Literary Trivia

Patrick Murtha

Patrick Murtha

Reader
Not Sigrid Undset, the face is all wrong. Could be Grazia Deledda.

My first thought was Amy Lowell, but I immediately rejected it, and then you said not American, anyway.
 
Patrick Murtha

Patrick Murtha

Reader
You’ll finish it before I will because I read too many books at the same time. But Deledda is definitely an author in my sweet spot and one that I have been meaning to get to.
 
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Ben Jackson

Well-known member
I'm know for my writings been very obscure and hermetic and difficult to understand among people from my continent. Two years ago, I published a novel for the first time in nearly 50 years and dedicated it, in an interview, as a gift to my country. The major theme in one of my poems talked about appearance of white hairs which became one of my distinct features. Influences in my writing range from Shakespeare to Brecht, Nietzsche to Carl Jung. In the early 70s, I left my country after almost two years of incaceration and began a period I later called "political sabbatical." I became the first writer from my continent to receive a highly regarded accolade. Who am I?
 
Patrick Murtha

Patrick Murtha

Reader
All right, here’s one. An African-American poet who is still alive, at an advanced age. Never became even a little famous, but has a small following. Experimented consistently with avant-garde techniques. Disdained the socially conscious writing of the Sixties and Seventies. Micro-controversial in certain circles as a result of that. Wrote for (and published own) “little magazines”. Published in a “neglected writers” series fairly recently. Interested in music theory. Associated with a Midwestern city where has consistently lived.
 
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Stevie B

Stevie B

Current Member
Patrick Murtha said:
All right, here’s one. An African-American poet who is still alive, at an advanced age. Never became even a little famous, but has a small following. Experimented consistently with avant-garde techniques. Disdained the socially conscious writing of the Sixties and Seventies. Micro-controversial in certain circles as a result of that. Wrote for (and published own) “little magazines”. Published in a “neglected writers” series fairly recently. Interested in music theory. Associated with a Midwestern city where has consistently lived.
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Many of the clues rule out potential guesses so I've got no one to suggest. For a moment, I considered James Emanuel, but I believe he moved to Europe (Paris?) to escape America's racism.
 
Leemo

Leemo

Well-known member
Patrick Murtha said:
All right, here’s one. An African-American poet who is still alive, at an advanced age. Never became even a little famous, but has a small following. Experimented consistently with avant-garde techniques. Disdained the socially conscious writing of the Sixties and Seventies. Micro-controversial in certain circles as a result of that. Wrote for (and published own) “little magazines”. Published in a “neglected writers” series fairly recently. Interested in music theory. Associated with a Midwestern city where has consistently lived.
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Ishmael Reed?
 
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Ben Jackson

Well-known member
Patrick Murtha said:
All right, here’s one. An African-American poet who is still alive, at an advanced age. Never became even a little famous, but has a small following. Experimented consistently with avant-garde techniques. Disdained the socially conscious writing of the Sixties and Seventies. Micro-controversial in certain circles as a result of that. Wrote for (and published own) “little magazines”. Published in a “neglected writers” series fairly recently. Interested in music theory. Associated with a Midwestern city where has consistently lived.
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Nathan Mackay, I think.
 
Patrick Murtha

Patrick Murtha

Reader
Some quotations from an essay on [X]:

“[X]…insisted on remaining what [X] had started as, a knotty formalist…The volume collects 39 poems by [X], a manifesto, an essay, and a poetic drama, along with a critical introduction and six additional essays about [X’s] work by academics and poets. Embedded within these pages, and especially the various essays, there is plenty of evidence of a dispute over not just [X’s] output, but over what African-American literature in general is or should be…

[X] has fueled the controversies. [X] has been explicitly audience-disdaining, and has spelled out…rejections of poetry-as-communication, linguistic clarity, "economical" and "ordinary" language…, "sense," "meaning," and "insights," and poetry that "convinces" or "works," in favor of mannerism, self-indulgence, "conspicuous technique," and the poem-as-object…

…[X] expressed great annoyance with the notion of earning a living, and apparently seldom came close to it, once quitting a part-time job when it threatened to become full-time.

…[X] strikes me as a decent poet of the second rank. [X] developed a manner and tricks which [X] perhaps over-relied on…”
 
Patrick Murtha

Patrick Murtha

Reader
Ben Jackson said:
Nathan Mackay, I think.
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He ALMOST fits, so this is a very good guess. But Mackey didn’t disdain socially conscious poetry, whereas my poet was very vocal on that score. My poet is also so local, has barely ever left the neighborhood. Mine is more advanced in age than Mackey, who is 75 this year.
 
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Ben Jackson

Well-known member
Patrick Murtha said:
He ALMOST fits, so this is a very good guess. But Mackey didn’t disdain socially conscious poetry, whereas my poet was very vocal on that score. My poet is also so local, has barely ever left the neighborhood. Mine is more advanced in age than Mackey, who is 75 this year.
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Then, it must be Youssef Koumounyakaa.
 
Patrick Murtha

Patrick Murtha

Reader
Still no! YK is considerably more famous than my poet, who is kind of a termite nibbling at the foundations of literature (thinking of Manny Farber’s distinction between termite art and white elephant art).

I’ll reveal tomorrow if no one has gotten it.
 
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