Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 449

Happy Birthday Philip Glass!  Philip Glass, Allen’s dear friend and collaborator turns 83 today.

See previous Philip Glass birthday postings  here, here, here, and  here

and. don’t miss our special two-part posting  here and here

Allen is interviewed alongside Philip Glass for WFMT Chicago by Studs Terkel in 1990 here and here

Roberto Pacifico’s review in Quaderni d’altri tempi of Luca Fontana’s recently-published edition of  Poesie 1947-1995, (his newly-translated Italian version of Allen’s 1996 Selected Poems) –“Trasfigurazioni Cangianti” (Iridescent Transfiguration) – is a sympathetic and valuable overview of the poets work.

Quoting the editor, Leopoldo Carra, at the outset, Pacifico notes, “the unique and exclusive character of this Ginsbergian anthology” (il carattere unico ed esclusivo di questa antologia ginsberghiana) – “It is highly probable that this anthology remains the only book in Italian to document…his tireless research on the word, on the elasticity of the verse, the melodiousness of poetry” (È assai probabile che questa antologia resti a tutt’oggi l’unico libro in italiano a documentare…l’instancabile ricerca sulla parola, sull’elasticità del verso, sulla cantabilità della poesia)…”In this new anthology the thematic and tonal variety of Ginsberg’s poetry is fully deployed, with its (open) political, devotional, sexual, familiar references, in a continuous (and at first stunning)  roller-coaster  between autobiographical confession, protest, commentary, controversy, anger” (In questa nuova antologia si trova interamente dispiegata la varietà tematica e tonal della poesia ginsberghiana, con i suoi (aperti) riferimenti politici, devozionali, sensuali, familiari, in un continuo (e di primo acchito stordente) ottovolante tra confessione autobiografica, protesta, cronaca, polemica, rabbia), “from  the realistic poetry where Ginsberg adopts the megaphone of the contemporary bard to influence the American conscience towards a democratic and humanitarian awakening, up to the rediscovery of oriental thought through the meditative themes of Dharma with the transformation of passion into humor…(dalla poesia realistica dove Ginsberg adotta il megafono del bardo contemporaneo per influenzare la coscienza americana verso un risveglio democratico e umanitario, fino alla riscoperta del pensiero orientale attraverso i temi meditativi del Dharma, con la trasformazione della passione in umorismo..)

Pacifico notes  “the extreme stylistic and formal variety/versatility of Ginsberg, which is expressed both in the incandescent flows of the long and almost narrative verses of “Howl” and “Kaddish”, as in the often short poems such as haiku and in the dancing rhyme-kissed  verses, perfectly rendered by the translator” (l’estrema varietà/versatilità stilistica e formale di Ginsberg, che si esprime tanto nelle colate incandescenti dei versi lunghi e quasi narrativi di Urlo e Kaddish, quanto nelle poesie spesso brevi come haiku, e nelle danzanti strofe a rima baciata, perfettamente rese dal traduttore)…”Ginsberg’s resilience (stylistic and metric)…is an aspect well-highlighted..by Luca Fontana’s translation which faithfully follows both the accumulation of verbopassional rain in the great torrent of Ginsberg’s poems, and the dancing tour of rhyme-kissed ballads and blues” (La resilienza (stilistica e metrica) della poesia di Ginsberg…è un aspetto ben evidenziato…dalla traduzione di Luca Fontana che segue fedelmente sia l’accumulo di precipitazioni verbopassionali nel gran torrente dei poemi ginsberghiani, sia il giro danzante di rime baciate delle ballate e dei blues)

For the full review – see here 

Thanks to our friend David S Wills for alerting us to this. Last week in Cambodia (Siem Reap)

“Hipsters and gunslingers, poets and scribes” gathered together at the OneEleven Gallery. (Charles) Bukowski may still have a vigorous readership there but Allen has the historical placement. The reference is of course to his 1963 visit and the poem that came out of it, some four years later,“Ankor Wat” (sic)

From more on that poem (including audio of Allen reading from it) – see here