tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12886974091621341812024-03-13T11:54:05.606-07:00Evolution's EverywhereWhy this blog?
We live in an era of endless transition. Only the insights of creative people might help us understand and adapt. This blog is devoted to interviews with artists, musicians,writers, teachers and business people. Philip Murray-Lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04864553192869441397noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288697409162134181.post-43054308150798617132018-05-25T06:56:00.000-07:002018-05-27T09:18:45.955-07:00"JERRY NOLAN'S WILD RIDE" Interview with Curt Weiss<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGVD-rTTDGU/Wwftx9YZ1wI/AAAAAAAAAHg/JlErulGcot8Sw_PjxOtUzWfms6RgawaAQCLcBGAs/s1600/Curt%2BWeiss_Photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="751" data-original-width="751" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGVD-rTTDGU/Wwftx9YZ1wI/AAAAAAAAAHg/JlErulGcot8Sw_PjxOtUzWfms6RgawaAQCLcBGAs/s200/Curt%2BWeiss_Photo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Curt
Weiss has spent over thirty-five years working in the media industry.</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As “Lewis King” he was one of New York’s
premier drummers in the 1980’s playing with major-label artists such as the
Rockats and Beat Rodeo. </span></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He is currently
a television producer and writer. </span></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He
lives near<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a> Seattle, Washington.</span></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB"></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB"><b><i><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">"<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Stranded-Jungle-Jerry-Nolans-Fashion/dp/1495050815/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1527249943&sr=1-1&keywords=jerry+nolan">Stranded In The Jungle – Jerry Nolan’s Wild Ride – ATale of Drugs, Fashion, the New York Dolls and Punk Rock</a>",</span></span></i><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;">Curt’s biography of Jerry Nolan, the drummer of the legendary New
York Dolls, is published by</span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"> <a href="https://www.halleonardbooks.com/search/search.action?menuid=10283&subsiteid=168">Backbeat Books</a></span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: large;">.</span></span></b></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB">How did you get
into music?<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB">I saw the Beatles
on the Ed Sullivan show when I was 4 years old, and that pretty much changed my
life. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next year, after seeing HELP,
I decided I wanted to play the drums. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
lucky enough to grow up with all the great radio of the 60s, and I was also very
fortunate that my parents and schools encouraged my musical education. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> So you had formal musical training?</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had some formal training
but most of my education came from playing along to records. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rudiments and jazz training had their
benefits, but they didn’t really teach me how to play rock and roll. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That came from records. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went to the Berklee School of Music in
Boston for all of a semester and 3 weeks. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really hated it there. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seeing Elvis Costello and the Attractions on
my 18<sup>th</sup> birthday convinced me to drop out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stayed in Boston through the summer of ’78
and was lucky enough to work in a restaurant that was next door to a sleazy
club called the Rat, which was Boston’s CBGB. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw New
York based bands there like the Dictators, Helen Wheels, and the Cramps. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also saw the Nuns from San Francisco, and
great local bands like La Peste, DMZ and the Atlantics. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a nicer club called the Paradise
where I saw the original Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, Mink DeVille, the
Dead Boys, Robert Gordon with Link Wray, and Lou Reed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a great time.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When did first see Jerry
Nolan play?</span></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 1em; padding: 6px; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4DkPdfUYLuk/WwfvEAoiyKI/AAAAAAAAAH0/g5DG4ho_qdQ4pctWXhEOgM7B1wi5c6WcwCLcBGAs/s1600/Jerry%2BNolan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="353" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4DkPdfUYLuk/WwfvEAoiyKI/AAAAAAAAAH0/g5DG4ho_qdQ4pctWXhEOgM7B1wi5c6WcwCLcBGAs/s200/Jerry%2BNolan.jpg" width="140" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Jerry Nolan</b></span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides seeing him on TV
with the Dolls, it was probably at one of the Sid Vicious shows. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I moved back to NYC in September ’78, and those
shows were that month at Max's Kansas City. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But by ’80 I had met people at the Soho Weekly
News who introduced me to the Rockats and the rockabilly scene. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I started to go to their shows, which is how I
first got drawn to Jerry who, at the time, was their drummer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was fantastic. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why did you decide to write his
biography?</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From seeing him perform,
meeting people around him, and knowing his history, I felt his was a
fascinating, untold story. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was in two
of the most influential and infamous bands of the period: The New York Dolls
and The Heartbreakers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’d played with
Johnny Thunders, Richard Hell, Sid Vicious, Jayne (Wayne) County, Bette Midler,
Billy Squier and Suzi Quatro. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’d been
on the Anarchy Tour and was either at or playing CBGBs early on. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was at the center of the punk craze as it
exploded in England. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He knew people in
the Ramones, Blondie, the Sex Pistols and the Clash. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His punk rock credentials were as authentic as
anyone’s. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he also didn’t have the
success or longevity that some of the others I mentioned did, and that added an
element of pathos to his story. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there
was nothing like seeing him play live. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
thought his story should be told.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> How long did <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stranded</i>
take to write?</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About 10 years, mostly due
to not being in a hurry and not knowing anything about the business of books. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I started in 2006, spent a few years searching
for people, and archival materials. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d
take time off to live my life, and then come back to it. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB">How did you
proceed?</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each person I’d interview
would often connect me to other people or give me encouragement to keep
going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Were most people willing to speak about Jerry?</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> A number of people didn’t want to talk, presumably because they
were tired of talking about Punk Rock for 30 plus years or didn’t want to be
associated with Jerry. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus there were people
who, after realizing I wasn’t going to write the book they wanted written,
pulled out. Some people seem to have a lot invested in perpetuating myths.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Meaning…?</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are people who like to
think of themselves as the sole experts on Punk Rock or the Dolls, or Thunders
or Jerry. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They think that if they knew
Jerry or Johnny for some period of time that they have the inside track on what
made them tick. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s their own little
cottage industry as well as something their whole self-worth is wrapped up in. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Jerry was an addict, and as wonderful,
talented and charming as he could be, as an addict he had one priority: meeting
the needs of his addiction. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To do that,
he would say or do just about anything. So he used just about everyone at one
time or another. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That includes his
mother, and all the women that loved him. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People often don’t want to admit that to
themselves. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the Jerry people think
they knew is often not the real or complete Jerry. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That idea is very threatening to those people.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I was writing a biography, not a
hagiography. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I also never promised
to write the book that someone else wanted. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s why my name’s on it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If someone else wants to tell the story
differently, I say, “Have at it.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
people say, “That can’t be true! That wasn’t the Jerry I knew!” my response is
“Thank you.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isn’t the point of a
biography to reveal things to the reader they didn’t know beforehand? </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> So who opted out?</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols didn’t want to be interviewed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Richard Hell sent one short e-mail which ended
with something like “don’t contact me about this anymore.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mick Jones of the Clash seemed to have a bout
of amnesia when I asked him some questions. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lydon">John Lydon</a> ended up threatening me with
“litigation.”</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Why am I not surprised?</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> As I spoke to him “between” his two books, I like to think that I
may have had something to do with changing his story about Jerry in his 2<sup>nd</sup>
book. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> You did manage to pin down Sex Pistol Glen Matlock…</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Yes, but Paul Cook and Paul Simenon where just unreachable. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debbie_Harry">Debbie Harry</a>, <a href="https://www.willydevillemusic.com/">Willy DeVille</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bette_Midler">Bette Midler</a>
wouldn’t agree to be interviewed, although I did run into Debbie at a memorial
and she was actually very sweet and friendly. Sylvain ended up coming through
after 5 or 6 years of trying, and he was great. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Johansen">David Johansen</a> too, although only for a few
questions via e-mail. Still, his contributions were priceless.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was wondering whether you
spoke to Terry Chimes (drummer on the first Clash album) who often sat in for
Jerry when he was ‘indisposed”?</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was another one I reached out to who never
responded. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I was actually more
interested in finding Rob Harper, the drummer for the Clash on the Anarchy
Tour. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drummers are used to sitting,
watching, and observing, particularly other drummers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No luck. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For all that, it’s a very
complete, detailed biography.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was it
difficult to organise all that material?</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had first approached it as
an oral history: a series of quotes strung together to tell a story. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://pleasekillme.com/please-kill-uncensored-oral-history-punk-book/">PLEASE KILL ME</a> is done in that style. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studs_Terkel">Studs Terkel</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Stein">Jean Stein</a> & <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Plimpton">George Plimpton</a>
also famously wrote oral histories. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So,
when I switched over to a narrative, it was all laid out from beginning to end.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a great guide. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first chapters are very
evocative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You really capture the
atmosphere of New York in the early 60's ‒ the gangs, a 13 year old Jerry being
tutored by jazz great Gene Krupa...</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s all background. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How Jerry became Jerry.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:
</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
intrigued by the pages about your romantic interest in Jerry’s girlfriend,
Lesley Vinson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given Jerry’s street gang
background and that he wasn’t exactly easy going, weren't you taking a risk?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> People told me he was incredibly jealous. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book has stories of his girlfriends
Michelle and Esther which illustrate it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I never really flirted with Lesley or made
a move on her. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was about 6 or 7
years older than me, and after her relationship with Jerry ended, she always
seemed to be dating someone from the Soho News. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, by the end of her relationship with
Jerry, things had deteriorated so much he often wasn’t there. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would disappear for long periods of time
chasing drugs or money. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, I was
disappointed when he was out of the band and her life. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted a chance to see him some more. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> How did you go about getting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stranded</i>
published?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t until 2013 that I
went to a writer’s conference and pitched to agents, and realized that I had to
write something called a proposal. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
spent the next 6-12 months working on that, and when I had a version I was
happy with, I sent it off to several of the agents who showed interest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB">How did it
end up with Backbeat?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One agent was a fan of the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Replacements_(band)">Replacements</a> who in turn were big fans of Johnny Thunders. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He ended up representing me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He finally got me the deal with Backbeat in
2015, and I handed in my first manuscript in September of 2016. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the next 6 months or so I worked with a
number of editors and the book was released about year afterwards.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jerry’s was a sad life…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wasn’t it harrowing spending so much time
with him? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Between, the Dolls, the
Heartbreakers, Sid, Johnny, and his own death, I knew Jerry’s story was a
tragedy before I started working on the book. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew what I was getting into, so it wasn’t a
surprise. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was more concerned about
getting at the truth and getting it right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-13ttWKezFmg/WwfxnonZNUI/AAAAAAAAAIE/43VJsCQjXT4FfMSkMqRttZncZnAOsThRACEwYBhgL/s1600/Rockats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="960" height="216" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-13ttWKezFmg/WwfxnonZNUI/AAAAAAAAAIE/43VJsCQjXT4FfMSkMqRttZncZnAOsThRACEwYBhgL/s320/Rockats.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Rockats:</b> Jerry (left)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is there anything to be
learned from his life?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> The most obvious is: Don’t use heroin. If you’re an addict get
help. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Jerry had other emotional
issues which probably made him more prone to addiction, in particular never knowing
his real father, and being abandoned by the next two father figures he had. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He probably should have had counselling when
he was a kid. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jerry also didn’t like to
admit he was wrong and found it very difficult to apologize for anything, which
in turn made many of his relationships difficult. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also had difficulty admitting when he
didn’t know something, like how to tune drums well, particularly in the studio.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This affected his recordings. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the lesson is, learn to admit when you’re
wrong or don’t know something. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t
learn if you can’t admit you don’t know everything. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> That said, even without drugs, it’s difficult to imagine The New
York Dolls or The Heartbreakers hitting the top of the charts…</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> He would have been more successful if he hadn’t become an addict. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a part of the book where I note all of
the bands that knew Jerry and loved the Dolls, needed drummers and how none of
them called him. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If he hadn’t been known
as a junkie, they probably would have. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> How did Jerry influence your own music?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1980 & 81, he was
probably who I emulated more than anyone except Ringo. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to look like him, move like him, and
swing like him. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was so impressive on
stage. He also taught me that a drummer should drive the band and keep the band
centered. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re the train and the
track. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone else needs to climb on.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> You took over from him when he left the Rockats…</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After he left the band they
tried another drummer who didn’t work out, and in March of ’81 I joined them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stayed with them through August of ’82.</span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zWYc9vX3oU4/Wwfxk3SwOOI/AAAAAAAAAII/-xLaE0Gh84sFc64j6PMTh88-tkQ443JXwCEwYBhgL/s1600/Rockats%2BLive%2Bat%2Bthe%2BRitz%2BMick%2BRock%2B81.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1032" data-original-width="1600" height="206" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zWYc9vX3oU4/Wwfxk3SwOOI/AAAAAAAAAII/-xLaE0Gh84sFc64j6PMTh88-tkQ443JXwCEwYBhgL/s320/Rockats%2BLive%2Bat%2Bthe%2BRitz%2BMick%2BRock%2B81.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Rockats:</b> Curt (left)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who else were you playing
with?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through the 80’s I played
with former Rockat Tim Scott McConnel, the Vipers, Beat Rodeo, Elliott Murphy,
Carmaig de Forest, and George Usher’s House of Usher. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also played with members of the B-52s, the
Violent Femmes, & the Modern Lovers.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which other drummers do you
enjoy listening to?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> The Beatles and Ringo were always number one. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I also loved Ian Paice from Deep Purple
and John Bonham from Led Zeppelin. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sorry
if that breaks the hearts of punk rock purists, but credit should go where
credit is due. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pete Thomas from Elvis
Costello’s Attractions was also phenomenal. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His playing on This Year’s Model is really as
good as it gets. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw him on TV with
Jake Bugg 2 or 3 years ago and he’s still fantastic. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my late teens and early twenties, I started
to go backwards as far as the roots of my musical influences and discovered
Panama Francis and Earl Palmer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Francis
was a top New York R&B studio drummer who played on many early Atlantic hits
with Big Joe Turner, Ray Charles and Lavern Baker, after playing with people
like Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s
on “Jim Dandy,” “Splish Splash,” “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,” “Calendar Girl,”
“The Wanderer,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and “Prisoner of Love.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The guy had exemplary swing, and could just do
the simplest of things to lift a chorus or add drama to a song. </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And Earl Palmer played on the Little Richard
and Fats Domino hits out of New Orleans as well as some Eddie Cochran stuff
like “Somethin’ Else” which has those explosive cymbal crashes. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Plus tons of Phil Spector hits. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Francis and Palmer both had jazz roots and
applied them to R&B to really create the foundations of rock and roll
drumming. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">They’re the bedrock. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And it just happens to be the stuff that Jerry
grew up on too.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will you be writing another
biography some time?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> I’m working on a book about a father who is nearing the end of his
life and may not be deserving of compassion and love, and the struggles his
children go through in offering it. It has nothing to do with music, but man
does not live by bread alone.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks very much for this,
Curt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One last question:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you do in television?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">CW:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Make a living. </span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB">I can make you a mean
spreadsheet and pivot table.</span></span></div>
<br />Philip Murray-Lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04864553192869441397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288697409162134181.post-27426451952719426732016-08-30T09:02:00.001-07:002016-08-30T23:29:35.336-07:00Winged Victory : Interview with Erin Byrne<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US"><i><a href="http://www.e-byrne.com/">Erin Byrne</a> is author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wings-Gifts-Life-Travel-France/dp/1609521137/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472624494&sr=1-1&keywords=Erin+Byrne+wings">Wings</a> -
Gifts of Art, Life, and Travel in France (Travelers’ Tales, 2016), winner
of the Paris Book Festival Award for travel genre, editor of Vignettes
& Postcards From Paris and Vignettes & Postcards From
Morocco (Reputation Books, 2016), and writer of The
Storykeeper film. </i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oYn4pgu0Mgc/V8WphRzwfvI/AAAAAAAAAGY/LH7aZ2UPT9sQfkimIm3zI6RbanbkOqLCgCLcB/s1600/Erin%2BByrne%2Bbio%2Bphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oYn4pgu0Mgc/V8WphRzwfvI/AAAAAAAAAGY/LH7aZ2UPT9sQfkimIm3zI6RbanbkOqLCgCLcB/s200/Erin%2BByrne%2Bbio%2Bphoto.jpg" width="200" /></a></i></div>
<i>Erin’s travel essays, poetry,
fiction and screenplays have won numerous awards including three Grand Prize
Solas Awards for Travel Story of the Year, the Reader’s Favorite Award,
Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Finalist, and an Accolade Award for film.</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>Erin is occasional guest instructor
at Shakespeare and Company Bookstore in Paris and teaches on Deep Travel
trips. Her screenplay, Siesta, is in pre-production in Spain,
and she is working on the novel, The Red Notebook.</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
How did you come to writing?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
I wrote my first story at four years old, it was about the circus and I posted
it on my bedroom door. I wrote a story
at age six about how my first trip to the beach compared with my favorite
book, <a href="http://e-byrne.com/why.html">I See the Sea</a> </span><span lang="EN-US">and that was when travel writing
became my genre. I spent hours, weeks,
decades, centuries at the desk in my bedroom writing and drawing, quite near,
in fact, to a painting of a little red-haired girl raising her arms in joy on a
cobblestoned street under spiral balconies, which my mom had painted right on
the wall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
This was a painting your mother did of you?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b> Yes, in a perfectly Parisian
set—bit prophetic perhaps. But then I
veered away from my creative<span style="color: #990033;"> </span>self over the
years; it was so easy to be less quirky and more mainstream. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b> Was this veering away
conscious? Willed even?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b> Yes, as I write about in my
“<i>Winged Victory</i>” essay, I remember making the conscious choice at five years
old to cast off my curious, inquisitive, relentlessly intense nature and become
Well-Behaved. It was decades later when I first went to France in 2005 that
this artistic self was piqued, drawn out, and nourished. I began writing, in 2007 and was published
right at the start, which was incredibly lucky.
