Kent Johnson Seized by Marvelous Spirits
Kent presented a terrific paper on translation in the Joynes Reading Room last night at the University of Texas. This talk offered a significant response and thoughtful extension to Eliot Weinberger's essay, "Mislaid in Translation." He then introduced the work of the Bolivian poet Jaime Saenz before being seized by the spirit of said poet, who thrust Kent to the floor of the Joynes Room. We checked his pulse and called 911. Kent, miraculously, revived and continued with his reading of the final pages of "The Night," the final work of Saenz. It was a spectacular moment, the room aglow in the plasma of hovering sprites.
Here is my introduction:
Kent Johnson—An Introduction
March 18, 2008
It is with great pleasure that I introduce Kent Johnson tonight. As with many of the writers I most admire, he engages the art of poetry by fulfilling what is truly an avant-garde goal of social engagement. His work brings reflection to audiences about the roles of authorship, translation, and cultural interactions in larger public situations that move beyond merely literary concerns. His satiric poetry in works such as I Once Met and Lyric Poetry After Auschwitz: Eleven Submissions to the War address the difficult situations of daily life within a larger context of geopolitics. His sense of creative mission is to bring attention to the difficult situations we face in North America as participants in social visions of ongoing cultural construction.
Johnson’s association with the apocryphal publication of poems and letters attributed to Hiroshima bomb survivor Araki Yasusada have in large part complicated the reception of his work. By creating trans-literary situations in his writing that include social and political perspectives on war, Johnson has managed to question the values and uses of poetics in an era where such reflective practices are often discouraged by more literary-minded critics. Because his satiric energy is so vocal and active, he has acquired a reputation of genius and notoriety. He is capable of producing unease in certain audiences, even as a growing camp of international readers praises his work. Controversy breeds contempt as well as accolades.
Of all the arts, poetry brings with it many demands. It is never enough to concentrate solely on one’s own work. Poets who follow the model of Ezra Pound devote attention to the work of others by writing book reviews, digging through the archives to discover forgotten authors, or by translating work into English from other languages. Johnson has worked tirelessly to discover the great traditions of Latin American poetry, and his critical writing has helped locate the perspectives of other cultures that produce critical reflection upon our own institutions at home.
Johnson grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay, and worked in 1980 and 1983 as a literacy teacher in Nicaragua during the Sandinista Revolution, an experience that led to his translation of many poems from the working class Talleres de Poesia there, later collected in the volume A Nation of Poets. He is author, editor, or translator of more than twenty books and chapbooks, including three collections recently published in translation abroad. His most recent books of translation (in collaboration with Forrest Gander) are of the Bolivian poet Jaime Saenz: Immanent Visitor (California) and The Night (Princeton), both of which received awards from PEN. Shearsman Books in the UK will release this year Homage to the Last Avant-Garde, a large gathering of Johnson’s new and selected poems. It is with great honor that I present him to you tonight. Please welcome my dear friend Kent Johnson.
Here is my introduction:
Kent Johnson—An Introduction
March 18, 2008
It is with great pleasure that I introduce Kent Johnson tonight. As with many of the writers I most admire, he engages the art of poetry by fulfilling what is truly an avant-garde goal of social engagement. His work brings reflection to audiences about the roles of authorship, translation, and cultural interactions in larger public situations that move beyond merely literary concerns. His satiric poetry in works such as I Once Met and Lyric Poetry After Auschwitz: Eleven Submissions to the War address the difficult situations of daily life within a larger context of geopolitics. His sense of creative mission is to bring attention to the difficult situations we face in North America as participants in social visions of ongoing cultural construction.
Johnson’s association with the apocryphal publication of poems and letters attributed to Hiroshima bomb survivor Araki Yasusada have in large part complicated the reception of his work. By creating trans-literary situations in his writing that include social and political perspectives on war, Johnson has managed to question the values and uses of poetics in an era where such reflective practices are often discouraged by more literary-minded critics. Because his satiric energy is so vocal and active, he has acquired a reputation of genius and notoriety. He is capable of producing unease in certain audiences, even as a growing camp of international readers praises his work. Controversy breeds contempt as well as accolades.
Of all the arts, poetry brings with it many demands. It is never enough to concentrate solely on one’s own work. Poets who follow the model of Ezra Pound devote attention to the work of others by writing book reviews, digging through the archives to discover forgotten authors, or by translating work into English from other languages. Johnson has worked tirelessly to discover the great traditions of Latin American poetry, and his critical writing has helped locate the perspectives of other cultures that produce critical reflection upon our own institutions at home.
Johnson grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay, and worked in 1980 and 1983 as a literacy teacher in Nicaragua during the Sandinista Revolution, an experience that led to his translation of many poems from the working class Talleres de Poesia there, later collected in the volume A Nation of Poets. He is author, editor, or translator of more than twenty books and chapbooks, including three collections recently published in translation abroad. His most recent books of translation (in collaboration with Forrest Gander) are of the Bolivian poet Jaime Saenz: Immanent Visitor (California) and The Night (Princeton), both of which received awards from PEN. Shearsman Books in the UK will release this year Homage to the Last Avant-Garde, a large gathering of Johnson’s new and selected poems. It is with great honor that I present him to you tonight. Please welcome my dear friend Kent Johnson.
posted by Dale at 10:32 AM
3 Comments:
The ghosts of Hiroshima knocked Kent to the floor...
No I didn't see any Hiroshima ghosts. I did notice a couple of self-righteous sprites, however, lost between junctions in cyberspace. They were pale--I would even say white--and appeared horrified by the visage of the flesh-and-blood Kent Johnson. In their departure through the undergraduate corridor and into the night vapors of spring some could hear whispered runes of indignation. It was instead, I believe, the drunken spirit-plasma of Jaime Saenz who was responsible for the Kent's brief interiorization. It was with relief when all was said and done to hear him end with "The Night."
Hah.
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