Robin Blaser

Robin Francis Blaser (born 18 May, 1925) is a noted author and poet in both the United States and Canada.

Personal background

Born in Denver, Colorado, Blaser grew up in Idaho, and came to Berkeley, California in 1944. There he met Jack Spicer and Robert Duncan, becoming a key figure in the so-called San Francisco Renaissance of the 1950s and early 1960s. He moved to Canada in 1966, joining the faculty of Simon Fraser University; he currently holds the position of Professor Emeritus. He lives in the Kitsilano neighborhood of Vancouver, British Columbia..

In June 1995, for Blaser's 70th birthday, a conference was held in Vancouver to pay tribute to his contribution to Canadian poetry. The conference, known as the "Recovery of the Public World" (a phrase borrowed from Hannah Arendt), was attended by poets from around the world, including Canadian poets Michael Ondaatje, Steve McCaffery, Phyllis Webb, George Bowering, Fred Wah, and Daphne Marlatt; and poets who reside in the United States, including Michael Palmer and Norma Cole (who was born in Canada, subsequently migrating to San Francisco).

Blaser is also well known as the editor of "The Collected Books of Jack Spicer", which includes Blaser's essay "The Practice of Outside". The 1993 publication "The Holy Forest" represents his collected poems to that date. In 2006, Blaser received a special Lifetime Recognition Award given by the trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, which also awards the annual Griffin Poetry Prize.

Blaser won the Prize itself in 2008.

Bibliography

Poetry

*"The Moth Poem", 1964
*"Les Chimères: Translations of Nerval for Fran Herndon", 1969
*"Cups", 1968
*"Image Nations 1-12 & The Stadium of the Mirror", 1974
*"Image Nations 13 & 14", Luck Unluck Oneluck, Sky-stone, Suddenly, Gathering", 1975
*"Harp Trees", 1977
*"Image Nation 15: The Lacquerhouse", 1981
*"Syntax", 1983
*"The Faerie Queene and The Park", 1987
*"Pell Mel", 1988
*"The Holy Forest", 1993
*"Nomad", 1995
*"Wanders", with Meredith Quartermain, 2002
*"The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser", 2007 ISBN 0520245938 (winner of the 2008 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize)

Essays

*"The Fire", 1974
*"The Metaphysics of Light", 1974
*"The Practice of Outside", 1975
*"The Violets: Charles Olson and Alfred North Whitehead", 1983
*"My Vocabulary Did This To Me", 1987
*"Poetry and Positivisms", 1989
*"The Elf of It", 1992
*"The Recovery of the Public World" and "Among Afterthoughts on This Occasion", 1993
*"Here Lies the Woodpecker Who Was Zeus", 1995
*"Thinking about Irreparables, a talk", 2000
*"The Fire: Collected Essays of Robin Blaser", 2006 [edited by Miriam Nichols, (University California Press, 518 pgs). Includes "Poetry and Positivisms," "The Recovery of the Public World," " 'My Vocabulary Did This to Me,' " "The 'Elf' of It," "Bach's Belief," and many others.]

Opera libretto

*"The Last Supper, 2000

References

External links

* [http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/blaser/ EPC Robin Blaser Homepage] @Electronic Poetry Center
* [http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5244 Literary Encyclopedia entry]
* [http://jacketmagazine.com/22/blaser-quar.html Lyric Capability: the Syntax of Robin Blaser] essay by Meredith Quartermain
* [http://www.writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Blaser.html mp3 files of RB readings and lectures]
* [http://bothbothseries.blogspot.com/2007/02/interview-with-robin-blaser-that.html Interview with Robin Blaser] conducted by John Sakkis, this interview originally appeared in the magazine "Poker" (#5). Republished here on Sakkis' blog "Both Both" (February 15, 2007)
* [http://www.berkeleydaily.org/text/article.cfm?issue=09-11-07&storyID=27990 Blaser honored by Small Press Traffic with a lifetime achievement award] article includes discussion of Blaser, his association with both the Berkeley and San Francisco Renaissance, and quotes from Blaser exclusive to this piece which appeared in "The Berkeley Daily Planet"
* [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0000821 Robin Blaser's] entry in [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=HomePage&Params=A1 The Canadian Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/news/further_info.asp?newsid=10682 Article on the Boosey & Hawkes website about the libretto of "The Last Supper"]