The ghosts of Victor Hugo, George Sand, Simone de Beauvoir, and others
turned up to guide me through, and I acquired what I call a “kick-ass group of
mentors”, mostly in the Bay Area. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
What was it about France that inspired you?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
The instantaneous sense that I fit into this place, an audible “click”:
the pace matched my pulse, the wildly dramatic swings of its history mesmerized
me, the outside-the-box creative vibe resonated. In France I discovered a way of communicating
that I myself had engaged in but rarely had reciprocated, a focus on savoring
the simple pleasures of life, and an elevation of beauty and all forms of
art. These things that exist so freely
in French culture were all inside of me but missing in my outer life, and I was
inspired to change in a myriad of ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
Do you have a writing philosophy?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
My writing and travel philosophy is based on this quote by Joseph
Campbell:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i>The passage of the mythological hero
is overground incidentally.
Fundamentally it is inward, into the depths, where obscure resistances
are overcome and long lost powers revivified.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I believe that if we dig deep enough
we reach the universal emotion. I use
and teach a creative process based on this premise. The minute we begin to seek
meaning, resistances crop up, but if we persist, the results are powerful
indeed. I believe every writer who has
written anything that has touched me has done this. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
So you’re philosophically opposed to the literature of escapism?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
We lose ourselves to find ourselves, no?
I can be reading the most fantastical stories that seem removed from
your my life, but if I begin to ask myself why I’m so captivated , what any of
this has to do with me, connections light up like a power grid. I’ve discovered this in both reading and
writing ... in film ... in all forms of art, actually. In my writing I call it The Mystique of Art. This process works with fiction, nonfiction,
film, playwriting ... whatever genre we create in. If a writer persists, I have
never seen it fail to both elicit surprise and spark a story that touches
others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
How did the writing of ”<i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wings-Gifts-Life-Travel-France/dp/1609521137/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472624494&sr=1-1&keywords=Erin+Byrne+wings">Wings</a></i>” come about?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
As soon as I began writing these more in-depth travel essays, I had
found my niche and envisioned this collection.
I remember confiding in Anna Pook years ago sitting by the window in
Café Panis, and quite early on I pitched it to my agent. <a href="http://travelerstales.com/">Travelers’ Tales</a> was
the perfect publisher to keep the focus on travel but to also make it a bit of
a memoir. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
What is the book’s main theme?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
The book is about how I was changed by traveling through France with the
ghosts of artists and historical figures—and writers and filmmakers and
friends—who shared with me their guides to living. Essentially, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wings-Gifts-Life-Travel-France/dp/1609521137/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472624494&sr=1-1&keywords=Erin+Byrne+wings">Wings</a> follows the trajectory of
a bumbling traveler guided by the likes of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Vincent van
Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Winged Victory, and other magical guides. I was drawn to France and then sort of fell
into its history and have never really emerged—I find this happens whenever I
travel often to a place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
It’s, in fact, a collection of autobiographical essays?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
My sometimes genre-bending travel essays! 15 of them have already been published, 15 of
which are new, arranged in a deep-deeper-deepest arc in chapters of three
stories each around themes: Tastes, Characters, Connections, Art,
Transformation, Secrets, Signs, and Belonging.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
Children and adolescents play a prominent role in some of the chapters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
Yes. One chapter, <i>Les Deux Garçons</i>, is about my son Brendan and his
friend Corbin. There’s another based on
<a href="http://www.thestorykeeperthefilm.com/">The Storykeeper</a>, the award-winning
documentary that Rogier Van Beeck Calkoen and I made about a young boy in
occupied Paris who witnessed a USAF B-17 crash in his neighborhood. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
What I like about “<i>Wings</i>” is that we witness your view of France evolving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
My image of France was at first blindingly glittering, but my own air of
sophistication misted over the more I went there, and finally evaporated
altogether. During the editing of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wings-Gifts-Life-Travel-France/dp/1609521137/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472624494&sr=1-1&keywords=Erin+Byrne+wings">Wings</a></i>,
I chose not to make myself seem smarter or savvier, although it was
tempting. I tried to keep the essence of
what we often do when we travel: arrive with preconceived notions, cling to our
assumptions, pine for our prior expectations, and take pride in our vast knowledge. I found that if I was open enough, these all
got upended and that was when the discoveries began. We feel such an affinity with a place that we
over-identify (“<i>Bastille Day on the Palouse</i>”), we get it wrong and we fall
(“<i>Signs</i>”), we fumble with the language and learn that une croissant is really
un croissant (“<a href="http://blog.e-byrne.com/2016/03/24/f-is-for/">f is for..</a>.”</span><span lang="EN-US">), and thus we are humbled (<i>“The
Mirror of Montmartre</i>”). The view is
different from this vantage point. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
There are a lot of lovely illustrations.
Who did them?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
The artist <a href="http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/anna-elkins.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=608324">Anna Elkins</a>. She
contributed over 100 gorgeous sketches which illustrate the stories
perfectly. The pictures include many addresses
that make <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wings-Gifts-Life-Travel-France/dp/1609521137/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472624494&sr=1-1&keywords=Erin+Byrne+wings">Wings</a> a guidebook of sorts. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML</b>:
You’ve also made films of some of the stories?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b> Rogier and I filmed a book
trailer and made short films for two of the stories, which you can find <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-0zaWLxWNJZYItzQIm6VZQ">here</a> on
YouTube. Rogier has also made <i>The
Storykeeper</i> available for a limited time to view. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
Tell us a little about your writing workshops. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
I’m “anti-workshop”, so with me,
writers do not weigh in creatively on each other’s work. Instead we wrestle with our own stories, which
go from unmanageable beasts to concise stories with a clear structure and
theme. It’s a grind but it is the only
way to get to the heart of what you are trying to write.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML</b>:
Why no group feedback?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
The objective is to learn to do this for ourselves, to develop our
intuition into a kind of divining rod for our own truths. “Why do you want to
write this story?” “What was the most powerful emotion here?” ... and perhaps
most crucial, “What is the connection between this story and you?” This is where that resistance Campbell
mentions in his quote about the inner journey comes up; we think we randomly
choose our topics but I’ve found that is rarely the case. We polish and burnish our prose, and then we always
have a party when we share our stories. So we also develop the skill of reading
our own work as a reader would, which requires stepping back from it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
You obviously enjoy teaching these workshops. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
I adore teaching the writers at Shakespeare and Company because they’re
used to this process, and they are up for anything. I can toss out a concept like the Spanish
duende or the idea of using fictional techniques in nonfiction stories, or ask them
to grab a book and write the first thing that comes into your head, and
everyone leaps into, shall we say, the void??
I’m so inspired by everyone every time I’m here. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
You’ve also begun hosting Literary Salons?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
As well as a riveting presentation by you on Menippean Satire that led
to a rousing analysis of humor, I’ve hosted salons over the past five years in
Paris featuring an expert in medieval storytelling, filmmaker Gonzague Pichelin
speaking of his Love Letters Project art installation and film, Jane Weston and
David Vauclair, authors of De Charlie Hebdo à#Charlie: Enjeux, histoire,
perspectives, Moroccan storytelling, and the varied and gifted artist Anna
Elkins. These evenings follow the
patterns of literary salons established in Renaissance Italy and continued in
17th-century France, a short presentation of around 20 minutes followed by
discussion that swerves all over the map.
It is a wildly fun and vibrant tradition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML</b>:
What other projects have you been working on?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b>
The beloved original anthology of stories written by writers here that
Anna Pook and I put together, <i>Vignettes & Postcards - Writings From the Evening
Writing Workshop at Shakespeare and Company </i>Bookstore, Fall, 2011 will be republished
by Reputation Books and comes out in August.
The new edition, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Vignettes-Postcards-Paris-Byrne-Erin/dp/0985267208/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472624642&sr=1-2">Vignettes & Postcards From Paris</a></i>, has 21 new stories and poems by Don George,
Georgia Hesse, Billy Collins and others that bring the reader to Paris before
ascending to the upstairs library for the original stories. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
There’s a Moroccan version too?</span></div>
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<b>EB:</b> <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Vignettes-Postcards-Morocco-Erin-Byrne/dp/1944387064/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472624642&sr=1-3">Vignettes & Postcards From Morocco</a></i> is coming out at the same time, a collection of stories and poems that
seek the ancient and celebrate the exotic in Morocco by Suzanna Clarke, Phil
Cousineau, Michael Chabon and many other fabulous writers (including Ann Dufaux
and Claire Fallou, two of the original Paris writers). We will launch these in the Bay Area in
August and in Fez and Paris in March. <i>Vignettes & Postcards</i> is now a series
of destination specific anthologies ... next will be either Spain or Ireland!<br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
And you’re writing a screenplay?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>EB:</b> I’m editing my screenplay <i>Siesta
</i>now. It’s a short (or perhaps a
full-length feature, we are in the midst of this decision) Rogier Van Beeck
Calkoen and I plan to film in Spain. It
is set in a small village in southern Spain that continues to keep the
tradition of the siesta, and is about one high-strung American man’s encounter with
that culture and the ensuing clashes and changes, and features flamenco, a
group of eccentric old men, and a close encounter with a bull. I love writing
for film and it is awesome to collaborate with Rogier. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b>
What’s your upcoming novel <i>The Red Notebook</i> about?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>EB:</b> It’s loosely based on Ginette
Rocher, a woman in the Parisian Résistance who hid Allies, who is part of <i>The
Storykeeper</i> story. The book is about the
hiding of American spies, and revolves around a plot that took place in the
Paris Ritz. I’m finding writing fiction
an incredible adventure. After the
grueling work of research and outlining 27 chapters, it seems to be about
putting oneself in a character’s skin and just writing down what happens, which
give it a thrill akin to reading.Philip Murray-Lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04864553192869441397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288697409162134181.post-58053286439209065482016-06-29T05:10:00.000-07:002016-06-29T05:14:56.613-07:00Thou ART Ruud (interview with Ruud Antonius)<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><a href="http://ruudantonius.weebly.com/">RuudAntonius </a>was born on the 3rd of December 1959 in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. He
lived there until the age of 13 and moved to England with his family in 1973,
continued his schooling and studied art. After that, in 1979, he left England
and moved to Bielefeld, Germany and 9 months later to Hameln a small town close
to Hanover. </i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For a period of 5 years he painted and played music here. In 1984
he returned to The Netherlands. In March 2006 he moved to England until
2011 and moved to Spain for 2 years, he now resides in the UK where he writes,
paints and produces music. <span lang="EN-GB"> </span></span></i><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">When did you realise that you wanted to be an
artist?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> I was 8 years old and I remember
it was a sunny day on a market in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands where my mother
had taken me to do some shopping. That
is where I saw a man behind an easel, working on a painting in oils. Now to be perfectly clear, I had never touched
oils before, but I’d been drawing obsessively since I could hold a pencil. After watching this man for quite a while </span><span lang="EN-GB">‒</span><span lang="EN-GB"> maybe as long as half an hour </span><span lang="EN-GB">‒</span><span lang="EN-GB"> my
prevailing thought at the time was that I found the work appalling.</span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">Even at that young age you<b> </b>possessed a critical eye.</span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> I did find the process
fascinating and intriguing. I made up my
mind that that was what I wanted to do. Certainly
not as badly as what I was witnessing, but I was definitely going to be an
artist. It seemed a good idea at the
time, and I am still struggling with the thought today.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">Why do you say that?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> I am not so sure what an artist
is. Okay, someone who paints, dances,
sings, writes, composes music. But there
is more to it than that. I don’t think
we can just say, ‘hey he paints, he’s an artist’. Or even, ‘he makes a living
selling his paintings’. It may be that
art is not just producing work of a certain standard. It may be that it is the way you stand in the
world, the way you live your life, all for the sake of making it possible to
create your works. There is a lot of
poverty before you start making money as an artist.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>PML: </b>How
do you define your art?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Why should my art be
defined? Let’s face it, the more we have
defined art the more the decline in quality of the arts has overwhelmed us.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1bW7pfnjvaw/V3O7JCe-YdI/AAAAAAAAAGE/bDps_4Wu6Z0mUaNREXGxdLFebBT-tyShQCLcB/s1600/La%2Bfemme%2Bsans%2Bhistoire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1bW7pfnjvaw/V3O7JCe-YdI/AAAAAAAAAGE/bDps_4Wu6Z0mUaNREXGxdLFebBT-tyShQCLcB/s320/La%2Bfemme%2Bsans%2Bhistoire.jpg" width="254" /></a></span></div>
<b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Give it a go anyway.</span><br />
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB">Listen,<b> </b>I have been an artist now for over
forty years and I've learned a few
lessons. We are soul searchers. We are boundary seekers concerned with giving
meaning to our existence rather than artisans trying to explain what our art is.
Artists are completely obsessed by the
drug that is the process of creating. It
is the creating that gives us energy. We
are gobsmacked and in awe of what our fingers produce. We listen in amazement to the magic of the
medium we use. Our thoughts are merely there to enjoy these little miracles as
they appear: the fact we can manipulate
light, dissect material, find hidden structures in what we take for granted. We create an apparition, a view... The creation, which has managed to crawl from
our mind and soul, is the true essence of our occupation. I don’t believe we can or should try to define
art. Not if you are an artist. </span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML:</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span></b><span lang="EN-GB">You are saying
that art is, in fact, decided by the public?</span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Yes. The initial question does not interest me anymore, but
naturally as a student and youngster I followed the trend of my teachers and peers.
Yet I do realise you are fishing for
that mutual language which takes years to understand. It is a broad language that does not contain
words or pictures. It is a language of
values, of artist ethics and aesthetics based on many years of exploring the
small wonders of creation. It is a
language for creators to help create. So
back to the question as to how I define my art, I don’t but you may. It is not in my job description, but if you
feel it happens to be in yours than you are more than welcome.</span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">Salvador Dali seems to be an influence?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> No, Surrealism has an
influence. Since Dali was a huge exponent of this movement does not mean to say
he influenced me. </span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB">Sorry to insist, Ruud, but surely Dali is </span><span lang="EN-GB">‒</span><span lang="EN-GB"> albeit
among the Surrealists </span><span lang="EN-GB">‒</span><span lang="EN-GB"> important for you?</span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Okay, I’ll give you that one. But the greatest influences on my work are
the old masters. I was 14 when I got my
first set of oil paints sent over from my grandmother in the Netherlands. I had moved to the UK two years earlier. I didn't have a clue about brushes, mediums,
canvasses and was very disappointed with my first attempts. So I went to the library and borrowed some
books on the old masters. It was John
Constable, the English landscape painter, who inspired me most. </span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">Interesting that it should have been
an English painter.</span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> England had adopted me and
I was adopting Mr. Constable. I even
visited the National Gallery in London to see ‘the Haywain’ in the flesh. And
here I must admit to a secret I have kept for many years. I waited until no one else was in the room and
actually felt the painting. I wanted to
feel the paint, the tension of the canvass, the structures of the glazes and
the highlights underneath. </span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB">What did you achieve by this?</span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Two major things in my life.
