows that she remained an outspoken supporter of the aim movement: the work reminds its readers of the imprisonment of aim leaders Peltier and Russell Means (who was arrested, tried, and jailed a number of times, as well as shot by a Bureau of Indian Affairs policeman [Sayer 213] ), and of the ongoing Indian struggles for religious freedom and economic and territorial parity.]

Interest in Weiner continues into the 21st century with the recent publication of "Hannah Weiner’s Open House" (2007), "a representative selection spanning her decades of poetic output" [ [http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0702&L=poetics&D=1&O=D&P=58695 Poetics Archives SUNY Buffalo, Feb 2007] .] This volume was edited by Patrick F. Durgin, who provides an overview of Weiner's art:

Hannah Weiner’s influence extends from the sixties New York avant-garde, where she was part of an unprecedented confluence of poets, performance and visual artists including Phillip Glass, Andy Warhol, Carolee Schneemann, John Perrault, David Antin, and Bernadette Mayer. Like fellow-traveler Jackson Mac Low, she became an important part of the Language poetry of the 70s and 80s, and her influence can be seen today in the so-called "New Narrative" work stemming from the San Francisco Bay Area. With other posthumous publications of late, her work is being discussed by scholars in feminist studies, poetics, and disability studies. But there does not yet exist a representative selection spanning her decades of poetic output. Hannah Weiner’s Open House aims to remedy this with previously uncollected (and mostly never-published) work, including performance texts, early New York School influenced lyric poems, odes and remembrances to / of Mac Low and Ted Berrigan, and later “clair-style” works.

Works

* "The Magritte Poems" (1970)
* "Clairvoyant Journal" (Angel Hair, 1978)
* "Little Books/Indians" (Roof, 1980)
* "The Code Poems" (Open Studio, 1982)
* "Spoke" (Sun & Moon, 1984)
* "Written In/The Zero One" (Post Neo, 1985)
* "Weeks" (Xexoxial, 1990)
* "The Fast" (1992)
* "Silent Teachers Remembered Sequel " (Tender Buttons, 1994)
* "And We Speak Silent " (1996)
* "PAGE" (2002)
* "Hannah Weiner’s Open House" (2007)

References

External links

* [http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/weiner/ Hannah Weiner at EPC]
*worldcat id|id=lccn-n82-163565
* [http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/testing/html/mss0504a.html Hannah Weiner Papers]
* [http://www.ubu.com/ubu/pdf/weiner_indians.pdf Little Books/Indians] by Hannah Weiner
* [http://jacketmagazine.com/12/wein-bern.html Short Memoir by Charles Bernstein]
* [http://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2007/09/perhaps-most-shocking-revelation-in.html "perhaps the most shocking revelation"] Ron Silliman discusses "Hannah Weiner’s Open House" (2007)
* [http://www.thefanzine.com/articles/features/201/silent_teacher_remembered-_hannah_weiner%27s_open_house Tom Donovan] on "Open House"
* [http://blip.tv/file/567598 "Open House" launch] video

Persondata
NAME=Weiner, Hannah
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=American poet
DATE OF BIRTH=November 4, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH=Providence, Rhode Island, United States
DATE OF DEATH=September 11, 1997
PLACE OF DEATH=New York City, United States