tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post4945802822694019716..comments2024-03-28T19:17:01.550+13:00Comments on The Imaginary Museum: Why Siegfried Sassoon?Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-76224232344058636352017-12-23T19:21:43.105+13:002017-12-23T19:21:43.105+13:00I had heard of her but when Brentley Frazer mentio...I had heard of her but when Brentley Frazer mentioned her in notes to his book I realized also that I hadn't really read her [she is in Rothenburg and Joris' two vol. 'Poems for the Millenium' which I have but I want to get the edition I have called 'The Last Lunar Baedeker'. I wrote out all of her poem Love Songs to Joannes. I have to say that like (apparently Pound and Eliot who liked her and Moore) (Pound used the term Logopoeia for esp. Loy I think) I was baffled. But on YouTube there is a lecture on it. I starts with what looks like a student talking, then switches to the lecturer. Then it starts to become clearer and you will be interested in the connection to your other favourite (I like it also) The Golden Ass -- that is the Cupid and Psyche legend which I am just now re-reading. )I should re-read the entire book as it is good. <br /><br />What annoys me in way are two things: 1) like failing to solve a chess problem I feel I could have had I spent more effort and time on it 2) the exposition is good but it spoils my love of things simply being made of words a la Mallarme (more or less)! <br /><br />But she was very clever. The large Lunar Baedeker has images by Loy and so on. But while say, Celan I found hard to engage with (I did with certain poems) I immediately 'connected' with Loy. I found it comical at first then just fascinating. Now I am seeing method in her 'madness'. You'll becoming a Loyia-Biblio-ologist which will add to your Arabian Nights Epic bibliology!! <br /><br />[Reason I tend to avoid NZ books, somewhat: I would have double the number of books, as I know the more I got into it all the more I would acquire and would want more. I DO have a respectable NZ section but I have to stop....Why is it, for example, I kept about 10 of Keneally novels when all I have done is to watch Schindler's List? Because I thought I might one day want or 'need them'....It is a worry.]<br /><br />But Loy seems, if the lecture is good, to be 'about' more openness in relationship and despite some 'craziness' she seems to have an enlightened view of this business men and women which chimes with the confessional thing as she deals with it in a strange mix of method and madness (poetic 'madness'). So that you can read her Joannes love thing just as it is without understanding it as such. But she also, in her life, wanted to be at the front. She envied men that they were in that combat zone (I don't think she was naive although most people were until they entered combat zones) but she was trying to say something about the struggle and she also reacts to Futurism, accepting some ideas and rejecting others. Marinetti was one of her lovers. So she is certainly interesting and the writing I find vital.<br /><br />Get a student of yours to do a PhD on her! Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10272507198753290435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-90947233831178086502017-12-23T07:40:04.619+13:002017-12-23T07:40:04.619+13:00I do have a copy of a Mina Loy book: The Lost Luna...I do have a copy of a Mina Loy book: The Lost Lunar Baedeker, it's called, I think.<br /><br />I must confess I haven't read it, but looking at the online reviews makes me wonder why not - it sounds pretty fascinating. Thanks for the tip, Richard.Dr Jack Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-21514821680212514592017-12-23T01:51:40.579+13:002017-12-23T01:51:40.579+13:00Interesting. I forget if I have read a poem by Sas...Interesting. I forget if I have read a poem by Sassoon. I have read Rosenberg, some Gurney, David Jones (via his In Parenthesis which I see as a poem) and Brooke. I like some of Rupert Brooke's but of course he never saw combat. I must have read some Sassoon. <br /><br />But I read Pat Barker's 'Regeneration Series' which I liked a lot. Graves I haven't read much of. Leicester liked his 'Goodbye to All That' which I have so I should have a look.<br /><br />I'm sure I read him (Sassoon), but probably within collections. I was impressed that he won an award for bravery and then went to protest the war, then returned to the war. It is all bizarre. A terrible war. We need to forget it now it is 100 years ago. Perhaps get worked up about the NZ Wars or the Pelopnnesian Wars....I think the war mongers and the RSA milk all these wars. They dream of more wars. They love wars these crazy RSA warmongers and ANZAC fanatics. <br /><br />PS I have become fascinated by the work of Mina Loy who I had heard of but only now have been able to read. Do you know her work. She was an eccentric like Laura Ryder (who connects to Graves of course, but I find her poetry, not always, but often rather obscure. She (Ryder) wrote some mysterious stories though..)....But Mina Loy was mentioned (quoted in part) by Brentley Fraser in the book I reviewed, and it piqued my interest in her. Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10272507198753290435noreply@blogger.com