Firstly, it may sound weird, but touching the surface of a painting tells a lot
about how it has been painted. It certainly
was the best art lesson I've ever had. And
secondly, I am probably one of the very few in the world who have actually been
able to touch this work. How I got away
with it I do not know.</span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB">So you started
by copying the old masters?</span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> I copied many masters from
the age of about 14-15 years, and suddenly I found myself selling these pieces
to my teachers at school for a couple of pounds. This enabled me to afford my materials for the
next paintings. Other people caught on,
and in a short span of time, I got a few commissions. During my school days, Turner, Rembrandt,
Constable, Whistler and many others have stood on my easel. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CgVAF-FTVVo/V3O2q2jKmXI/AAAAAAAAAFo/BgeejcviuIAwuXodAU4m7i9vIQgw8LSeACLcB/s1600/salisbury%2Bcathedral%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CgVAF-FTVVo/V3O2q2jKmXI/AAAAAAAAAFo/BgeejcviuIAwuXodAU4m7i9vIQgw8LSeACLcB/s320/salisbury%2Bcathedral%2B1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">You could have
made a fortune as a forger.</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Not very long ago a long
lost friend contacted me on Facebook and reminded me her father had bought two
paintings of mine when I was 15 years old. She sent me a photograph of Salisbury
Cathedral, originally painted by John Constable. Although I could see my mistakes, I was
surprised that these attempts were not bad at all.</span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">W</span><span lang="EN-GB">hen did the surrealism
creep in?</span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> It was many years later, in
my early 20’s that my work showed any signs of leaning towards surrealism. I was very much a traditionalist, wanting to
learn the trade of painting, the techniques, before wandering off into alleys of
weird and wonderful ideas. My approach
to art as a young man did me a huge favour although I was not aware of it at
the time. </span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB">Perhaps, nowadays, the originality of the idea is more important than
technique?</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Most definitely, but the
problem is that an artist has a million ideas but 900.000 of them should be
trashed before they are executed. They
are simply not worth it. Then another
couple of 10’s of thousands might be amusing, but on closer inspection should
be recorded in a sketch book as a reference. </span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB">You <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>would dismiss most modern art? </span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> I am not particularly proud
of what our last decennia have brought us, the Jeffrey Koons, The Tracy
Emmet’s, The Damien Hirst’s, all exponents of a derogatory hallucinating and
fraudulent form of making a living from having absolutely no talent at all. The fact that galleries have always dictated
what sells and does not sell is part of our culture. But we can now safely say that, as long as it
is big and shiny and maybe interesting as a tiny idea, it will sell. It is the story of the artist, the words, the
racket rather than the joy of the conception of the work that now prevails. </span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">Where does this tendency come from</span><span lang="EN-GB">?</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Obviously the current trend
of indifference and the need for bite</span><span lang="EN-GB">-</span><span lang="EN-GB">sized glossy and appealing
results. Also, and I know I am treading
on thin ice and many will disagree with my point of view, but the first one who
did this was my fellow countryman Vincent Gogh. It wasn’t his fault. He was not aware of it. But he was one of the first artists whose
character became a story, a book, a romantic novel of a failed artist supported
by his brother. </span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">You can't deny he was ahead of his
time though? No one painted like him.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> That is a lame excuse. One
could argue, and I tend to very often, that, in the latter stages of his life, Rembrandt
was far ahead of his time with his technique. I’d put forward he was the first
impressionist. In fact, nobody paints
like anyone else. Vincent van Gogh<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span>did not show any
revolutionary aspect in his specific field of ‘expertise’ , nor does his work
have an amazing masterly quality we can relate to. It is the work of a maniac. His paintings were and are awful, technically
as well as intellectually. </span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">His paintings are alive with
movement and colour...<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">RA:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> There is that, but let’s
face it, there were many others in his time who did a better job. If anyone can convince me otherwise I'd like
to meet them. I truly believe that I might
be able to convince <i>them</i>. I know it is a bit of a rant but hey, the
injustice of this ‘industry’ is sometimes unbearable, and I feel someone has to
have the guts to say things as they are.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v6cAVtq8h7Q/V3O3NQApZjI/AAAAAAAAAF0/x_hv58jiVvwfAwPxtDT2mUOHCFo0eDm8QCLcB/s1600/the%2Bcouncils%2Bwish%2Bto%2Bimport%2Bart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v6cAVtq8h7Q/V3O3NQApZjI/AAAAAAAAAF0/x_hv58jiVvwfAwPxtDT2mUOHCFo0eDm8QCLcB/s400/the%2Bcouncils%2Bwish%2Bto%2Bimport%2Bart.jpg" width="302" /></a></div>
<b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> What is your </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">current project</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">?</span><br />
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><i><span lang="EN-US">R</span></i></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US">A:</span></i></b><i><span lang="EN-US"> </span></i><span lang="EN-US">I<i> </i>am
working on a painting with a huge Cauliflower.
The title is<i> ‘Je n'aime pas le
choufleur’ </i>a reference to Rene Margritte’s series the most famous one being
<i>"Ceci n'est pas une pipe."</i></span></span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML:</span></b><i><span lang="EN-US"> </span></i><span lang="EN-US">Is this a commission or do you just like
cauliflowers?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><b>RA: </b>I</span><span lang="EN-GB"> don’t do
commissions. I just make my own stuff. Cauliflowers are quite nice until they are overcooked.
They get this nasty odour, something
between rotten fruit and a urinal that hasn't been cleaned for a while. Not
palatable at all. In the UK they usually
then cover it in cheese sauce to seal in the smell, and then kill it some more
in the oven. So I avoid them in that
state like the plague. But seeing a cauliflower
in the sky, fresh, like a sun beaming caulirays into my landscape, seemed a
lovely idea and just made me feel very good. Of course there is more to it than that, but I
will leave that to the observers. I
mustn't make it out to be bigger than it is. It is just a cauliflower in the sky. </span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">And when you've finished that?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">RA: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I am going to
paint a painting without a huge cauliflower.</span></div>
Philip Murray-Lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04864553192869441397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288697409162134181.post-71323412765836374462016-05-08T10:04:00.001-07:002016-05-09T00:12:03.721-07:00"Rock 'n' Roll Rescue": Knox (Ian M. Carnochan)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.knox76.com/">Knox</a> (real
name Ian M. Carnochan)</span><span style="background: white; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">was
the frontman and main songwriter of <a href="http://www.thevibrators.com/">The Vibrators</a>, one of the very first U.K.
punk bands. His songs </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Baby Baby</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">London Girls</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> and </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Automatic
Lover</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> all went top forty. </span></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uddyVGIeEqs/Vy9nFfegHQI/AAAAAAAAAE4/uppSz4uwgIgPt--8_T6LCGxUNqwATHvXwCKgB/s1600/Knox%2Byounger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uddyVGIeEqs/Vy9nFfegHQI/AAAAAAAAAE4/uppSz4uwgIgPt--8_T6LCGxUNqwATHvXwCKgB/s200/Knox%2Byounger.jpg" width="131" /></i></a></span></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Along with The Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned,
The Vibrators played the pivotal 100 Club Punk Festival in 1976, and the
following year supported Iggy Pop (when David Bowie played keyboards). Among the musicians Knox has recorded with
are Chris Spedding, Alex Chilton, Robin Hitchcock and Hanoi Rocks.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Prior to
punk, Knox attended art school in Watford.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">His paintings are inspired by both classical and contemporary artists such
as Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton, and Andrew
Garnet-Lawson.</span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A prolific
songwriter, Knox continues to write for The Vibrators, but nowadays devotes
most of his time to running <a href="http://www.rocknrollrescuecamden.com/">Rock 'n' Roll Rescue</a>, a music charity shop.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>PML:</b> It might seem strange to some people
for a “punk rock” star to get involved in charity. How did the shift come about?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>KNOX:</b>
I think it’s probably a normal thing to happen when you get older. You don’t have all the distractions like youth
and a family to clutter up your vision. You
start seeing more of the ‘big picture’ and you realise also that maybe you
should try and do something about the things that are not OK in the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>PML:</b>
You don’t think that looking after the poor should be the responsibility
of the state? Or those with money?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>KNOX:</b> Well yes, but unfortunately it
doesn’t seem to work too well, profit before people, that sort of thing. So rather than try and change things through
legislation, though that is what should eventually happen, you think: I’ll just
get on and do what I can. Straightaway. Where I am.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>PML:</b> Listening to some of your songs, it
seems as if “Poll Tax Blues” is the first manifestation of a concern for the
vulnerable?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>KNOX:</b>
It might be. I had another song
called “Modern World” which had some concerns about people in it. Some of my friends used to say my songs weren’t
about anything, but now I can’t seem to write one that isn’t about something. I’m probably a late developer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>PML:</b>
Where did the idea for a charity shop come from?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>KNOX:</b> Because my nickname is Knox, and there is an
existing chain of charity shops called Oxfam, I used to make jokes about “KnOxfam.
Charity begins at home!” From there I
think I got the idea of a music charity shop. As I got more horrified at the state of the
world, especially vulnerable people not being properly supported, I felt I had
to go ahead and start <a href="https://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_1263404501"></span>Rock ’n’ Roll Rescue<span id="goog_1263404502"></span></a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>PML:</b>
Was it difficult to find premises?</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-csXRS3uOq80/Vy9tptBe6KI/AAAAAAAAAFI/5ik-zKel0u0N5TR62Jx0UQW2dyOMm6OjACLcB/s1600/rocknrollrescue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-csXRS3uOq80/Vy9tptBe6KI/AAAAAAAAAFI/5ik-zKel0u0N5TR62Jx0UQW2dyOMm6OjACLcB/s320/rocknrollrescue.jpg" width="228" /></span></a></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>KNOX: </b>
I had been looking for a few months but was always busy until a week
before I started the shop. One of my
friends, who I mentioned the idea to, said the premises right next door to the
Dublin Castle pub in Camden Town would be perfect. So there we are.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>PML:</b>
But isn’t it expensive to rent in Camden? Where did you find the initial capital?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>KNOX:</b> I was left a little bit of money in my aunt’s
will, and I thought she’d like the idea of it being used to start a charity
shop. It is expensive, but we struggle
on. I always think the shop, given the
right breaks, could make a million pounds a year. If it got supported by ‘pop stars’, it could
have quite a bit of political clout. But
I’ll leave that to people who know more about that sort of thing than me. I much prefer being invisible, and not the
face of the shop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>PML:</b> How is the shop organised?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>KNOX:</b>
I supposed it is organised, even though it always seems to be running
out of control. We’re a registered
charity (No: 1162829) and the money goes to the local food bank, and the Hare
Krishna van. It goes round feeding 1,000
meals a week in the local area (Para, the guy who cooks, has been getting up at
5.00 in the morning to do this for twenty years, I think). We bankroll that van and another to take
stuff out to the migrants in Calais, also we give money to the Mayhew animal
place, and a local women’s refuge, that sort of thing. Rather sadly there’s an endless list of people
and places to donate the money to.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>PML:</b> What are the main challenges in running the
shop?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z5IsBGQZK0w/Vy9jTwTh5UI/AAAAAAAAAEs/jn3iSHm4tOQukX11v3--Ui5gGbaphCaBgCKgB/s1600/knox%2Bolder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z5IsBGQZK0w/Vy9jTwTh5UI/AAAAAAAAAEs/jn3iSHm4tOQukX11v3--Ui5gGbaphCaBgCKgB/s200/knox%2Bolder.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>KNOX:</b>
I think it’s getting the right people to help who properly know how to
do things, and finding the time to get things done, as you will start
something, then get interrupted. There
are plenty of ideas that the shop could do, but getting any of them implemented
is extremely hard, because of the lack of time and available people. Everyone’s a volunteer so it’s not like
they’re being paid to attend, and life gets in the way.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>PML:</b>
Do other ‘77 era musicians help out?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>KNOX:</b>
Quite a lot do. We get stuff
donated from some of these people, but I think generally they help the world in
other ways, not just dropping a few things off into our shop.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>PML</b>: What sort of stock do you sell?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>KNOX:</b>
We have tons of old electrical band recording stuff, small amps,
guitars, CDs, DVDs, cassettes, 8-track tapes, LPs and singles, clothes, shoes,
etc. We’re very much dictated to by what
people donate, so the stock is constantly changing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>PML:</b> You also organise concerts on the
premises?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>KNOX:</b>
We have very small gigs in the middle room in the shop. We move the clothes racks and other stuff out
of the way, and it’s actually a very nice small intimate space. Our ‘house band’ which plays once a month is
<a href="http://torrecords.com/peter-parkers-rock-n-roll-club/">Pete Parker’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Club</a> and are a two piece a bit like the White
Stripes. They’re really good. We’ve also had other people playing: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Harper_(singer)">Charlie Harper</a> (UK Subs), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ellis_(guitarist)">John Ellis</a> (Vibrators/Stranglers), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Haines">Luke Haines</a> (who started
Brit Pop), Dead Letter (Black Metal), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lach">Lach</a> (one of the starters of the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-folk">Anti-folk</a> NY scene), and a few others.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>PML:</b>
Is this a long term project?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>KNOX:</b>
Hopefully it’ll run and run. It’s
a lot of work so the shop always need more people to help as frequently the
best volunteers will get a job, that sort of thing, so we always need more.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>PML: </b>
What about your own musical and artistic projects?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>KNOX:</b>
I’ve got a few things on at the moment, a new Urban Dogs (with Charlie
Harper) album this month and, in the summer, a new Vibrators’ album. It’s a lot of extra work because, at the
moment, all my time is used up doing the shop. Hopefully I’ll somehow survive. I want to make lots more albums (dream on),
plus I’d like to record a lot of other people, especially ones in the shop (I
have managed to make a small start with that), and I’d like a quiet life, just
sitting outside somewhere, doing a painting, hopefully with a little pet dog
(dream on!).</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UmXF2vSz9Gk/Vy9jX3PhtvI/AAAAAAAAAE0/v-FrazbxKM0HAely09VyTk2eVGS6LccDQCKgB/s1600/Camden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UmXF2vSz9Gk/Vy9jX3PhtvI/AAAAAAAAAE0/v-FrazbxKM0HAely09VyTk2eVGS6LccDQCKgB/s1600/Camden.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Camden Town Postcard by Knox</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Philip Murray-Lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04864553192869441397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288697409162134181.post-44154681150621516672016-01-18T03:44:00.003-08:002016-01-18T03:44:57.384-08:00The Silent Way Today: Roslyn Young<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IiWNOXpViyM/VpyqlqaFSFI/AAAAAAAAAEM/8U-0QKFOo_4/s1600/image004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="164" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IiWNOXpViyM/VpyqlqaFSFI/AAAAAAAAAEM/8U-0QKFOo_4/s200/image004.jpg" width="200" /></a><i><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Until she retired, <a href="http://www.roslyn-young.fr/">Roslyn Young</a><b> </b>taught spoken English at the Centre de
Linguistique Appliquée at the University of Franche-Comté in Besançon (France).
She wrote her PhD on Caleb Gattegno's teaching approach applied to the teaching of
foreign languages, reading and French grammar. She has ran seminars and teacher
training workshops around the world, especially in Japan. She remains active in
teacher training, teaching and materials development, and has written several
books, on the Silent Way and on how people learn. A new book "Teaching
English the Silent Way" will be published in 2016.</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></i></div>
<br />
<b>PML:</b> What first attracted you to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Way">Silent Way</a>?<br />
<br />
<b>RY:</b> In 1971, I attended a seminar with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caleb_Gattegno">Caleb Gattegno</a>. During the weekend, he taught Chinese for about an hour, and I was amazed and thrilled by what I saw and experienced during that lesson. There were about 35 people in the ‘class’, sitting on the front of their chairs, present to the work. I had never seen such a high level of interest and enthusiasm in a class. I decided on the spot that I wanted to be able to teach as well as that.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> Was this high level of interest from Gattegno
himself or the method?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> At the
time, I thought it came from Gattegno. As I learned to do something similar, I
realised that it comes from the approach. It’s easy to see small children
completely absorbed in what they do, less common to find the same thing in
adults in language classes. When they are taught using this approach, adults
can often be intensely absorbed in the task. Well used, the approach creates
what Csikszentmihalyi calls ‘<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi">Flow</a>’. Silent Way teachers have other ways of
expressing this state, and know how to develop it in students.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> What were your impressions of Gattegno as a
person?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> I have always
felt extraordinarily privileged to work with someone of Gattegno’s calibre. He
spoke many languages very well, was an extraordinary teacher, a deep thinker,
and yet he was humble. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML</span></b><span lang="EN-US">: I
understand that his knowledge was encyclopedic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> He
seemed to have read everything worth reading—Pascal, Descartes, Montaigne,
Flaubert and so many others in the original. Then, years later, he still had it
all in mind well enough to cite something which might usefully illustrate a
point in a workshop. To do this in one culture was extraordinary, but then I
discovered he could do it in several. I went to quite a few of his workshops in
Bristol and was astounded to see that he could cite Bacon, Newton, Faraday,
Maxwell and many others just as easily. And English was not among his first
languages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">What motivated him?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> He did
not see his job in workshops he gave as telling participants what he thought,
but as educating us to think. His vision of the universe and man-in-the-universe
was and remains compelling. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">What is the basis of the Silent Way?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">The approach is based on a precise and detailed
model of learning described by Gattegno, who invented it as part of his vision
of man. This model describes all learning, from learning a language to water
skiing to learning one’s multiplication tables or how to play chess. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">Can you describe this model?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">It involves ‘awarenesses’. An
awareness is that tiny movement of the mind which takes place when I change
from ‘being unaware’ to ‘being aware’. It’s the moment of ‘becoming aware’.
Awarenesses are what humans use to remain in contact with both their inner and
outer lives. We live our lives using awarenesses to guide us. Everyone
recognises an ‘Aha’ moment. It is a moment when an important awareness takes
place. However awarenesses come in all sizes, and I am more interested in the
much smaller ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">Can you give us an example? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> I am doing the washing up. I run my fingers
around the inner surface of the saucepan and become aware that there is a
slight rough patch, and I become aware that I have to rub this spot again. A Silent Way class is full of such tiny ‘Aha’
moments when students become aware.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML</span></b><span lang="EN-US">: How
does this awareness of awarenesses help the teacher? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">It makes the teaching process much more
precise. I watch the students as they work together in the classroom. From what
I see and hear, I can pin-point certain awarenesses that they have had—or not
had. I choose how I respond in function of the awarenesses I know they need
here and now in order to say what they are trying to say. One of the results of
working within this model is that I can be quite precise in my work with
students.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> The Silent Way also renders the students
responsible for their learning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">Absolutely. The Silent Way allows me to give my students
as much freedom as they can handle. One of the main techniques I use with non-beginners
is the ‘class conversation’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b> Is
this simply free conversation or are there implicit or explicit rules?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>RY:</b> The
ground rule of a class conversation is that the students must speak the truth.
