The Astonishment Tapes

Talks on Poetry and Autobiography with Robin Blaser and Friends

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Poetry History & Criticism, Nonfiction, Entertainment, Drama, Anthologies
Cover of the book The Astonishment Tapes by Robin Blaser, University of Alabama Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Robin Blaser ISBN: 9780817388232
Publisher: University of Alabama Press Publication: October 31, 2015
Imprint: University Alabama Press Language: English
Author: Robin Blaser
ISBN: 9780817388232
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Publication: October 31, 2015
Imprint: University Alabama Press
Language: English

Robin Blaser moved from his native Idaho to attend the University of California, Berkeley, in 1944. While there, he developed as a poet, explored his homosexuality, engaged in a lively arts community, and met fellow travelers and poets Robert Duncan and Jack Spicer. The three men became the founding members of the Berkeley core of what is now known as the San Francisco Renaissance in New American Poetry.
 
In the company of a small group of friends and writers in 1974, Blaser was asked to narrate his personal story and to comment on the Berkeley poetry scene. In twenty autobiographical audiotapes, Blaser talks about his childhood in Idaho, his time in Berkeley, and his participation in the making of a new kind of poetry. The Astonishment Tapes is the expertly edited transcript of these recordings by Miriam Nichols, Blaser’s editor and biographer.
 
In The Astonishment Tapes Blaser comments extensively on the poetic principles that he, Duncan, and Spicer worked through, as well as the differences and dissonances between the three of them. Nichols has edited the transcripts only minimally, allowing readers to make their own interpretations of Blaser’s intentions.
 
Sometimes gossipy, sometimes profound, Blaser offers his version on the inside story of one of the most significant moments in mid-twentieth century American poetry. The Astonishment Tapes is of considerable value and interest, not only to readers of Blaser, Duncan, and Spicer, but also to scholars of the early postmodern and twentieth-century American poetry.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Robin Blaser moved from his native Idaho to attend the University of California, Berkeley, in 1944. While there, he developed as a poet, explored his homosexuality, engaged in a lively arts community, and met fellow travelers and poets Robert Duncan and Jack Spicer. The three men became the founding members of the Berkeley core of what is now known as the San Francisco Renaissance in New American Poetry.
 
In the company of a small group of friends and writers in 1974, Blaser was asked to narrate his personal story and to comment on the Berkeley poetry scene. In twenty autobiographical audiotapes, Blaser talks about his childhood in Idaho, his time in Berkeley, and his participation in the making of a new kind of poetry. The Astonishment Tapes is the expertly edited transcript of these recordings by Miriam Nichols, Blaser’s editor and biographer.
 
In The Astonishment Tapes Blaser comments extensively on the poetic principles that he, Duncan, and Spicer worked through, as well as the differences and dissonances between the three of them. Nichols has edited the transcripts only minimally, allowing readers to make their own interpretations of Blaser’s intentions.
 
Sometimes gossipy, sometimes profound, Blaser offers his version on the inside story of one of the most significant moments in mid-twentieth century American poetry. The Astonishment Tapes is of considerable value and interest, not only to readers of Blaser, Duncan, and Spicer, but also to scholars of the early postmodern and twentieth-century American poetry.

More books from University of Alabama Press

Cover of the book Harlots, Hussies, and Poor Unfortunate Women by Robin Blaser
Cover of the book Fabricating the People by Robin Blaser
Cover of the book In the Name of Necessity by Robin Blaser
Cover of the book Barbecue by Robin Blaser
Cover of the book Aesthetics from Classical Greece to the Present by Robin Blaser
Cover of the book Expectation by Robin Blaser
Cover of the book Filibusters and Expansionists by Robin Blaser
Cover of the book Uneasy in Babylon by Robin Blaser
Cover of the book Confederate Arkansas by Robin Blaser
Cover of the book Aymara Indian Perspectives on Development in the Andes by Robin Blaser
Cover of the book Impact Zone by Robin Blaser
Cover of the book The Seven Autopsies of Nora Hanneman by Robin Blaser
Cover of the book Ad Hominem Arguments by Robin Blaser
Cover of the book Unitarianism in the Antebellum South by Robin Blaser
Cover of the book Almost Family by Robin Blaser
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy