a delible mind

I’ve been curious about the title of Spencer Susser’s short, its genesis. Wonder if it comes from the old blues song called “Make me a pallet on your floor” (there’s a Buddy Bolden version of this song ringing out through the ether; at least, that’s what Rob would say — that our voices vibrate out towards the stars; not so indelible as the “voyager golden record” maybe, but tiny traces of us still, a resonance). The following is a transliteration of the 1911 version set down in “Mama Yancey and the Revival Blues Tradition.”

Make me a pallet on the floor,
Make it in the kitchen behind the door.

Oh, don’t turn a good man from your door,
May be a friend, babe, you don’t know.

Oh, look down that lonesome lane,
Made me a pallet on the floor

Oh, the reason I love Sarah Jane,
Made me a pallet on the floor.

(Odum 1911)

Spencer Susser’s short.

I Love Sarah Jane Play Now | Play in Popup | Direct Link

A couple of upcoming events:

The Writer’s Studio / SFU Open House
Booksigning
Saturday February 5th, 11:15-11:45 a.m.

On Edge Reading Series
Reading followed by Q&A
Emily Carr University
South Building 406
Thursday, Mar 24, 7 p.m.

Book Launch – October 28

Come to the launch of Harry Karlinsky’s first novel!

The Evolution of Inanimate Objects:

Thursday, October 28th
7:00 to 9:00 pm
Reading begins at 7:30 pm
Introduction by editor Anne Stone

Coffee and dessert will be served.

RSVP to library@jccgv.bc.ca

Jewish Community Centre (JCC)
2nd Floor
Isaac Waldman Library
950 West 41st Ave (at Oak)
604-257-5111 ext 249

PARKING:
Large parking lot attached to the JCC entrance
off 41st Avenue

Praise for The Evolution of Inanimate Objects:

“An incredible work of the imagination. A revolutionary novel.”
Lee Henderson, author of The Man Game and The Broken Record Technique.

“The Evolution of Inanimate Objects invites us to surrender, for a few hours, the distinction between biography and fiction, reason and delusion, the organic and the contrived–and what sly fun ensues!”
Joan Thomas, author of Curiosity and Reading by Lightning

“Harry Karlinsky has produced an extraordinary artifact, a novel disguised as closely researched history, so carefully constructed and convincingly made that we believe in the sad, amusing, story as if it were fact. The book is wonderfully imagined; it is a romp, a mine of information, and a refined pleasure.”
Dr. Vivian M. Rakoff, Professor Emeritus, Dept of Psychiatry, University of Toronto

“This fascinating historical narrative succeeds not only in creating a convincing nineteenth century British-Canadian psychiatric milieu peopled by engaging characters, but also in delivering incisive comment — often satirical — on important themes and issues.”
Dr. Paul Potter, History of Medicine, University of Western Ontari

“A radical novel that, among other things, vividly recreates Dr. R.M. Bucke, one of Canadian history’s true eccentrics.”
George Fetherling, author and editor of more than 50 books, including Walt Whitman’s Secret

“I was completely taken by the story. It is a compelling read that takes the reader into another historical dimension, and suspends belief. The unlikely story of the evolution of cutlery even becomes plausible. In brief, it is a good and captivating read, solidly set within an historical context of great interest.”
Dr. Keith Benson, an historian of biology and past Principal of Green College at University of British Columbia

Betsy Warland came by the Arts Rational radio show on Thursday to talk about her new book, Breathing the Page: Reading the Act of Writing (Cormorant, 2010). Her book will be launched on Sunday, September 12, 5:30–7:30 pm, Rhizome Café, 317 East Broadway (at Kingsway).

You can catch the interview here:

Books Rational with Anne Stone #006: Author Betsy Warland [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Below, David McGimpsey on class & poetry (or reason ten, why I love David McGimspey).

David McGimpsey:  Of course I meet that kind of resistance all the time and, in some ways, it always surprises me. This resistance, of course, never actually comes from a stuffy Julliard professor looking down his or her nose at me as I besmirch the sublimity of Mozart. The resistance more often comes from sheltered MFAs, insecure grad students, and poetasters whose cultural palate, to use a comparison they will appreciate, is as extensive and refined as the menu at Arby’s. I should say, however, that I am not championing “the people” or the wisdom of the streets: rarely do I express knowledge and enthusiasm for products which are as culturally sanctified as the blues. I would rather write about The Karate Kid.

So, this dismissal, to put more of a spin on it, usually comes from good middle class folk who are trying to show off their decent educations and who just want to write their fancy poems about prowling mooncats or how awful that mean old Dick Cheney was and who would never think of themselves as enforcing class divisions. Good people know it’s not nice to say somebody who was born poor is unsalvageable, but somebody who publicly likes NASCAR or enjoys drinking diet soda from the can— well, good luck explaining that at the next departmental cinq a sept.

There’s a yawning, routine anti-Americanism which comes into play in this, of course, and it’s impossible to defend against the screeds of Canadian jingoists. I understand the role of elitism in the cultural production of poetry and how it simply does not welcome reference to working class culture (beyond sad imagery about defeated fathers in undershirts watching sports on the tube) and, on occasion, picking up on the simple bigotry behind it all, hurts to hear. But it remains strange to me that most of this tut-tutting comes not in service of actually promoting the ancients (my poetry is actually fond of the ancients, is conscious of both canon and repertoire) but mostly in service of trying to preserve a provincial notion of elitist social order organized around the idea of “poetry.” To keep it free of references to Miley Cyrus. Not in the name of Milton or Wordsworth, but in the name of some rather recent Canadian book of poetry with a title like In the House of the Moth-Stone. Not in the name of Mozart, but somehow in the name of boxed wine and sensible sweaters.  I actually prefer my snobs snobby.

Just days after Duthies Books announced its closure, this after 53 years in the business of selling books, there is a chance to save another independent bookstore.

People’s Coop books is my local bookstore. They handsold Delible, as they do a lot of other books by Vancouver-based authors. Every time I drop in, I always find some interesting political or literary boardbook for my babe.

Come to the Wise Hall Friday night, 7:30, and $10 will get you entrance to a marathon line-up. Charlie Demers is hosting. The writers on the bill include George Bowering, David Chariandy, Kevin Chong, Rex Weyler and me, as well as playwrights Marcus Youssef and Camyar Chai. You’ll see performances by comedians Morgan Brayton, Katie-Ellen Humphries, and Alicia Tobin, DJing by Dreamscene and music by Chelsea Johnson, The Carnival Band and Team YPE.

I just can’t see the drive without People’s Coop Books.

Just finishing up an email interview with a student who is studying Delible. She asked a question about the setting (why the suburb of Mississauga as opposed to the DTES) that renewed my thinking about suburbs as asocial spaces (something I thought a lot about while writing Delible). Here is part of my response:

The suburbs themselves interest me as a locale. They’re often portrayed idyllically in literary stories, but I wanted to explore how suburbs are (or aren’t) shaped for social uses. Suburbs aren’t built for walking or gathering – the suburbs are generally asocial in their organization. Especially now that I have a daughter, I really appreciate the way that the Commercial Drive neighbourhood is a series of beautifully social spaces, shared and inhabited by many different people. It’s quite remarkable. I can’t help but compare the experience of living here with living in a suburb, a neighbourhood of quiet homes set very far apart from gathering spaces (which tend to be very condensed commercial spaces, like malls). So, you get miles and miles of houses, then a node of commercial activity (a mall), then miles and miles of houses. In the Commercial Drive area, by comparison, social spaces dot the neighbourhood; residential, commercial and social areas intermingle. The asocial organization of suburbs makes driving a necessity. For a teen, who cannot drive, a suburb can be as entrapping as an island; it can be experienced as a real wasteland.

There’s an interview with Cormac McCarthy out. It’s been excerpted on various blogs, including Bookninja — the line specifically where he says

CM: I’m not interested in writing short stories. Anything that doesn’t take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth doing.

which is smart and made me laugh out loud. Until I read on, the part where he talks about his (scientist) friends at the Sante Fe Institute. He says something here that feels much more true, and echoes something Wayde once said to me:

CM: I have friends at the Institute. They’re just really bright guys who do really difficult work solving difficult problems, who say, “It’s really more important to be good than it is to be smart.” And I agree it is more important to be good than it is to be smart. That is all I can offer you.

Last Thursday, I had a chance to interview Charles Demers, whose book The Prescription Errors is the lastest Wayside Editions title at Insomniac Press. He was (of course) an awesome interview. Earlier this month, when interviewed at This Magazine‘s blog, he had this to say:

“I know one thing I wanted was to write about an intelligent person who doesn’t have money; usually, the kinds of characters who get to have existential worries are middle-class types, while working-class people deal with external challenges, say, oppression by social and natural phenomena.”

We get into class and representation towards the end of the interview — a subject that there’s so much more to say about.

You can hear my interview with Demers below (or subscribe to “Books Rational” through Itunes, and also get older interviews with Hiromi Goto, Aaron Peck, & others).

Books Rational with Anne Stone #005: Charles Demers [ 21:04 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download