Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Larry Eigner Biography

I am beginning to explore the idea of writing a biography of Larry Eigner. I'm not sure what form this would take, or if anyone is undertaking such a task (although I know that his Collected Poems are coming out this year). Would anyone with thoughts, ideas, or interest in being interviewed please leave a comment or write to me @ saintlizstreet@hotmail.com

1 comment:

Kirby Olson said...

I would like to read this.

I really liked the biography of Joel Oppenheimer. It was terrific. Much better than any of his poems.

What would you say were the main EVENTS in Eigner's life?

In Oppenheimer's life it is organized around his lovers and their faithfulness or lack, and finally around his final illness.

I think you need to organize a biography around actions, since actions and the values they inscribe are inherently dramatic.

I wanted to write a biography of Gregory Corso but there are almost too many actions. It's just kind of a frenetic existence, bopping from continent to continent, with what must have been hundreds of partners, if not thousands.

Another interesting thing to do is to attempt a compilation of anecdotes by people who knew the subject. That's what I'm attempting to do with Corso. But my outreach has been less than stellar.

I think you can put requests for info in various journals like the TLS and the NYT BR, and others.

My original inspiration was Diogenes Laertius' book of anecdotes about classical philosophers, but I also used John Aubrey's book of anecdotes about his contemporaries in the early 17th century.