I seed the first few conversations with a leading question which is likely to
have as many answers as there are people in the class, for example, something
as simple as: “What did you do last weekend?” Then I allow the students to take
this where it might naturally lead in a similar conversation in their own
language. They simply express their thoughts and feelings. Once they realise
that these are genuine exchanges, that I am not going to interfere with the
content, but only work on their expression, the class conversation becomes as
interesting as the class can make it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> What
are you doing while they're having this conversation?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">I work on their English sentence by
sentence. My role is to help them
improve the quality of their English and also to extend their range. When a new
word or structure is required because students cannot say something that they
genuinely want to say, they are primed to notice the new facet of the language
when I provide it. </span><span lang="EN-GB">This is why Gattegno called errors ‘gifts to the class’. </span><span lang="EN-US">I use the Silent Way materials as
‘tools’ which allow me to correct rapidly and precisely, so that students can
develop criteria for their English. I never ‘teach’ in the usual sense of the
word.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML</b>: What
happens when a conversation is interrupted by a long period of correction?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> I
maintain the thread by making sure that several of the previous statements are
said again to re-create the context before the new, now correct sentence, is
added. Such periods can be surprisingly long without being detrimental to the
conversation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>PML:</b> So, in
fact, it's always the learners themselves who provide the content of the
conversation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB">RY:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> And this means
that students’ learning is always directly connected to self expression. There
is a personal, affective impetus in everything they say. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">What benefit does the Silent Way give students
on a technical level?<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">One major benefit is that the Silent Way enables
the students to have in front of them a synthesis of several aspects of the
language they are learning. They can see, displayed on a wall or laid out on a
table, a well-developed synthesis of its systems: pronunciation, spelling, functional
vocabulary, verb tenses, etc. Having a synthesis before one’s eyes helps immeasurably
in learning anything. When learning a language, students can better see how the
language functions as a whole. I believe
this was one of Gattegno’s great insights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> Another
was that memorisation isn't important.
Am I right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> Well, Gattegno proposed that we have two different
kinds of memory. They differ in the expenditure of energy each requires. The
one most people know about is memorisation, which involves spending lots of
energy. Imagine how much mental energy it takes—not to speak of time—to
memorise history dates, for example, or irregular verbs in English, the gender
of nouns in French, or the times tables.
Some of us spend hours memorising all sorts of things, and have done so
since we first went to school. And years later, how much is still available?
What is memorised is easily forgotten. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> So what
is the other form of memory?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> It's our
retention system, and it's much more efficient. We are natural retention
systems. I go into a shop and walk around, noticing how the various products
are arranged as I look for the thing I want to buy. The next time I go into
this shop, I know where to find all sorts of things. I have retained mental
images of the shop and its layout. As a result of this system, I have in me
images of dozens of shops from various countries. I'll have similar images of
the shop assistants, people I don’t know but see in the bus from time to
time... It's the same for tactile images: the feel of honey on my fingers,
sacking, the leaves of certain plants… I
have auditory images of voices, of pieces of music... Creating and retaining of these images costs
me nothing. These are a natural functioning of humans. So Gattegno proposed that we base our work as
teachers on the retention system rather than on memorisation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> How can
the teacher exploit the student's retention system?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> It
requires thought until one sees how it can be done, and the payoff for the
students is excellent. The images are free of cost, long-lasting and reliable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> How
relevant do you think the Silent Way remains today?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">It is entirely relevant today. It is timeless. Since no books are used, only
charts showing the function words of the language, and since the teacher has no
agenda other than helping the students to improve their capacity to say whatever
they want to say, there is nothing to tie it to a time or a place. It is
whatever any particular class makes it for the duration of the course.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> Actually,
I was thinking more of the revolution in new technologies, whether people might
prefer to learn through tutorials on <i>You
Tube</i> or other Medias…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> It depends what students come to class to learn.
If they want to learn to speak the language, then they would be making a
mistake. Clearly, speaking a language is a know-how—I ‘know how’ to speak
French—, and to learn a know-how, you have to keep doing it until you know how!
This is obvious for playing an instrument, for example, or for playing a sport:
you can go to as many concerts or matches as you like, they will teach you some
things about the discipline, but not how to pluck strings, serve or kick goals.
Watching a video on You Tube is
undoubtedly useful for some aspects of the discipline of learning a language,
but it won’t produce the know-how-to-speak. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> The tools
(Cuisenaire rods and colour-coded charts) aren’t conventionally authentic
materials…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> I don’t think it’s important whether the
materials used are authentic. What has to be authentic in a classroom is what
people say. What could be more authentic than speaking one’s personal thoughts,
expressing one’s sentiments and feelings?
Have you heard of a French writer called Louise de Vilmorin? She once famously said to a journalist, “Talk
to me about myself. That is all that interests me”. She was onto something, Louise!
And I think it applies to our students too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">PML: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">So the Silent Way might be
considered, first and foremost, a humanistic approach to language teaching? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">RY:</span></b><span lang="EN-US">
Gattegno used to say: "I’m
not a language teacher, I’m a people teacher, and the people are learning the
language". I learn my students while they learn the language.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div>
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Philip Murray-Lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04864553192869441397noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288697409162134181.post-89597459704007014432015-10-08T05:53:00.000-07:002015-10-13T06:20:27.897-07:00On Travel, Transcendence, and Taking the First Step: Christina Ammon<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i><a href="http://www.vanabonds.com/">Christina Ammon</a> has penned stories for Orion Magazine, Hemispheres, The San Francisco Chronicle, Conde Nast and numerous travel anthologies. She is the recipient of an Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship for nonfiction and organizes the Deep Travel writing tours in Morocco and Nepal.</i></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<i>When not traveling, Christina Ammon lives in Ruch, Oregon where she writes, sips wine, and paraglides. </i><span lang="EN-US"><i> For travel tales and workshop information, visit her <a href="http://www.vanabonds.com/">blog</a></i></span><i> </i></div>
</div>
<i><br /></i>
<i>.</i><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H94hp78WWfQ/VhZmA_2aAmI/AAAAAAAAAD0/Gn8YAe-6M2E/s1600/ChristinaAmmon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H94hp78WWfQ/VhZmA_2aAmI/AAAAAAAAAD0/Gn8YAe-6M2E/s200/ChristinaAmmon.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: What triggered your life as inveterate traveller
and writer?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: I grew up with a case of geographical
low-self esteem. I think this is common among kids living in places like the
American Midwest. I disdained the ordinariness, the flatness, the feeling of
not being somewhere - like California!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Did your parents and siblings feel the same
way?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: Given that they all live in Nebraska, Kansas
and Minnesota, I don’t think they felt the same way at all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: But what was so frustrating about life in the
Midwest? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA:<b> </b>I didn’t understand why people wanted
to take on all of the strictures of conventional life: get married young, have
kids right away, live in the same house forever etc. But that’s how teenagers
think. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: And now?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: I understand now the huge satisfaction that
comes from having roots and rich, long-term friendships. And I respect the meaning people find in
family and routines and community—wherever they find it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: But your choices have necessitated
sacrifices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: Yes, I have forgone having children and
committed to have adventures, which offer up a similar amount of mundane
moments, stress, and annoyances all redeemed by moments of transcendence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Meaning?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: Those
moments of bliss where you feel sort of out of yourself and connected to
everything. Small, transient moments of
awakening and pure contentment. It’s blissful.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JithOh3pNko/VhZmlBY-kZI/AAAAAAAAAD8/MQV-x3Sa05U/s1600/Spring%2Bon%2Bthe%2BRogue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JithOh3pNko/VhZmlBY-kZI/AAAAAAAAAD8/MQV-x3Sa05U/s200/Spring%2Bon%2Bthe%2BRogue.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: How did you get in touch with the outside
back then?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: My window to the big world—as it was for
many--was National Geographic magazine. I sat on the brown shag carpet of my bedroom
in Nebraska and thumbed through photos of Africa and South America and conjured
some big dreams. I still haven’t quite
matured out of the dream of being a female Sinbad and sailing the high seas, or
trekking through the Middle East like Freya Stark. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: I’ve read a little of Freya Stark. Didn’t she have a rather condescending, colonial
attitude?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: <b> </b>So, I’d be Freya Stark minus the
colonialism. Or how about Pippi Longstocking instead? Seriously, when it comes
to traveling role models for women, it’s been slim pickings. Our gender hasn’t
historically been encouraged to set off on our own. That’s changing now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: How did you begin writing about travelling?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: It was Jeff Greenwald who tipped me over the
edge. I read his book <i>Shopping for
Buddhas</i> when I was sick in bed with flu and food-poisoning in Kathmandu,
Nepal in my early twenties. His humor
and insight were the best medicine. He modeled a way of travel, or I should say
a way of <i>looking</i> at travel, that I
wanted for myself: an openesss to the random and as well as a comedic attention
whatever is served up. Jeff winnows the remarkable out of the most ordinary, and
at the same time, makes the remarkable feel ordinary to the reader. Although he
has had incredibly exotic experiences, he communicates in accessible, everyday
metaphors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Can you
give us an example?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: The flow and color of a monks orange robe
might be described as “a flood of Florida orange juice.” I always delight in these whimsical
descriptions and ability to render the extraordinary ordinary. There is
humility in this approach, in not presenting his own life in grand, flourishing
terms, or holding his experience above that of his reader. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Do you have your own philosophy towards
travelling?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: Travel, like writing, is a creative act and like
all creative acts, is best not planned too much in advance. But there is
alchemy in the first step. You can’t know what an essay is really going to be
about until you’ve written it. The writing itself is generative. The same goes
for travel. The first step is generative: one step is followed by the next in
the way that one word suggests another. If you want all the details ahead of time, either
you won’t begin or the writing/travel will have a stiff and disappointing
quality. That step into the unknown can feel risky and painful though. At first, you wander around feeling lost, and
you wonder if you are wasting time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Do you always have such feelings?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: Particularly in the case of solo travel. I’m
usually miserable for at least a little while. It takes time to strike a match,
for the trip to catch fire. I’m still undone by it, but now at least hold a
little more faith that I’ll find my way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Where
do you think this discomfort comes from?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: It’s the feeling of being suspended between
two chapters. You’ve left what you know, but haven’t started the new chapter
yet. You’re in limbo. It’s awful. But I think it’s a potent formula for living
a vital life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Which
is? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: It’s
being awake! It’s not trying to escape through television or compulsive
Internet-use, or addiction. It’s not trading your integrity for security by
staying in dead relationships, or in jobs or lifestyles that are killing you.
It’s being present and sitting with pain. It’s grieving, laughing—it’s
everything that isn’t numb.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Can
you describe one of your trips?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: I arrived in Morocco by myself a couple of
years ago. I floated from Tangier to Chefchaouen to Fez and felt depressed for
the first month. I even looked into
early plane tickets home. Later, I ended making wonderful friends, and having
some of the most profound travel experiences of my life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: How did that come about?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: Well, after feeling isolated in Fez for a
while, I worked up the nerve to call a writer I admired. Soon after, I was
having dinner with her and her husband. Then, they hosted me in their
incredible house for months and introduced me to many people wonderful people.
So, I went from being depressed and aimless, to incredibly inspired and
connected. That couple saved me! Travel serves up some awful loneliness
sometimes, but it also offers magic <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>connections. Anyway, I stayed for four months and return
every year. I’m glad I stuck out those initial weeks. Nothing is wasted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: You’re off to Morocco again soon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: I’m organizing writing and storytelling
workshops in Morocco for this fall. Our group will have a cultural exchange
with the old storytellers of Marrakech. Morocco has a long storytelling
tradition that has been threatened in this era of Internet and television. Our
group will be part of an effort to keep this ancient tradition alive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: I’m
wondering whether travelling contributes to destroying such traditions too...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: The cat is already out of the bag, and it’s
probably not going back in. There is an upside though. In this case, travelers
are interested in the storytellers, are willing to pay to hear them, and that
could inspire a renaissance of sorts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: How do you design these trips?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: I approach
itineraries like art projects and take great care in calibrating the pace of
the trip. It’s fun to do something a bit rough like trekking in the mountains and
then follow it up with some pampering, to immerse ourselves into something
deeply foreign, but then relax into something comfortable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: How do you connect your participants with the
local culture?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: I search for the people in the place who can articulate the culture. For example, rather than trail around a guide
to the Top Ten Sites (you can do that on your own with a guidebook!), we wander
the medina with Fez photographer Omar Chennafi. You never know what’s going to
happen with Omar—he doesn’t plan in advance. You just experience the place as
he experiences it—running into friends, stopping over somewhere for a spontaneous
cup of mint tea. People like Omar are bridges for us, they straddle both
worlds—that of the local and that of the foreigner and so can empathize and
help translate our confusion. Fez writer Suzanna Clarke is another one, Sandy
McCutcheon another, and Mike Richardson with his cross-cultural cafes. There
are not many people at this nexus, so it feels like such a gift when you find
them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Thanks for this, Christina. A brief word about future plans?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CA: I see more
writing, more travels, and more workshops abroad. Our Morocco storytelling
workshops will be held October 21-30th and December 4th-13th.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><i>Photos by Tim Daw.</i></span></div>
Philip Murray-Lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04864553192869441397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288697409162134181.post-70925374095189773972015-09-02T00:07:00.000-07:002015-09-07T00:11:01.138-07:00Poetry, Medecine and Mensa in Kosovo - Dr Aziz Mustafa<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J62APmwjzoU/VeaazxvGaAI/AAAAAAAAADg/MAxOkMW39BI/s1600/IMG_8213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J62APmwjzoU/VeaazxvGaAI/AAAAAAAAADg/MAxOkMW39BI/s320/IMG_8213.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Dr Aziz Mustafa is a Kosovo Albanian physician and
writer. He is the co-founder of Kosova’s ENT Association and member of <a href="http://www.politzersociety.org/">PolitzerSociety</a>, <a href="http://www.mediotol.org/">Mediterranean Otorhinolaryngology and Audiology Association</a> and
Balkan Otorhinolaringologists. His
publications are cited in several important databases: PubMed, Index
Copernicus, Scopus, Google Scholar and EBSCO.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Mustafa began writing at a very young age. He has published
the following books in Albanian:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1. Mustafa, A. (1996). My skull is my passport.
Pristina, Jeta e Re<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2. Mustafa, A. (1999). The measurement of stopped
time. Skopje, Asdreni<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">3. Mustafa, A. (2004). Learn to say no. Pristina,
Rozafa<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">4. Mustafa, A. (2014). My land is in love. Pristina, Olymp<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">His poetry appears in several Albanian anthologies. He
has been a member of Albanian's Writers Association since 1999. English poetry
has recently been published in Emanations, International Authors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As a consequence of his achievements in medicine and
in literature, he was honoured by being included in the 31 Edition of
"<a href="http://www.marquiswhoswho.com/listees/publications/14-whos-who-in-the-world-2011">Marquis Who's Who in the World</a>" in 2014. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Aziz Mustafa is also known as the very first Albanian
member of <a href="https://www.mensa.org/">Mensa International</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">He currently works at the University Clinical Centre
of Kosovo. He is married and father of three children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: What is it like to be an intellectual in Kosovo
nowadays?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: Not easy at
all. But I can frankly say that it never
was. It is always difficult to be a part
of a minority whether we speak about a national minority, a religious minority
or a gender minority. On the other hand,
belonging to a minority of intellectuals is both challenging and inspiring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: Why is
that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: Well, it
means that you possess a powerful tool of wisdom and understanding lacked by
the majority. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: You don’t come from a family of intellectuals
yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: Both my
grandmother and my mother were illiterate, while my father completed only 4
years of primary education.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: And yet you began reading very young.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: Yes. I was able to read from the age of 7. One of
my happiest memories! I clearly remember
the moment when I read my first letter.
It was sent by my father who at the time happened to be working in
Switzerland. His letters were the only
means of communication because, in those days, we didn’t have today’s
technology such as phones and internet.
Anyway, since my family was illiterate, my father’s letters had to be
read by either a distant neighbour or the village teacher. While I was reading it out, I remember my
grandmother’s face full of surprise and happiness because her beloved grandson
was able to read. That 7-year old boy is
now a PH.D. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: You’ve
lived through many changes in Albanian society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: Absolutely. It’s amazing when you think about the
societal changes that happened since the last century in Albanian speaking
regions. The foundation and unification
of the Albanian alphabet is as recent as 1908. Before that, during the Turkish Empire domination,
written Albanian was forbidden and there were more than three different
alphabets in use. In 1974, the Congress
of Unification of the Albanian Language united the two main dialects: Tosk (in
South, Macedonia and Greece) and Geg (in North, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia).
