On 27th November 1944, my grandfather Denys Godin sent a letter to his former schoolfriend, Richard Christopher Warlow-Harry, a Major in the British army and at that point prisoner of war number 12700 at Oflag IX / A-H, Germany.
Reading through Don Paterson's latest book of aphorisms ("The Fall at Home") I found this:
"A student brings me a Xerox of a page of 'Henderson the Rain King', with most of the words whited out to reveal what I assume was a poem. 'What's this?' I ask. 'It's an "erasure" poem', he replies. I tell him it's half-finished. The remark passes over him, silently and very high, like the Hubble telescope. I have a loathing of all art made *procedurally*, which makes me want to smash it for the mere sake of introducing into it some minimal human warmth."
Preceded by "I preferred not to think that no one had come, but rather that my reading was being held in total secrecy"... Hmm, any connection, I wonder?
Interesting that you don't mention "A Humument" in this context -- too obvious?
I don't know most of the erasure texts you cite, but I do have a copy of "Nets", which seems to me more a case of highlighting rather than erasure? Moreover, and I may be completely missing the point here, it seems to me that Jen Bervin has created nothing novel or of any great note in its own right from her source in the process, unlike Tom Phillips or, by the look of it, Ronald Johnson. It is an attractive little book as an object, though, and in its 11th printing of 1500 copies since 2004!
Thanks, Mike. Yes, I'm not convinced by the Bervin piece (although I have a copy): there's something sentimental about the text that seems an odds with the method of writing. I agree A Humument is a masterpiece: I wrote a piece about it in the LRB some time ago -- https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v34/n19/adam-smyth/double-act
That's a great piece, Adam, thanks! You've nailed the sheer inventive joy of Phillips' Falstaffian naughtiness ("Sex with a capital f", "a certain condition of asiatic elation"...). I had the good fortune to "first foot" the threshold of his original blog on New Years Day many years ago, and was rewarded with a print of that 50th birthday page you mention.
Reading through Don Paterson's latest book of aphorisms ("The Fall at Home") I found this:
"A student brings me a Xerox of a page of 'Henderson the Rain King', with most of the words whited out to reveal what I assume was a poem. 'What's this?' I ask. 'It's an "erasure" poem', he replies. I tell him it's half-finished. The remark passes over him, silently and very high, like the Hubble telescope. I have a loathing of all art made *procedurally*, which makes me want to smash it for the mere sake of introducing into it some minimal human warmth."
Preceded by "I preferred not to think that no one had come, but rather that my reading was being held in total secrecy"... Hmm, any connection, I wonder?
Mike
A most interesting article, which I enjoyed reading not least because Major RC Warlow-Harry-Harry is my grandfather...!
Interesting that you don't mention "A Humument" in this context -- too obvious?
I don't know most of the erasure texts you cite, but I do have a copy of "Nets", which seems to me more a case of highlighting rather than erasure? Moreover, and I may be completely missing the point here, it seems to me that Jen Bervin has created nothing novel or of any great note in its own right from her source in the process, unlike Tom Phillips or, by the look of it, Ronald Johnson. It is an attractive little book as an object, though, and in its 11th printing of 1500 copies since 2004!
Mike
Thanks, Mike. Yes, I'm not convinced by the Bervin piece (although I have a copy): there's something sentimental about the text that seems an odds with the method of writing. I agree A Humument is a masterpiece: I wrote a piece about it in the LRB some time ago -- https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v34/n19/adam-smyth/double-act
That's a great piece, Adam, thanks! You've nailed the sheer inventive joy of Phillips' Falstaffian naughtiness ("Sex with a capital f", "a certain condition of asiatic elation"...). I had the good fortune to "first foot" the threshold of his original blog on New Years Day many years ago, and was rewarded with a print of that 50th birthday page you mention.
Mike