Thursday, October 11, 2012

Eigner Reading List

I am writing to you from the Dodd Research Center in Storrs Conn. The archive is a magical place. The librarians are wonderful and the resources are plenty! I stood in front of Charles Olson's copy of Moby Dick, literally.

As I go deeper down the well, I realize how important Larry Eigner was in the world of poetry and letters. Yesterday, I went through letters from Zukofski, Olson, Creeley, Anne Charters, and of course, Cid Corman. I am beginning to regard Larry as truly an anchor -- a bridge between poetries -- most notably Black Mountain and Language Poetry.

I plan (as part of the project) to retrace Eigner's reading. From the letters, I've been able to retrace the book he either read or interacted with through Corman's radio show. Here is PARTIAL list for 1956


Faulkner short stories
R. Graves/ Hercules My Shipmate
Stein
Duncan (both ‘lost on me')
I just read through the whole Maximus
Port of Glouchester / James B. Connelly
Maximus (again!)
Moby Dick
Paul Metcalf / Will West
Michael McClure / Passages
Ginsberg
Patchen
Ferlengetti ( It’s no wonder F rejected in the early part of this year, a previous draft)
Moby Dick (again!!)
Call Me Ishmael/ Olson
Crane
DHL Am Lit.

2 comments:

Tom Raworth said...

Good luck with your Eigner research: he certainly was a bridge between varied shores. It's half-a-century since we corresponded, but 23 Bates Road, Swampscott, Mass. is an address still instantly recalled. I just browsed through your entries after a link from a Google search for some InFolio stuff. Glad to see you have a book from Chax; they are among the very few decent printers left. Good wishes to you and your family. TR

Tom Raworth said...

I infer you're Lee's daughter. Good luck with your Eigner research: he certainly was a bridge between varied shores. It's half-a-century since we corresponded, but 23 Bates Road, Swampscott, Mass. is an address still instantly recalled. I just browsed through your entries after a link from a Google search for some InFolio stuff. Glad to see you have a book from Chax; they are among the very few decent printers left. Good wishes to you and your family. TR