With writers like Ismail Kadare, in my opinion one of the world’s best living
novelists, and poets such as Visar Zhiti and Ali Podrimja, the Albanian
Language can no longer be considered insignificant. Albanian language and
culture belong to Western civilisation after all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: The
intellectuals were the impetus of these changes?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: All through
the Renaissance period, the second half of the 19th century until Kosovo’s
Liberation in 1999 and Independence in 2008 the intellectuals and writers of
Kosovo appeared on the forefront of political and social development. Ibrahim Rugova was the first president of the
free Kosovo; he was a literary scholar and critic. Adem Demaqi (known as Kosovo’s Mandela) was a
political spokesman for Kosovo's Liberation Army. He also wrote some well - known novels and he
is honorary head of the Kosovo Writers' Association. I can sincerely say that being one of
Kosovo’s intellectuals and writers makes me feel a special pride. Especially as being intellectual in the Balkans
is a matter of survival, an existential issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">PML: What are you trying to express in your
poetry?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">AM: I would not like to explain or assess my own
poetry. Firstly, because I think that
poetry critics and scholars are the people qualified; and secondly, because I
never like to praise myself because of my modest nature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">PML: Admirable sentiments, Aziz. But since only 12 of your poems have been
published in English…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">AM: Since only 12 of my poems have been published
in English - in the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Emanations-Third-Eye-Carter-Kaplan/dp/1491257083/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=15W9JDP6MQH2S41767G8&dpSrc=sims&dpST=_AC_UL320_SR214%2C320_">third</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Emanations-Foray-Forever-Carter-Kaplan/dp/1499703716/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1441176765&sr=1-1&keywords=Foray+into+forever">fourth</a> editions of the International Authors
Anthology <i>Emanations</i> - and based on
the evaluation of Kosovo critics, I will say that my poetry is poetry of
protest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">PML: What are you protesting against?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">AM: Negative phenomena in society. As I am a doctor, I understand human pain,
sorrow, and the psychology of my patients’ suffering. Nearly all my poems show compassion, and are
dedicated to people who know what pain and sorrow is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">PML: Are there similar themes in your short
stories?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">AM: Yes, in my book of short stories</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">(My land is in love. </span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #141823; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Pristina,
Olymp</span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"> 2014)</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">almost all the tales deal with mankind’s affliction and evocations of
torment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">PML: How does your knowledge of medical science
manifest itself?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">AM: I am perhaps the first poet who in his poems
and tales used the concept of phantom pain to compare human pain with the pain
of a whole nation. The phantom pain of
amputated limbs is a metaphor for that of Albania. We are a nation whose lands have been
dispersed throughout six different countries. In fact, the title of my first
book <i>My Skull is my Passport</i> (</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #141823; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Pristina, Jeta e Re</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"> 1996) refers to
the numerous Albanians who have been killed attempting to cross Albanian
borders.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">PML: Your poem <i>Learn
to Say No</i> published in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Emanations-Foray-Forever-Carter-Kaplan/dp/1499703716/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1441176765&sr=1-1&keywords=Foray+into+forever">Emanations 4: <i>Foray into Forever</i></a>, pg. 250 seems to
carry a theme of Albanian nationalism?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">AM: Not really.
In fact, I’m a Kosovo/Albanian patriot trying not to become a
nationalist. <i>Learn to say no</i> is also
the title of my third book. It is protest against the tendency of equalization
of the aggressor and the victim during the Kosovo war. It’s a political
manifesto and a powerful appeal for national and international awareness in
order to say a strong “NO” to all negative phenomena in society. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">PML: Negative phenomena being, I suppose, cruelty,
lies…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">AM: Let me try to explain. According to Biblical and Quranic lessons the
average age when people pass from knowledge to wisdom is 40. This is life’s main stage where people must
strongly oppose lies, voracity, parsimony, adultery and other sins. It’s the
time in life where they must be awakened to repentance and regret. They must henceforth work very hard to expiate
their sins. A long time ago, maybe 22 years ago, I wrote a one stanza poem
entitled <i>Half Life</i> which I would like
to quote:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">Half life<br />
</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">The half of my life passed,<br />
Doing continues sins,<br />
Will I have the other half,<br />
To expiate them?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">PML: There are, of course,
other themes in your poems. </span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">AM: Yes. My
literary creation also includes much love for: woman, children, life, nature,
friendship and mankind in general.
Poetry is written from the heart I think that the true reader can feel
the emotion and immediately s/he can notice if those emotions come from the
heart or if the poet wrote without inspiration without any emotion at all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: Are there
many poets in Kosovo/Albania?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: Oh,
yes. Even though, Kosovo and Albania are
not large countries, there are many writers.
In proportion to the total number of the population, there is a density
of Albanian poets. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: So there’s
always been a strong poetic tradition in Kosovo/Albania?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: The
Balkans and especially Albanian countries are the only countries in Europe
which continue to create the kind of oral folk literature which dates back to
the <i>Epic of Gilgamesh</i> and the <i>Iliad</i>. As a child, I remember the folk rhapsodists
with demotic instruments – for instance a two- stringed lute – singing
historical epics and new songs about recent events.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: How do the
rhapsodic songs fare nowadays? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: That’s the
question. Nowadays, even written
literature, specifically published literary books, are struggling. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: What role
can the poet play in modern Kosovo/Albania?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: Poets have
always played an elite role in literature and culture. During the National Renaissance of the Balkan
countries, which took place in reaction to the depravity of the Ottoman Empire,
poets appeared to be “principal bells” in the awakening. Unfortunately, this movement resulted in
further terrible and bloody conflicts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: Things are
a little better nowadays…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: We are
living in a more democratic era - one in transition too. I think that the time has come for poets to
build bridges between the Balkan countries and bring people together. Nowadays, poets can have their works
translated in their neighbour’s language, and the language of their former
enemies. We can begin the process of
soothing troubled spirits and healing old wounds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: Is this
why your own work is appearing in English? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: I have decided to publish my literary creation in
English in order to extend my readership and the opportunities to receive
criticism. <i>My land is in love</i> is currently being translated, and I’m also
writing my first novel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: How far along are you with it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: Unfortunately,
due to my commitment to medicine I face a constant struggle in finding free
time. As a consequence, I am writing
very slowly, but with great inspiration!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: Doubtless
writing must take second place to medicine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: I consider
my profession – which is one of the most human of professions – to be of
primary importance. I am an ENT
specialist and my major project is to perfect my aptitude of diagnostic and
therapeutic knowledge in ear microsurgery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: What’s the
Kosovo medical system like?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: Unfortunately,
it’s passing through hard times due to the transition phase. That’s why I feel that my role is to give the
highest possible contribution. I will
wholeheartedly put every effort into helping and curing people who suffer from
health problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: You had a recent
presentation in Japan?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: Yes. I had a presentation on the topic of acute
mastoiditis in the <a href="http://www.c-linkage.co.jp/politzer2015/">30th Politzer Society Meeting /1st World’sCongress of Otology, 30 June-3rd July-2015, in Niigata, Japan. </a>This
trip to Japan was for me very inspiring professionally (medical) and also from
a literary (poetry) point of view. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: And you’re
also the first Kosovo/Albanian member of Mensa?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: These last
few months I’ve been very involved in setting up the Kosovo branch. It’s an honour, but I must say it’s been really
hard work! Already, the first candidates
are tested and the results are coming in. We hope to identify young, talented people,
and to create opportunities for them to share their knowledge and enjoy
each-others company.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">PML: What about
your personal future?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">AM: Life brings
unexpected changes so I never like to predict the future. As always, I plan to have a lot of work, small
holidays, and again a lot of work until in my retirement. Then, when I’m
retired, I intend to dedicate all my time to literature. If God has planned a long life for me, I will
bestow upon my readers literary works of wonderful poetry, stories and novels! Adults,
like children need wonderful, fanciful tales because it makes them feel
differently; it makes them feel how they would like to be - at least for a
short time…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><i>Aziz and Philip would like to express their gratitude to <b>Mrs</b> <b>Valdete Aliu-Muçaj</b> for the Albanian to English translation.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Philip Murray-Lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04864553192869441397noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288697409162134181.post-55949613368073388532015-07-31T06:54:00.003-07:002015-08-01T08:36:03.447-07:00MADE IN ADVERSITY - Gareth Jackson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_SReFsLrIXM/Vbt8vMfUjlI/AAAAAAAAAC4/eiLJ7i7iR_g/s1600/Gareth%2BJackson%2Bphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_SReFsLrIXM/Vbt8vMfUjlI/AAAAAAAAAC4/eiLJ7i7iR_g/s320/Gareth%2BJackson%2Bphoto.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Gareth
Jackson is a conceptual artist operating in the North West of England. His work has been described as 'cold and post
human' which pleased him greatly.</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-GB">He has previously
produced both commercial art and high art, but now prefers to occupy an
indeterminate post modern zone. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: You wanted to
call this interview Made in Adversity.
Why was that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: It's the name of
my faux media company and the circumstances in which my work is made.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Can you give us some examples of this
adversity?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: Willfully producing no budget works / refusing
to permit </span><span lang="EN-GB">colour</span><span lang="EN-US"> in most of my work / working outside of the
industry-establishment / not seeking approval or often even an audience / not
relocating from the rural North to London.
And although I am not now impoverished, I have been for long periods. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Yes? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: Most of this ADVERSITY is from self imposed
prohibitions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: You do keep a low profile. I <i>googled</i>
you and didn't find much.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: It amuses that while people seem to litter
the internet with 'selfies' and whatnot I take a contrary position of
attempting to minimize my personal self. Almost everything is an act of art, so is
given due consideration.<span style="color: #bfbfbf; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 191;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: You’re a filmmaker, an editor and a writer...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: I attempt to produce works in all media. I have little interest in constructing a
formal career as I am interested in what can be discovered if you turn around
and travel in the opposite direction.
This means that my work can be restlessly divergent. I think of these various strategies as hats
and I am very fond of hat-stacking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Is this an attempt to avoid artistic unity?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: No. All
of these strategies / hats could be thought of as subsets of my conceptual art
practice. It is never entirely clear if
I am making a film or writing a text or producing a conceptual artwork in that
form. I strive to leave no gap between
art and life - therefore almost everything becomes potential </span>material for / or act
of art. I would perhaps regard myself
('misen' in Northern slang) as a philosophical test pilot questioning if theory
holds in application.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Is there any particular hat you prefer wearing
nowadays?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: I have drifted away from filmmaking a little
in recent years, and now mostly produce textworks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Why do you think that is?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: I had a very
prolific period making no budget experimental films which culminated, but did
not conclude, with making <a href="http://lordhorrorthedarkandsilverage.weebly.com/">LORD HORROR - THE DARK AND SILVER AGE</a> (2010) after
which I was unsure if there was any new territory which these films could explore.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: So writing is fresher?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: I am now very interested in words and their
arrangement in considered order. I find there is something very direct /
immediate in the act of writing although I prefer authoring <a href="http://speculativefictions.weebly.com/">SPECULATIVE FICTIONS</a> pages as that is a concurrent marriage of writing, graphic design and
illustration. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: What are you trying to do in your writing?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: I strive to remain experimental although this
becomes trickier the more textworks I produce.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Is that because of the danger of repeating
yourself?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: Yes, with familiarity it becomes a rote process
which does not particularly interest me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: But is it still possible to be an experimental
writer in our hyper modern era?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: After the sixties it is very difficult,
perhaps impossible, to produce anything truly experimental in any media; but
this does not absolve us from the attempt to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: What are your general aims as an artist? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: My aim is mostly to please and amuse myself
and with regards to others to 'wreck everything and ruin their lives'.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: And beyond that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: The provocation of thought. I find much of contemporary art disappointing
as most artists operate within the strictures of the art industry /
establishment, and permit their work to be commodified. Coming from an abandoned career in the
commercial arts as a graphic designer and (uncommercial) illustrator, I reject
this and struggle to keep my work 'pure' - FREE and distributed electronically
to ALL.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8q6l0Rktds8/Vbt9FoKV8pI/AAAAAAAAADA/KV9VWus20HM/s1600/NUMAD%2Bfin%2Billo%2BWEB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8q6l0Rktds8/Vbt9FoKV8pI/AAAAAAAAADA/KV9VWus20HM/s320/NUMAD%2Bfin%2Billo%2BWEB.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: It’s not necessarily wrong to make a living
from your art…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: No, but I prefer to adopt a contrary approach
by applying personal prohibitions. This
position is willfully quixotic. I
thoroughly enjoy being quixotic and I do this because someone has to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Tell us about one of these free projects -
your online magazine <a href="http://speculativefictions.weebly.com/">SPECULATIVE FICTIONS</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: SPECULATIVE FICTIONS (SF) could be read self
contained pages as an e-magazine or as works exhibited in an imaginary
exhibition. I write my own page
contributions and respond to author submissions as an editor / graphic designer
/ illustrator. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: And SF is, I
understand, published annually?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: Yes. </span><span lang="EN-GB">ISSUE ZERO of SF (2013) was entirely my work being a test experiment
to define what SF should be. With ISSUE
ONE (2014) I opened the project to submissions as I am interested in the act of
collaboration which can be engaging and can temporarily permit the relaxation
of certain personal prohibitions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML:</span><span lang="EN-GB"> What other collaborative work have you been doing?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: </span><span lang="EN-GB">My most recent
collaborative work is participating in the exhibition (<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/misen23/sets/72157654149793358">AND MODEL Gallery /Leeds / 11/06/15</a>) which accompanies the book launch of the Robert Meadley novel
<a href="http://www.michael-butterworth.co.uk/meadley/home.html">GOING TO OST</a>. Robert is the greatest
'philosophical comedian' working in the English language.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #bfbfbf; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 191;"> </span>I usually avoid the act of exhibition as I
prefer to circumnavigate the art ind/est and engage with the viewer directly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML:</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-GB">If your
work is in a gallery, it still engages with the viewer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: </span><span lang="EN-GB">The act of exhibition confers the status of 'art' onto any object which
appears inside a gallery and I feel it is preferable to allow the viewer to
make their own readings and value assessment of the work.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">As I reject the commodification of art
entirely I feel that everyone should be able to own an exact copy of a work of
art which enables them to engage with it in their domestic environment. The internet has now enabled artists with the
potential to distribute their work freely and directly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">PML:
Is SF a long-term project?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: I am driven by whimsy so I usually conceive
and conclude most projects very quickly, although I have committed to produce
annual issues of SF for as long as it remains interesting - unusually, for me,
distribution is an integral part of this project.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Why is that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: The act of distribution can be very time
consuming. More often than not when I
conclude a project I immediately move on to new projects as the work being seen
does not greatly concern me but always disregarding the act of distribution had
become very much an omission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">With SF I only need to
distribute issues on the 01/01 annually and then give it no further
consideration. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: You also have some ongoing film projects.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: I do have to get round to finishing the
nearly completed but long bypassed short films TERMINAL and THE LAST MAN ON THE
MOON - - - which may or may not occur in 2015.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">In the interim the
written texts for these films also became pages in SF.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: What else does the future hold?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">GJ: The past is a hole which I am constantly climbing
out of as I fall into the future - - - I imagine I will be carrion food for our
cockroach inheritors.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_bPXDXKLwUQ/VbuHNSGi95I/AAAAAAAAADQ/RjBrswj2S28/s1600/ART%2BIS%2BSTUPID%2B%25231%2Bsm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_bPXDXKLwUQ/VbuHNSGi95I/AAAAAAAAADQ/RjBrswj2S28/s320/ART%2BIS%2BSTUPID%2B%25231%2Bsm.jpg" width="224" /></a></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Philip Murray-Lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04864553192869441397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288697409162134181.post-66793186741469777542015-07-31T04:52:00.001-07:002015-08-01T08:36:39.525-07:00 The Renaissance is nigh :Torquato Tasso by Dario Rivarossa:<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://tassonomia.blogspot.com/">Dario Rivarossa</a> was born in Cuneo, North-West Italy,
in 1969. He studied philosophy, theology, and comic art with a view to working
first as a journalist and then as a translator from English and German. His translations include science fiction,
essays on history or economy and interfaith studies. His first-and-a-half job is as an artist,
with works published and collected in the USA.
A member of <a href="http://www.internationalauthors.info/books.html">International Authors</a> since 2010, he recently created the
“<a href="http://tiziafra.wix.com/the-magic-trio#!aboutus/c2414">Magic Trio</a>” team of illustrators together with Tiziana Grassi aka Selkis and
Eva Nieri aka Nivalis. He now lives in Perugia, near Assisi (the homeland of St
Francis), where he married Paola in 2006. He also sings in a “mountain choir”
as a first tenor. His most notable publication to date is <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dante-Fantasy-Writer-Dario-Rivarossa/dp/1482005077/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363277911&sr=8-1&keywords=dante+was+a+fantasy+writer">Dante Was a Fantasy Writer</a></i> (International Authors, 2013).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7DZ6jy3tWXg/VbthVQg3juI/AAAAAAAAACU/6E7jlvwvXqc/s1600/portrait%2Bdr.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7DZ6jy3tWXg/VbthVQg3juI/AAAAAAAAACU/6E7jlvwvXqc/s200/portrait%2Bdr.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Dario is currently working on an English translation
of <i>Il Mondo Creato</i> by the 16th
century Italian poet, Torquato Tasso. It
should be published by next Spring<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Dario,
can you begin by telling us a little about Tasso? Who was he exactly?</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">DR: “A madman,”
according to commonplace opinion in Italy. But he was jailed <i>in order</i> to
make him go insane, not <i>because</i> he was: a way to make a dangerous
citizen be quiet, like it would happen in the 20<sup>th</sup> century in the
USSR. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Why has he had such a bad press?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">DR: He
threatened to reveal dark secrets about the Este family, the rulers of Ferrara,
in central Italy, where he lived. But
this overshadows the fact that he was one of the greatest Italian poets ever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="Paragraphedeliste1" style="margin-left: 0cm; tab-stops: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Whose idea was it to translate Tasso?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">DR: It came
from a dear friend who is now the co-translator in the project, Prof. Salwa
Khoddam. Since I have a blog, <i>tassonomia.blogspot.it</i>,
wholly devoted to Tasso and the translation of his works into English,
especially <i>Gerusalemme Conquistata</i>,
she asked me if I meant to make a book of it. I replied, “Naa, nobody would
care about this stuff.” And she, “Are you joking?! It would be of great
interest, etc. etc.!” We then chose Tasso's poem <i>Il Mondo Creato</i> (The Seven Days of the World's Creation) because it
was shorter and less difficult than the <i>Conquistata</i>,
10,000 lines instead of 20,000, and because it may have been a source for
Milton's <i>Paradise Lost</i>. </span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML :
Tasso's <i>Il Mondo Creato</i> was a source
for <i>Paradise Lost</i>? </span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">DR: Oh, yes,
this is a very intriguing side of the problem. In Naples, during his Grand Tour
in Italy as a young man, Milton met Count Giovanni Battista Manso, who had been
one of Tasso's best friends. Milton would even title a poem after him: <i>Mansus</i>.
Well, Tasso had decided to write <i>Il Mondo Creato</i> precisely after
exchanging theological conversations with the Count's learned mother. So, it
would be strange if Milton knew nothing about that poem which reworked the
first chapters of <i>Genesis</i>. Was <i>Paradise Lost</i> meant as a sequel?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: How did you come across Tasso?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">DR: Following
the rings in a literary chain. I have been a fan of Dante since I was 10 or so.
Some twenty years ago, my Dante studies led me to William Blake, and in turn
Blake to Milton. Some five years ago, Milton made me curious about the great
Italian poets of the Renaissance, whose works he knew well: Ludovico Ariosto,
and Tasso, precisely. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: What
attracted you to his writings?</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">DR: On first
reading his best-known poem, <i>Gerusalemme Conquistata</i> (“Jerusalem
Delivered”), I thought: “See, there are many cool episodes and lines, who could
have believed that?” The second time, it sounded rather like: “Wow, all this is
really great!” And the third, “Oh my God, this guy is greater than Dante!” He
became an uncontrollable passion. A whole new universe was opened by the
opportunity to retrieve his so-called minor works: <i>Il Re Torrismondo</i>
(the only Shakespearean tragedy written in Italy during Shakespeare's lifetime,
and later), <i>Il Mondo Creato</i>, and <i>Gerusalemme Conquistata</i> (1593),
the remake of the <i>Liberata </i>(1581). It is unbelievable the number of
silly statements about the <i>Conquistata</i> that have been spread by scholars
who haven't even taken the trouble to flip through its pages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Do you
think Tasso still has relevance today?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">DR: For
tomorrow, I daresay. In my opinion, the Modern Era, i.e. the epoch in the
Western history that started in the 17<sup>th</sup> - 18<sup>th</sup>
centuries, is approaching its end; see the <i>Charlie
Hébdo</i> affair as a symptom . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: </span><span lang="EN-US">Are you a decadent, Dario?</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">DR: Even
further back than that: a pre-decadent! Yeah, I think we'll probably have to
re-adopt a Renaissance attitude towards . . .
everything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: What does
it mean to adopt a Renaissance attitude?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">DR: Tasso's
message is not specifically different from the message of the other great
Renaissance writers and/or poets and/or artists. To make it as brief as
possible, it would mean to pass from unilateral thinking (see the
Enlightenment: “We are the light. Everything before us, or different from us,
is darkness”) to a multilateral view. Since the universe, or even society,
surpasses our faculties infinitely, we always need at least two opposite keys
in order to approach it, and assume that both / all of them are significant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: So concretely that means...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">DR: . . . that there are no pre-conceived solutions,
but we should learn each time from events. Again, think about the hot issue of
Islam. In Ariosto's and Tasso's poems, we don't find <i>the one</i> attitude to be held. It depends on <i>which</i> Christian meets <i>which</i>
Muslim. They might be fierce enemies, but respect each other at the same time.
Vice versa, the current “liberal” society tolerates Muslims but, at the same
time, despises them. Saladin was a hero
and a model of courtesy even in the eyes of the Crusaders. But today, what
common elements remain between the West and ISIS? Oil, weapons, TV.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: What sort of technical difficulties did you
encounter in the translation?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">DR: A huge
number of difficulties! Tasso has not – not yet? – many fans, not even in
Italy, for a number of reasons: </span><span lang="EN-US">Dante – not Tasso which could have been the case – was chosen as the
Standard Bearer of Italian Literature after our National Unification (1861).
And, according to the 18th-19th century mainstream culture in Italy, influenced
by France, he was “too” religious. And, he was dismissed as a madman. But
honestly, a part of the problem is also that</span><span lang="EN-US"> he
loved to make his verses long, and thorny, and full of Latinizing words. This
new English version of ours follows the text line by line, word by word, but
puts it into plainer language. We hope it'll promote a rediscovery of this
brilliant, “gigantic” poet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Did you
learn anything about yourself during the translation work?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">DR: Yes, I
learned that I understand much less than I boast to. Incidentally, a billion thanks are due to Dr.
Carter Kaplan, who immediately accepted to publish the book for International
Authors. He even collaborates as the final editor – and a very careful and
clever one, at that: I've nicknamed him “American Sniper.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Once <i>Il
Mondo Creato</i>, is finished, what'll
your next project be?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="Paragraphedeliste1" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US">DR: To trust in God.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: No, seriously!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="Paragraphedeliste1" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US">DR: Is there anything more serious than that?! Ask
Tasso. But to go flatly professional, I have a dream, rather than a project: To
switch full-time to illustration and design. <i>Se son rose, fioriranno</i>.
“If these sticks happen to be roses, it will be shown in their blooming.”</span></div>
Philip Murray-Lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04864553192869441397noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288697409162134181.post-54633091309985392912015-07-31T04:49:00.000-07:002015-07-31T07:00:01.557-07:00Juan de Nubes Belleville Artist<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“J'essaye de faire vibrer les choses que je dessine afin
de reproduire leur réalité sensible”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">" I try to make the things I draw vibrate with a view to
reproducing their sensitive reality "<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">in “murs,murs” 2012, éditions forceps, juan de nubes</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eEptmGZsh24/Vbtfnv3wluI/AAAAAAAAABc/yDMyf4K_hwY/s1600/IMG_5619%2Brec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eEptmGZsh24/Vbtfnv3wluI/AAAAAAAAABc/yDMyf4K_hwY/s200/IMG_5619%2Brec.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“ juan de nubes ne reproduit pas le visible, il rend
visible”<br />
" Juan de Nubes does not reproduce the visible, he renders visible "<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">in “jardin des cimes, le dessin pas nature” 2014,
éditions forceps, juan de nubes/marianne guyader</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JNmyr4v-vTo/Vbtf1G5cFlI/AAAAAAAAABk/IlcMBOsv6Lw/s1600/juandenubes-gardiensduparc%2Bpetit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JNmyr4v-vTo/Vbtf1G5cFlI/AAAAAAAAABk/IlcMBOsv6Lw/s320/juandenubes-gardiensduparc%2Bpetit.jpg" width="227" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“la douceur à l'état brut” "Gentleness in the
rough"<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Camille larquet, http://juandenubes.collectio.org/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: How did become an artist</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">?</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: red; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Narrow"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">JDN: I began my arts
education by reading everything I could find about the theory and practice of
perspective and drawing. Of course, I
rejected everything I'd read after my first few days in a proper art school...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: Why was that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">JDN: Because when you work
on a project, you have to forget the received wisdom and find a way of doing
things for yourself. Experience should
be more based on what you feel at the moment rather than in what you've learnt.
Your work builds itself empirically.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: Where was this first proper art school?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
JDN: In Nice. It was a small place called
the “Villa Thiole”. After that, I put
together a pretty good portfolio and was accepted by a State art school, the <i>Ecole des Beaux Arts</i> in Avignon and
obtained the DNSEP (<i>Diplôme National Supérieur d'Expression Plastique) </i>a
national Visual Arts diploma, in Montpellier.
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: I thought you'd
attended a design school?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">JDN: That was a few years
later. I chose the ENSCI (<i>École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle</i></span><span class="st"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">) </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">which
is considered one of the mythical Parisian design schools. I got my diploma,
but never stopped drawing and etching - which were my first loves. As an artist, as a designer, and as a human
being, all those facets converse and feed the same creative process.</span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: So you haven’t always
worked purely as an artist?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">JDN: I consider my real
work to be my art. Visual arts are what encompass my entire art experience, but
all the jobs I did before such as graphics, corporate, various incursions into
the industrial process are connected with my methods and have enriched my
working process. It is strange how,
despite having learned complex computer-made 3D technologies, I now use the
simplest tools: charcoal, paper, ink and etching; the old-fashioned and basic
techniques.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: Why do you think that
is?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">JDN: In my opinion, the
pure process of expression and creation can count more than the material
result. There's no artifice in such
simple tools.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: So how would you define your art today?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">JDN:
I think my art is a fusion of my way of seeing life. It’s at once a landscape of real life and a
personal interior view which includes my past, my feelings, my experience and
my knowledge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: How has your art evolved over the years?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
JDN: My work is becoming freer and
freer. It includes references to
contemporary and conceptual art, but without the need to look different or be
original or new. I just try to be as clear and honest as possible with myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
Are there any contemporary artists that influence you?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
JDN: Well, all kinds of art and a lot of
artists really interest me… But, you
know, in my opinion, Bach is an extremely contemporary artist! Traditional music too: <i>Chanson française</i>, tango…. In literature: the French Nouveau Roman
of the 50’s, but also plain old thrillers.
If I could have lived in another era, it would have been the <i>Quattrocento</i>. But I am also attracted to Avant Garde
movements like Supports/Surfaces and the work of a lot of conceptual
artists. The only form of art that
doesn’t really influence me is cinema. Or perhaps, it’s because I can’t help
thinking that documentary films are the only real cinema.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: So you wouldn’t consider yourself as part of
a movement?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
JDN: Not in the traditional 20<sup>th</sup>
century sense of the word. I don’t
really believe there are “movements” in art.
There are only people connected by a common interest. These so-called movements can be connected to
others in the past and in the present - out of movements, out of time - which
retain a strong connection to reality.
Such links mean more to me than a group of people using the same colours
or the same techniques over a period of years.
Movements are a way for people to somehow feel exceptional or
different. I don't care for differences;
on the contrary, I like similarities.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: Does your art carry a message?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
JDN: Every work of art carries a
message. Not in the sense of “what does
it mean socially", but what does it disturb, what does it assemble, what
does it remove, what does it do in the spectator’s mind? I’m not interested in consciously linking my
art with daily life, social problems, or trends. I prefer to take the risk of
being considered an old-fashioned coherent artist rather than the leader of the
new whatever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: But I suppose your art is subconsciously
linked with daily life?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">JDN: The only way I communicate real life is
through thoughts that are like out of space and out of time. For instance, you
see a stone wall and you feel the same emotion that someone probably felt a
hundred years ago, or maybe thousands of years ago. That emotion is one of appreciation: that the
wall is great, or well made, or simple, or mysterious...</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
Can you talk us through your process?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">JDN: I really love drawing. I let my hand decide for me, the paper
decides for my hand, and the weather decides for the paper...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
The weather?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">JDN:
Yes! Whether it's dry or wet means that
the paper may shrink or enlarge. It also
changes the way the tools interact with the surface.. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: How did the mysterious pseudonym Juan de
Nubes come about?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
JDN: There was a book that was important
to me during my studies : <i>A Theory of
Cloud, Toward A History of Painting</i> by Hubert Damish. Since I read it - and I think even before - I
felt a natural sympathy for clouds, those strange things we can see, but can’t
hold, that don’t really exist as material objects but of which we talk</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: red; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Narrow"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">, </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">about which we create theories and systems - shapes
and art history. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
So Hubert Damish’s book gave you your name and your artistic approach?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">JDN: Well, many years later, I read another <i>Theory of Clouds</i> by Stéphane Audeguy,
though this one was a novel. The gap between those two books is exactly how I
see my approach: from theory to narrative, from the intellect to the emotions.
When you draw, you are on the first rung of meaning. Everyone can understand at least one level of
what you are trying to say whether it is just a first impression, or the
technical process</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: red; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Narrow"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">,</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> or metaphoric... Everyone
knows what a cloud is</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: red; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Narrow"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">,</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> but
it's not that important that the majority of the public doesn't know about <i>my</i> theory of clouds</span><s><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: red; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Narrow"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">,</span></s><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> anymore than they would about “Le nuvolaire “ by
Fosco Maraini, or real climatology theories.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: What about <i>Juan</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">JDN: It’s my first name, the same as my father and
my grandfather. Maybe, now that our king
is no longer in power, I could use my full name which is Juan-Carlos. As for associating Juan and de Nubes, that’s
another story... More to do with a few
glasses of wine in a Bistro in Montmartre.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: What are your aims when you exhibit your
work?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">JDN: Coherence in quality is what I look for when
preparing exhibitions. I try to present
my work in places accessible to the general public as well as art galleries as
long as there are no concessions to the quality of the work: <i>Elitaire pour tous</i> as Antoine Vitez said
when referring to Jean Villard's theatre.
I should mention that I’m also involved in various artists associations
such as the Ateliers d'Artistes de Belleville and the Atelier aux Lilas for
typography and print. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: Where can we see your work?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">JDN: I had a recent exhibition in a cultural
centre in St Germain En Laye. It was
called “Gardiens des Cimes, Dessin par Nature”.
It was interesting because it created a dialogue between drawings and
etchings. In November I exhibited at the
Autumn Salon, along the “Champs Elysées”.
I've got some pieces in the Aab Gallerie, in Belleville. I'm currently involved in projects for Berlin
and Barcelona.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But
everyone's welcome to visit my studio.
It's the best place to see the works as they grow. And, last but not least, there's my website
“juandenubes.com”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My
next exhibition will be with three other artists, at the ”Biennale de Lmay”,
from 5 to 29 march 2015, Galerie des Réservoirs, 2 rue des Réservoirs, 78520
Limay.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Philip Murray-Lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04864553192869441397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288697409162134181.post-84107831172517382662015-07-31T04:40:00.002-07:002015-07-31T07:18:01.886-07:00Michael Butterworth Part 2 Publishing, Contemporary Art and Corridor8<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
What sort of visual art do you personally like?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
I am attracted to conceptual art, I suppose, because of my writing – the
more poetic ‘New Worlds’ pieces tend to use ironic metaphor to express my concerns
about the planet and I try to describe phenomenon like space-time. But I like a broad range of styles, periods
and types of visual art. I must say
straight away that I am not an expert in the field. Innovation is the impetus behind my
publishing, and I have entered art publishing with the aim of personal discovery.
<s><o:p></o:p></s></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
Are you, perhaps, an artist yourself?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
As a pre-teen and young teenager I practised both painting and drawing
as well as writing. I made the decision to be a writer for practical reasons –
thinking that a pen and notebook, or a portable typewriter, made life easier
than carting around easels or photographic equipment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
Does art still retain a potential for innovation?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
In the digital media world, when all aesthetic art has exhausted itself,
conceptual art is the only form that seems to retain potential for
innovation. And in many ways, conceptual
and contemporary art are synonymous. It
is like poetry, a completely free agent, which does not require an aesthetic,
although it sometimes does; it is timeless, and it plays with ideas, often it
is quite literally playful and, like the best poetry it can also be
profound. By exhibiting a ‘ready made’,
a urinal, in a public gallery in 1917, Duchamp notoriously questioned the idea
of what art is, and, equally, what an artist does, in the age of photography
and mass production.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
How did conceptualism come into being?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
Very simply, and very much as my knowledge of it currently goes,
conceptualism (and therefore much of current contemporary visual art) started
with Duchamp. In the late 60s and early 70s it had a ‘second wave’ (<i>New Worlds</i>, the mouthpiece of the ‘New
Wave’ of Science Fiction, was its unalloyed contemporary) when it underwent a
period of development by younger artists in New York and elsewhere. After that, and I can only say what has
happened in the UK – I must be missing out a lot – there was a third ‘wave’ in
the 90s, when conceptualism gained public understanding. So there were three
waves – Duchamp, then in the 60s and 70s there was a great period of exploration
and, finally in the 90s another set of artists brought it to public acceptance.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
But what about the future? Where can art ‘go’ now? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
Like many other cultural expressions – music, writing, film, and theatre
– it has reached a watershed. Although
there is still much to say – an ever increasing amount, in fact, as society
grows technologically and more of the world can be apprehended simultaneously –
contemporary visual art has become a form of entertainment, like folk art,
sometimes meaningful, but no longer
radical.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
So the artist can no longer be radical?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
The <i>potential</i> to be radical
still exists – and indeed an artist can still be radical in terms of technique,
with the use technology. But he or she
can only be radical for fifteen minutes, until the next technological
development! It is difficult to say
anything new, in order to make an impact.
It’s a quandary facing every new artist who wants to make a career
impact. How to find something new when
everything is instantly superseded or has already been done? Artists like Richard Kostelantetz argue that
it is still possible, using formal experimentation, but this seems to me to be
splitting hairs. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Any original expression of this kind instantly becomes obsolete, and really
it is very artificial. It is hardly a
response to some major advent of technology like photography or mass
production, or social change or political upheaval. Formal experimentation of
this kind does seem, nevertheless, to be a last bastion of the avant garde! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
So tell us about Corridor8. You first produced a magazine called
Corridor in 1971. Is there a link? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
When I first came to do an art journal in 2009 I did not set out to re-launch
the small press publication I began doing in my twenties. That early ’zine featured
mainly literary writing and illustration, and contained little in the way of
contemporary art, despite the influence on me of New Worlds. However, Corridor8
has become a kind of unplanned continuation of those early editions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
Why the ‘8’ in the title? Were
there Corridor5's, 6's and 7's?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB: I produced a total of seven ‘zines under
different mastheads, most of them ‘Corridor’, the last one appearing in 1976. When
the first edition of Corridor8 appeared it was therefore the eighth Corridor, produced
after a gap of thirty-three years. We liked the title <a href="http://www.corridor8.co.uk/">Corridor8</a>, so it became a
generic title. That was supposed to be the only similarity – the name!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: It has another similarity, as a
magazine. Why did you return to that format? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB: That’s true. It is a continuation of
that early magazine-based publishing. It
spans Savoy Books, and it has enabled me to return to a first love, if you
like, after years of book publishing. Savoy grew directly out of those ’zines, David
Britton’s small press publications – he did a series of them also – as well as
mine. The content of Savoy’s early book publications came from them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: So where did the contemporary visual
art come from, then?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB: Strangely enough, from a print-on-demand
imprint that I launched in 2006 as an experiment, as an outlet for ‘occasional’
books that don’t fit the Savoy list. The
imprint is very occasional, in fact, with only three titles so far. But one of these, <i>Jackson Pollock the Musical</i>, published in 2007, got me interested
in conceptual art. The debut literary
work of Roger McKinley, a practicing conceptual artist, it is a libretto for an
imaginary musical – so it is a joke, in the best conceptual way. As a clever
and detailed account of Pollock’s life, with tinges of fantasy and absurdity, it
is also serious, as the best conceptual art also is, so it sits comfortably
astride both art and literature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
How did you discover Roger McKinley?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
As is often the way with all these things I happened to know Roger as a
friend. He submitted a manuscript to me anonymously,
so I had to guess who the author was – not too difficult as it happened, as he
has a very distinctive sense of humour! I
also knew his partner, Jo McGonigal, another practicing artist. So when I came
to think of a new journal, I could see that these two well-informed and well-connected
artists could make the beginnings of a professional team.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
Where did the initial funding come from?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
Well, not long after I published Roger’s book, my father died, leaving
me a small inheritance. This provided me
with start-up capital. At the same time,
my wife Sara and I became interested in the architect Will Alsop. Will’s
concept of a linear city forming along the Transpennine Motorway, the M62, a
roadway that runs raggedly across the neck of England from Liverpool to Hull,
seemed highly prescient to us, and it became the theme of our first issue. One day, after learning of the inheritance, Sara
suddenly said, “I know you want to do a magazine, so why don’t you use some of
the money?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
And Corridor was to be something very different from what you were doing
with Savoy?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
Absolutely. And that brings me to
another very important factor in the journal’s origin, the design team, Dust,
who I first came across when looking for a jacket designer for my print on
demand imprint. The design of Corridor8
had to be as different in style as possible to that of Savoy, yet just as
distinctive, which theirs is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
What was the first issue of the journal like?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
It had a tall oversized format, about which our distributors were wary. It reflected the motorway ‘corridor’, and
looked at contemporary art practice within this region. Jo selected the artists. She curated a special
‘Flash Art’ section, while Roger acted as journal editor, assisted by Laura
Mansfield, a young curator and writer who I’d met at an art event. We did a
double feature on Will Alsop, one on his architecture, another on his canvas
art. For literary content I commissioned
Iain Sinclair to travel the motorway, which he did, in both directions, first
by car with Chris Petit, and then (having just reached seniority) by bus pass
with his wife Anna. This, as well as a
further commission I asked Iain to do for our second issue, formed the content
of the ‘North’ section of his 2011 book, <i>Ghost
Milk</i>, which relates accounts of his travels outside his usual comfort zone
of London. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
Who supported the journal? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB: Until now we have been supported by
Arts Council England North West. I have
provided match funding for their grants. Dust have also been important funders. Corridor8’s staff, all of whom work as
low-paid hands or interns, are also tremendously significant factors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
Where do you want Corridor8 to go?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB: Simply to continue being a good
journal on art and writing, relevant wherever there is a readership for it. The
current issue (Issue #3) is North-of-England-centric, to raise our profile in
our home region. It appeared as four quarterly parts, each launched in a
different Northern city. But subsequent issues will see a return to having a
much wider remit. It will still be a platform for the North, but it will be interacting
with international cities in an exciting and novel way, which we are planning
at the moment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
Do you consider the influence of London in the world of contemporary art
too dominant?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB: It <i>is</i>
a challenge to site a journal elsewhere, to regions where new work can be
easily eclipsed. The North of England contains more than a quarter of the UK’s
population, and may eventually devolve politically – it has its own axial road
and rail route to the Continent and Ireland, and of course it borders on Scotland
– so it is potentially a very interesting region, where contemporary art is
produced. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
By focusing on the North, isn’t there a danger of provinciality? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB: No, because there is a great deal of significant
art being produced here by artists who are not at all provincial. There are
also a growing number of galleries drawing international visitors, and
educational art departments that attract students from a diverse range of
geographical areas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: Are there so many artists in the
North of England?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
Oh, yes! Because of the comparative
cheapness of studio space, the North is fantastically rich in artists, some of whom
are home grown but many others stay on here after leaving university. There are more artist-run spaces in Sheffield,
for instance, than anywhere else in the country. The work that is produced can be high quality,
but the problem for these artists is that they have few local outlets. Although
rich in product, at present the North has few commercial galleries, so they
exhibit in London or Paris or New York, or Los Angeles or wherever. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
So you’re trying to shift the focus away from these places?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
Our aim is to help ‘join the
dots’ in the North, to help make the region become its own centre of gravity. We
are partners with the Contemporary Art Society who encourage collectors, and we
also support The Manchester Contemporary, the largest and longest running
contemporary visual art fair outside London, which happens at the end of every
September. This fair continues to grow each year. It is both an outlet for
Northern galleries and their artists, as well as an opportunity for national
and international galleries to dip a toe in the region. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
Can all this be accomplished only through a journal?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
Well, look what Frieze did. That
was a journal when it started out! Corridor8 is becoming an organisation with
different facets. Our website has become more pro-active (it has a different
set of editors to the print publication). Events are also becoming increasingly
important as a means of expression. We try to make our launches interesting
occasions, hiring guest speakers and putting on installations. We also lead and
take part in symposiums and appear at art, print and ’zine fairs up and down
the country. <s><o:p></o:p></s></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
How do you decide on the content of each magazine?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
Very basically we find a theme, then make a list of the articles we’d
like to see, and the writers we’d like to write them. This acts as the
skeleton, if you like. Other things can get added along the way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
Can you speak a little about the writing published in Corridor 8? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB: There is a lot of it! On our website we provide reviews of art
exhibitions, while in the print journal we write about artists and their work
and run interviews with artists, gallerists, collectors, curators and so on. But we also publish fiction/faction, art writing,
eg concrete poetry and other art-word texts, and art journalism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML:
Who is on the team?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
At any one time there is a hard core of about ten. This can increase
when an issue is underway, when marketing, PR and extra designers become
involved. We have been extremely lucky in attracting a high calibre of young
people at just the right career moment for them; we have grown with them, and
they have grown with us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PML: A final question about your
publishing. Did it grow out of your
writing? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MB:
Yes, because when I started doing magazines I was attempting to provide
a vehicle for literary work and experimentation<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"> </a>The
practice was essentially a means of extending my own urge to write, of compensating
for a lack of prolificacy as a writer, which is something I have always
struggled with. In a sense, publishing was a continuation of my writing.
Perhaps it was the abandoned artist in me but I was excited simply by putting
black marks on white paper. It didn’t, and still doesn’t, really matter to me
who the author is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Michael
Butterworth would like to express his thanks and appreciation of all who have
contributed to <a href="http://corridor8./">Corridor8.</a><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">About<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Role
at Corridor8<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.5pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Michael
Barnes-Wynter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Freelance
broadcaster<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Roving
promoter, DJ and Events Co-manager<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Bryony
Bond <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Exhibitions
Curator at Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Journal
Editor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.5pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Michael
Butterworth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Co-founder/publisher
Savoy Books, author & editor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Publisher<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.5pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Clara
Casian<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Artist
and Freelance Research and Admin at FACT, Liverpool<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Audio-visual
technician and Events Co-manager<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.5pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dust<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Sheffield-based design studio<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://du.st/"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">http://du.st</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Design
(print on online) and web management<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.5pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Carol
Huston (Issues #2 & #3)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">PhD
graduate in Art History, Manchester University and freelance art journalist<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Staff
Writer, Circulation Manager and Web Editor <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.5pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Stephen
Iles<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Freelance
portrait and installation photographer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Staff
Photographer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.5pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Jo
McGonigal<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Artist
and Associate Lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University and Manchester MMU<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Associate
Director, Co-editor Issue #1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.5pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Roger
McKinley<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Author/artist
and Production Controller at FACT, Liverpool<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Executive
Producer, Editor of Issues #1 & #2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.5pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Laura
Mansfield (Issues #1 & #2)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Curator
and writer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Events
Manager, Assistant Editor, Staff Writer <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.5pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Steve
Pantazis<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">PhD
graduate in Art History, Manchester University and freelance writer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Web
Editor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.5pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Alex
Taber (Issue #3)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Studying
for MA in Contemporary Curating at RCA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Web
Editor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.5pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lauren
Velvick<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Art
writer, curator and blogger<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 153.55pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Web
Editor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">END OF PART TWO<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Philip Murray-Lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04864553192869441397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288697409162134181.post-29895339469637407492015-07-31T04:35:00.000-07:002015-07-31T07:16:30.136-07:00From New Worlds to Emanations: Michael Butterworth Interview 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-InxwCFQWBs8/VbtbZ94agbI/AAAAAAAAABM/ghrIEyG4yD8/s1600/%25282%2529%2B100dpi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-InxwCFQWBs8/VbtbZ94agbI/AAAAAAAAABM/ghrIEyG4yD8/s200/%25282%2529%2B100dpi.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 115%;">Primarily today known as a publisher, in 1968<b> </b>Michael Butterworth founded, and for
many years ran, the Manchester-based literary magazine, <i><a href="http://www.corridor8.co.uk/">Corridor</a></i>. He later edited <i>New Vegetarian</i>, a commercial newsstand
magazine, and in 1975 with David Britton co-founded Savoy Books, the
long-running Manchester-based book publishers. </span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 115%;">www.savoy.abel.co.uk<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 115%;">Since 2006 he has been experimenting with print on demand
and digital publishing. He has also
relaunched <i>Corridor</i> as a contemporary
arts print journal. <i><a href="http://www.corridor8.co.uk/">Corridor8</a></i> is now in its 3<sup>rd</sup> issue. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 115%;">Michael has always had a parallel career as an author. He was a regular contributor to New Worlds
where his first professional story was published <i>New Worlds</i> in May 1966. (In
her 1968 anthology <i>England<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"> </a></i></span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 115%;">Swings SF</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 115%;">Judith Merrill describes him as a ‘young blood’ of the
Science Fiction New Wave movement.) In 1989,
he co-wrote David Britton’s first novel, <i>Lord
Horror</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 115%;">A new publishing project from <a href="http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/1book.html">Savoy Books</a> criss-crosses a
number of Michael’s interests. </span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/paolozzi.html">Eduardo Paolozzi at New Worlds: Art andScience Fiction in the Sixties </a></span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 115%;">by David Brittain (no relation) is about Paolozzi,
certainly, but also JG Ballard, Michael Moorcock and <i>New Worlds</i>. The book</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; line-height: 115%;">, to be
published in October 2013, presents
the journal more holistically than hitherto, and shows how it was a nexus of both
writing and contemporary art – not just writing – and has had a wider influence
than has been acknowledged to date. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Michael
Butterworth Interview <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Part
1: New Worlds to Emanations<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: Where did you first start writing?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: At St Christopher’s school, in Letchworth,
Hertfordshire. This was the alma mater old scholar Michael Winner complained
about during his life, which he did his best to put down at every opportunity. It
was – is – a brilliant school that saved me from a much worse education and
life. With its emphasis on developing the individual it was where I first
started writing at the age of fourteen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: Was there some event there that acted as a
trigger?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: I was roused to anger there by a teacher who had
caught a group of us smoking. This tutor was well known among the ‘bike shed’ fraternity
as a snoop, and by following us to one of our smoking dens that day and ‘gating’
us, he had deprived us of the privilege of going ‘down town’ to our favourite
haunts, the cafés, cinemas and bookshops where we spent so much of our free
time. But it wasn’t punishment for smoking that roused my ire. We knew smoking
was against the rules. It was his sneakiness. In the heat of the moment I found
myself writing a poem. I wrote quickly, and the poem came out fully formed. Surprisingly,
I discovered that somehow the words had shaped and contained my anger. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: So that was when you knew you would have a
career as a writer?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: This ‘voice’ had been around before, but had
not expressed itself through words. As a young teenager I had become alarmed
about overpopulation and food shortages. I thought I would become an inventor,
and discover a way of harnessing photosynthesis to feed the hungry, so I took a
keen interest in botany and biology. I also took up chemistry, though for quite
different reasons – the explosive nature of certain compounds fascinated me! I
thought of becoming a rocket engineer. But now, suddenly, I found I didn’t have
to go out and ‘become’ anything. I could write instead, and I began composing stories.
Two of which appeared in the school magazine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: How did you get involved in <i>New Worlds</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: By coincidence, the future designer of (and
contributor to, and sometime editor of) <i>New
Worlds</i> happened to be at the school at the same time. Charles Platt was in
a class above mine, and was the editor of the school magazine. He published one
my stories, and the following term’s editor, Rosalind Ingham, an artist,
published the second. When Charles left school, and I followed shortly after
him, I kept in touch. And when he fell in with Michael Moorcock, who conveniently
took over editorship of <i>New Worlds</i> in
1964, the year after I left school, my work was submitted to him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: What was your first publication there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: I am making it seem easy, but it was far from
it. In the two or three years since
leaving school I had been writing furiously, and getting rejections. Michael Moorcock had rejected several of my
stories. In my frustration I tried writing an epistolary story using Michael as
imaginary ‘confidant’. I knew I was more confident at letter writing. And it worked! Michael accepted ‘Girl’, a
short picaresque set in a post-atomic landscape and written in the first person.
It was about male sex between the last
two men. The eponymous ‘girl’ existed only in fantasy. Though more symbolic than raunchy, it was
something I didn’t think had been said in English science fiction before. It
appeared in the May 1966 edition of the ‘Compact’ paperback series of <i>New Worlds</i> with an illustration by Harry
Douthwaite. Michael liked to pay his
authors a nominal amount, so it became my first professionally published story.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: As I understand it <i>New Worlds</i> was a reaction to “the traditional English novel (Anthony
Powell, Kingsley Amis, etc)”. How conscious were you of this?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: I wasn’t conscious of it at all, although I
realised of course that <i>New Worlds</i> had
an ideological agenda that made it different to, say, Ambit, which sometimes
published similar material but actually had a mixed editorial policy. I knew it
was attacking convention. But to be honest I was so uninterested in the likes
of Powell or Amis that they never even appeared on my radar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: Who were your main influences at the time?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: William Burroughs, and classic writers like Poe,
Rabelais, Jarry and Machen - writers of a very particular kind. They used words
to make a point, describe moods or produce an effect, and were nothing like the
“English novelist” as then was. So when I submitted material to <i>New Worlds</i> it was with the strong assumption
that its whole <i>operandus modi</i>, right down
to its tiniest particle, was positioned against the conventions of the day. But
I couldn’t have told you what those conventions were. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: You were a sort of unconscious rebel?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: I was a teenager who watched James Dean and
read the Beats. In keeping with many of the children of the 60s I just wanted
to destroy the culture of my parents’ generation in an unthinking way. With <i>New Worlds</i> I had the feeling of having
fallen in with a set of cultural brigands who had somehow managed to take over the
controls. While it lasted, for a few short years it felt like absolute heaven,
but of course I was being narrowly reactive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: How would you describe your writing process
at this time? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: I was concerned with words themselves, with effect,
and imparting certain impressions. I was a ‘conscious writer’ only in the way I
used the material I produced. I was an expressionist in the way I generated it.
Charles thought that a kind of unconscious fusion process took place on in my
head, converting the raw material that went in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: With hindsight, how would you define <i>New Worlds</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: At its creative height from 1967 to 1970 <i>New Worlds</i> was a multi-faceted journal,
the product of a holistic vision combining different media and forms including fiction,
contemporary art, photography, visual writing, poetry, illustration, articles, reviews
and a distinctive design. It could be found in almost every newsagent’s in the
country. So as a campaigning journal against the cultural norms of Powell &
Co it was pretty high-powered stuff. But with the visual elements excluded, as has
been the case with subsequent publishers who saw it simply as science fiction, it
lost its intended meaning and doesn’t really make any sense. By rights, it
ought to have been made into a Taschen book!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: It seems that in the 70’s, you turned away
from the <i>New Worlds</i> style of writing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: As a single parent, whilst my children were
growing up, I wrote commercial novels, including all the second series <i>Space 1999</i> novelisations (based on the
ITV series) and two music fantasies featuring the stage personas of Hawkwind
(the 70’s progressive rock band).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML:
You’re speaking about the Hawklords Trilogy?
Why did Michael Moorcock’s name appear with yours on the covers? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: The
trilogy was based on ideas by Michael and James Cawthorn. For this and contractual reasons, Michael’s
name appeared on the first novel as primary author, but he is at pains to
stress he had nothing to do with the writing! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: What do you think of those books now? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: They are not well written, though I am still
very fond of them. One of the things I did when my writing ‘voice’ returned
around 2004 was completely re-write the Space 1999 books for a fan-based
publishing company in America. This was thanks to the encouragement of my wife,
Sara. I would even consider revising the <i>Hawklords</i>
books and completing that trilogy if it felt right. I have a following for them
and I am proud of both series. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: So your commercial fiction’s nothing you’re
ashamed of…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: Not at all.
But I do not consider them as belonging to my core canon. For me, they
will always be flawed as writing, if not as books. And their appearance
assisted in the process of distracting attention away from my ‘New Wave’
material.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: Around the 80’s, it seemed as if you wrote
less and less….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: My writing voice</span><span lang="EN-US"> had been going in fits and starts throughout
the 70s and 80s. But before spluttering
out altogether, the ‘fits and starts’ did help produce one more work of
importance to me: <i>Lord Horror</i>, which I co-wrote with David Britton. I acted as editor
and re-writer, expanding the claustrophobically dense prose he was producing at
that time. But I also found myself producing sections of new writing to fill
narrative gaps. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: Did the events following the publication of Lord
Horror have an influence on the loss of your writing voice?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: Savoy Books underwent a battle against
censorship from the late 70s right up until 2000. It was censorship from both the Left and the
Right, and the ‘sneaks’ now were the police. During that time I produced hundreds of
letters, press releases and articles and gave dozens of interviews in a
campaign to counter the activities of Chief Constable James Anderton and the
Greater Manchester Police, and alert the literary world to David Britton’s
imprisonments in Manchester for selling and writing books. When this period came to an end in 2000 and
Savoy won the ‘Wars’ (but lost most of the battles) the ‘angry poem’ voice that
had carried me through it came to an end as well. But by this time, it meant the thread of my
early writing was lost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML:
So the Savoy Wars did in fact drain the energy you might have put into writing?
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB : It was also that I was getting older. The concerns that motivated me were changing.
The core message of nuclear destruction, which was what most of my ‘New Wave’
pieces were about, still seemed important but many people of my generation, me
included, were beginning to see that ‘destruction’ wasn’t about to happen. The world was more complicated than we
thought. So I stopped getting angry
about it!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: Are you continuing your collaboration with
David Britton? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: David doesn’t need me to act as Kenneth
Halliwell to his Joe Orton any more. I
now act as editor only. But writing <i>Lord
Horror</i> was a hugely exciting and challenging project that took about four
years, and it’s definitely part of my writing I am most pleased with, and…oh, I
almost forgot, during these early days of Savoy I also finished two more ‘fits
and starts’, two long pieces of fiction, ‘A Hurricane in a Nightjar’ and ‘Das
Neue Leben’, written in the years prior to <i>Lord
Horror</i>. The latter very belatedly appeared in Carter Kaplan ’s first
anthology , </span><i><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Emanations-Carter-Kaplan/dp/0615494404/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313174379&sr=1-6">Emanations</a></span></i><span lang="EN-US">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML:
How did you come across Dr Carter Kaplan and <i>Emanations</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: I think Carter came across me, which is what
is surprising about him, as to all intents and purposes I had stopped writing. He
had been in touch with Savoy Books sporadically down the years, and one day
about four years ago, I think some time in 2009, we each received a
personalised post card – David, myself, John Coulthart and Kris Guidio. He was
canvassing material for <i>Emanations</i>. His
card arrived at the right moment when I was attempting to find a new direction
for myself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: Do you see a direct link between <i>New Worlds</i> and <i>Emanations</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: In a way, the <i>Emanations</i> series is an entirely unexpected continuation of the
‘New Wave’ spirit. Not in the true original sense, of course, which was the
result of a conjunction of so many things that were happening at the time –
things that ‘hadn’t yet happened so they could’, if you see what I mean, such
as the ‘happening’ in the world of Michael Moorcock! But in the surreal stoical modernist
post-modernist sea-of-post-modernism sense that <i>Emanations</i> has made its own. It is still
resolutely declaring that there is an avant garde, and it seems happy to
publish an increasingly wide range of writers wearing enquiring or experimental
hats.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">PML: How does your writing for <i>New Worlds</i> and <i>Emanations</i> compare?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: My
early career writing for <i>New Worlds</i> –
and God it does seem a very long time ago now – was still-born, because
although it had made an impact at the time, I didn’t find a way of capitalising
on that. <i> </i>I now have the opportunity of putting into
print the fiction and poetry I wrote in the 60s and 70s that I was pleased with
but which never saw publication. Under
the tutelage of the expert and surreal Dr Kaplan, to whom I am eternally grateful, these stories<span style="color: red;"> </span>are now
seeing the light of day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: What are your other current writing projects?
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">MB: I am writing poetry. I am also doing a lot of
non-fiction of various kinds including interviews and memoirs. </span><span lang="EN-US">I have started work on an ‘autobiographical’ book about
my father – a very strange man, and a founding member of the Vegan Society in
the UK. I am also working on another book about my time with New Order when
they were recording </span><i><span lang="EN-US">Power, Corruption And
Lies</span></i><span lang="EN-US">
and ‘Blue Monday’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">PML: Thank you very much, Michael. Good luck with the projects.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Philip Murray-Lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04864553192869441397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288697409162134181.post-79129773656848271992015-07-31T04:21:00.000-07:002015-09-02T09:20:32.576-07:00International Authors: Carter Kaplan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H9gIYuR4Qlw/VbtYjyxaz6I/AAAAAAAAABE/mqCCS-hP4zM/s1600/Carter%2Bphoto.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H9gIYuR4Qlw/VbtYjyxaz6I/AAAAAAAAABE/mqCCS-hP4zM/s200/Carter%2Bphoto.JPG" width="148" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dr <a href="http://carterkaplan.blogspot.fr/">Carter Kaplan</a> is currently Professor of English at
Belmont College in Ohio. He teaches research writing, public speaking,
introductory courses in literature, American and British literature surveys,
Ethics, and Introduction to Philosophy. He is also Chair of the Faculty
Council where his role is to hold monthly meetings with faculty, and work with
the academic Dean and VP to improve instruction, as well as advocate for
faculty.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">In what leisure time that remains, Dr Kaplan runs
<a href="http://www.internationalauthors.info/books.html">International Authors</a>, a small literary press. Its most notorious
publication is the annual anthology of avant-garde writings, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Emanations-Foray-Forever-Carter-Kaplan/dp/1499703716">Emanations</a></i>.
These appear to be in direct line from Kaplan's own literary influences which
include Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Homer, Lucian, Rabelais, Milton, Burton,
Locke, Wittgenstein, Swift, Hawthorne, Poe, Melville, Clemens, Austen, Blake,
Conrad, Nabokov, Lovecraft, Kubrick, Fellini, Moorcock, Peacock, and Shelley.
Dr Kaplan is the author of <i>Critical Synoptics: Menippean Satire and the
Analysis of Intellectual Mythology</i>, the novel <i>Tally-Ho, Cornelius!,</i>
the Aristophanic comedy <i>Diogenes</i>, and he edits the International Authors
annual anthology of fiction, poetry, and essays, <i>Emanations</i>, now in its
third year.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I asked Dr Kaplan about teaching philosophy and
International Authors.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: As teaching is a subject that involves us
both – although in very different fields – I was wondering whether you had a
philosophy towards teaching philosophy. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: I embrace a historical approach to the
field. Some philosophers might say that I don’t properly teach philosophy but
rather that I teach <i>meta-philosophy</i>. My response to them: “Is that a
statement of your philosophy, or a statement of your politics?” My PhD
dissertation and my academic publications are in satire and analytic philosophy</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: FR;">.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> In my view, the
philosopher’s role is not to create new knowledge. Leave that to the
scientists following the skeptical-empirical method. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: So what <i>is</i> the philosopher’s task?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: It is to clear away the conceptual confusion
that leads to asking philosophically meaningless questions.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: So certain philosophers ask philosophically
meaningless questions?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: I shall cut to the chase: When it
comes to Continental philosophy, I am circumspect—that is, I believe Continental
philosophy represents the preface to a kind of authoritarian corporate
technocracy. I try to teach students that they should share this
circumspection. It is not far off the mark to say that I am giving them a
political education in Jeffersonian notions of bourgeois class struggle, and I
am trying to convince them to join the bourgeoisie. Not of course that I want
them to become <i>drastically</i> middle-class. I think it is a truism of
America in the 21<sup>st</sup> century that the alternative to joining the
bourgeoisie is poverty, corruption, endless war, and so on. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: Do you mean that Continental philosophy is
somehow anti-American? Or seeks to impose un-Constitutional authority on
America? </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: A provocative image is that of a zoo in
Singapore, fifty years hence, in which Americans are kept in a cage. Zoo
visitors queue up before a vending machine that dispenses Big Macs. The curious
and vaguely amused visitors place coins in the machine, then toss the hamburgers
in the cage to feed the Americans. But of course we shouldn’t limit this vision
to Americans. Today, most of the human race is heading for that cage.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: I’ve read similar pieces of satire in
International Authors publications...</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: Satire is an “institutionally inappropriate”
discourse. Nevertheless, properly contextualized and observed clinically,
satire represents a powerful tool of critical analysis.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: And political analysis. Have you a political
vision?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: Strictly speaking, no. But that is a good
question. It is likely International Authors will be regarded as a response to
the realities of globalism, in particular the place of the English language in
an emerging global “system” (or lack of system) and an acknowledgement that
traditional liberal notions of human rights are being challenged by new models
and theories, many of which favor authoritarian and technocratic systems of
planning and control. We could call our project “Global Authors”, and of
course that name highlights the distinction I am describing. That is, in
our emerging global culture—itself driven in many ways by the cresting wave of
English-language hegemony—it seems wise to preserve our traditional cultures
and views, not so much for cultural or aesthetic reasons, but rather as a brake
upon a movement of cultural homogenization that could have many negative
economic and political ramifications. We are not <i>Global</i> Authors, we are <i>International</i>
Authors.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: What about the aesthetic aspects of the
project -- beyond the purely political? </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: FR;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thanks, this is more to the point. When it comes to
aesthetics, our project is moving paradoxically (perhaps) in a direction
towards greater “cultural” unity. Consider the role of myth and ceremonial
poetry in our anthropology—a phenomenon similar in all cultures—and politics
now aside, here (to me, to my IA colleagues) is where the project really
becomes exciting.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: Where do you draw your inspiration?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: Our notion is not so much drawn from the
Neo-Platonism of Plotinus as it is taken from the aesthetic project of William
Blake, in which the interacting “data points” of poetic expression and visual
experience become the matter for aesthetic development, and the generation of
emotional and philosophical understanding. Characterized as a field,
International Authors is working along the mythographic vanguard of the human
imagination, feeling “ahead” so to speak.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: Alongside the vanguard? Not as part
of it?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: We are not operating <i>under</i> the
philosophical or emotional weight of the vanguard—we are not literary shamans
awestruck and self-impressed by the emotional thunderclaps that herald our
creative activity. Rather we are very coolly looking <i>over</i> the
vanguard, as if in looking ahead (and into) our imaginative and emotional
activity we can gain insight into where the human race is, and where it is
going.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: A literary attempt to foretell the future?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: Future prognostication, maybe; but the
project is more properly characterized as an attempt to survey the ways in
which human beings, from year to year and around the world, are viewing
themselves, and how human beings are viewing what’s just appearing over the
horizon. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: Would it be right to say that certain pieces published
in <i>Emanations </i>might be categorized as Science Fiction or fantasy...</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: We share close affinities with science
fiction and fantasy, but it is more accurate to say we are engaged in a project
of experimental and ecstatic technique combined with the scholarship and deep
historical understanding that characterizes the Academy, though at the same
time we are firmly in the aesthetic and emotional camp of the people who follow
after Milton. We look like flamboyant Blake people, but we are actually pursuing
the project of Locke—that is, we are immersed in an effort to quietly bring
people together in a spirit of tolerance and open inquiry to uncover (though
not necessarily solve) the really important questions. But this is
my take, mind you. There are nineteen other members sitting on the Editorial
Board. Each has his or her own views. It is a collaborative vision. What
happens with the press is up in the air, and properly so.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: What kinds of books are you publishing?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: Our anthology, <i>Emanations</i> is doing much to
shape what is happening. We have a novella from India, <i>Writer’s Block</i> by Vitasta Raina, who is
an architect based in Mumbai. Set in the near future in a sprawling Indian
city, her novella presents the visions and dreams of diverse intellectuals
responding to various political, moral, and artistic challenges. We have a critical edition of Nathaniel
Hawthorne’s <i>The Scarlet Letter</i>—</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML:
A “critical edition”?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: The volume features a lengthy Afterword,
which I wrote. The project is intended to introduce Hawthorne’s great novel to
the international community. The afterword attempts to tease out the
philosophical and aesthetic themes that drive the story, which incidentally
characterize some of the trends emerging in our other publications—matters of
artistic character, poetic conception, ecstatic method, aesthetic preference…</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: I want to ask you about that. Meanwhile,
your list is diverse.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: It is developing that way. Just recently, we
published Dario Rivarossa’s study <i>Dante was a Fantasy Writer</i>, which
features one-hundred colored drawings (one for each canto in the Divine Comedy)
by the author. Very soon, Elkie Riches’ novel <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Reclamation-Elkie-Riches/dp/148406559X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368569465&sr=8-1&keywords=elkie+riches+reclamation">Reclamation</a></i> will be available. It is a complex and ironic
work that draws together shamanism, environmentalism, militarism, and corporate
trends in governance—though this summary does injustice to the novel itself,
which is remarkably lucid, supple, and literate. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: Are you leading a “movement”?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: Lots of Blakean “desire” accompanies our
project and our appearance, to be sure. But this is mere mechanism, aesthetic
fabric, sexual identity, and sexual force. At the most basic level the
project is driven by a rugged aspiration to make books that are worth reading.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: Can you speak a little about the origins of
International Authors and <i>Emanations</i>?<br />
<br />
CK: International Authors was created simultaneously with <i>Emanations</i>,
which was initially created in response to the dissolution of <i>Prototype X</i>,
a science fiction magazine that several years ago emerged from discussions on
the website of British novelist <a href="http://www.multiverse.org/">Michael Moorcock</a>. The community moved on in
other directions, but it was a terrific experiment—itself a curious online
phenomenon worth study and explication. Much of the correspondence that
shaped the effort is recorded in the “Enclave” forum of Mr Moorcok’s
website. As a participant, I learned a great deal about on-line
collaboration. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: So when <i>Prototype X</i> traced off you
moved onto <i>Emanations</i>. But why the ambition to set up a
publishing company at all?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: <i>Emanations</i> and International Authors
is a response to the need of post-post-grads to do something significant: we
are professionals with literary ambitions, and academicians who remain
intellectually curious and who seek creative streams that run “outside” the
channels of the established disciplines and fields. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: And <i>Emanations </i>and International Authors
is a reaction to those academic channels?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: We aren’t reacting to or against anything.
We are not an anti-academic group—after all, we have pursued the burdensome
process of assembling and maintaining a board of editorial advisors—but we
recognize the need for a publishing project that has an agile, indeed protean
flexibility to address issues that are too specialized, too irrational, or too
idiosyncratic to treat conventionally. That said, as an avant-garde project, we
remain circumscribed by our standards, our need to invent, and our desire to
take things seriously. We proceed with a great deal of deliberation—not so much
in our community, but alone at our desks and in our studios. Through our work,
we are seeking not only the creation of something new, but the psychological
and epistemological conditions under which something new can emerge. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: One thing I found intriguing about <i>Emanations</i>
is that it is divided into three parts – fiction, poetry, and academic papers,
or, as you call them, “themes”. I think it's the first time ever that the
latter have been published with fiction and poetry. Why did you opt for
this?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: I cannot reasonably explain why <i>Emanations</i>
is divided into three parts. Rather than the apparatus of an explanation, my
thoughts wish to intermingle with the effusive matter of understanding. Why do
people get married? I should like to suggest it is simply love for the art of
the tale, affection for the feel of verse, and a celebration of the illusion of
theme.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: As editors, which writings would you choose
to reject?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: As editors, we reject nothing. Time and
money alone limit the material we are able to publish. Otherwise,
International Authors would publish everything that is submitted to us. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: Really?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: Absolutely. You have my word on
that... In the meantime, we are simply interested in material that seeks
to say something new in a new way.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: Where do you want to go with IA? Say, in
five years? </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">CK: I do not know where we will go with
International Authors, and, really, I expect this will take care of itself. I
know this seems a weak posture in light of our professed desire to use
imagination and art as a method of prognosis and future-telling. Of that
great crack in space-time called “tomorrow”, I shall simply say something very
true to my heart: I see us with great bags of money, driving Ferraris, engaging
innovative architectural theories in the development of exclusive tropical
resorts, sponsoring boundless art shows that cater to Russian oligarchs and
Mexican billionaires, discreetly hosting comfortable parties on elegant yachts,
producing obscure films, marrying movie stars, living on private islands…
What we need to do next is find a grant.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">PML: Thank you for your time today,
Carter. Good luck with the project.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span>Philip Murray-Lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04864553192869441397noreply@blogger.com1