WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.490 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.490 --> 00:00:03.960 align:middle line:84% I'm going to read a series of poems 00:00:03.960 --> 00:00:05.820 align:middle line:84% from the manuscript I'm working on. 00:00:05.820 --> 00:00:09.067 align:middle line:90% 00:00:09.067 --> 00:00:10.900 align:middle line:84% More or less, I can read the middle section. 00:00:10.900 --> 00:00:13.840 align:middle line:84% I have maybe 23 poems in manuscript, 00:00:13.840 --> 00:00:16.990 align:middle line:84% and I've been reading about a third of that-- 00:00:16.990 --> 00:00:21.460 align:middle line:84% third of it, just stop almost when it's read. 00:00:21.460 --> 00:00:23.360 align:middle line:84% The manuscript still doesn't have a name, 00:00:23.360 --> 00:00:26.380 align:middle line:84% but it's had several along the way. 00:00:26.380 --> 00:00:27.910 align:middle line:84% At one point, I'm kind of obsessed 00:00:27.910 --> 00:00:32.392 align:middle line:84% with the color blue [PHONE RINGS] I'll get it. 00:00:32.392 --> 00:00:35.836 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:35.836 --> 00:00:42.336 align:middle line:90% 00:00:42.336 --> 00:00:43.003 align:middle line:90% Vibrate setting. 00:00:43.003 --> 00:00:43.670 align:middle line:90% Vibrate setting. 00:00:43.670 --> 00:00:46.160 align:middle line:90% 00:00:46.160 --> 00:00:47.720 align:middle line:84% I was obsessed with the color blue, 00:00:47.720 --> 00:00:50.810 align:middle line:84% and I was also obsessed with the idea of erasing part. 00:00:50.810 --> 00:00:52.760 align:middle line:84% So I thought I would call it B-L-U-E, 00:00:52.760 --> 00:00:55.010 align:middle line:90% but then the U would be erased. 00:00:55.010 --> 00:01:01.940 align:middle line:84% So it would be called "Ble," which is also 00:01:01.940 --> 00:01:05.990 align:middle line:84% the French word for wheat, which I'm also 00:01:05.990 --> 00:01:07.730 align:middle line:90% interested in as it happens. 00:01:07.730 --> 00:01:10.310 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:10.310 --> 00:01:14.900 align:middle line:84% But not a very good title for a book, so I ditched that one. 00:01:14.900 --> 00:01:18.920 align:middle line:84% And I thought I would call it at that point, "Gloire". 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:24.410 align:middle line:84% G-L-O-I-R-E. This is actually an important concept for me. 00:01:24.410 --> 00:01:26.468 align:middle line:84% It's just, it's the French word for glory. 00:01:26.468 --> 00:01:28.760 align:middle line:84% And I've been looking-- while I was writing, especially 00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:30.950 align:middle line:84% the section that I'm going to read this evening, 00:01:30.950 --> 00:01:32.870 align:middle line:90% I wrote a lot of it in Paris. 00:01:32.870 --> 00:01:35.750 align:middle line:84% I had been going to museums a lot and looking at Renaissance 00:01:35.750 --> 00:01:38.090 align:middle line:90% and pre-Renaissance paintings-- 00:01:38.090 --> 00:01:40.220 align:middle line:84% almost entirely religious paintings-- 00:01:40.220 --> 00:01:43.940 align:middle line:84% and the glory of God or statue of the Christ or the Virgin 00:01:43.940 --> 00:01:45.020 align:middle line:90% is always represented. 00:01:45.020 --> 00:01:46.520 align:middle line:84% It's like it's always called gloire, 00:01:46.520 --> 00:01:48.590 align:middle line:84% so it's like you know Jesus rising 00:01:48.590 --> 00:01:51.200 align:middle line:84% into gloire, or like the gloire of the Virgin. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:54.388 align:middle line:84% And it's always represented this with gold leaf, 00:01:54.388 --> 00:01:56.180 align:middle line:84% you know they lay gold leaf on the painting 00:01:56.180 --> 00:01:58.490 align:middle line:84% like a motherfucker, and that's just 00:01:58.490 --> 00:02:02.960 align:middle line:84% to let you know that the spirit of the Lord is there 00:02:02.960 --> 00:02:06.600 align:middle line:84% and that it's very important and valuable. 00:02:06.600 --> 00:02:09.139 align:middle line:84% And in fact-- I mean, I find this deeply-- 00:02:09.139 --> 00:02:11.900 align:middle line:84% if I was a cynical person I would think that was stupid. 00:02:11.900 --> 00:02:12.500 align:middle line:90% But I'm not. 00:02:12.500 --> 00:02:13.833 align:middle line:90% I mean, I find it deeply moving. 00:02:13.833 --> 00:02:19.012 align:middle line:84% I am amazed by painters and jealous of the-- 00:02:19.012 --> 00:02:21.470 align:middle line:84% what some in teaching would call an indexical relationship. 00:02:21.470 --> 00:02:23.900 align:middle line:84% It's like it's really clear to them. 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:25.830 align:middle line:90% Gold leaf, glory of God, bang. 00:02:25.830 --> 00:02:27.210 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:27.210 --> 00:02:28.460 align:middle line:90% And you recognized the system. 00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:28.820 align:middle line:90% It works. 00:02:28.820 --> 00:02:29.180 align:middle line:90% You see it. 00:02:29.180 --> 00:02:30.710 align:middle line:84% And you're like [PUTS HANDS IN AIR] 00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:33.230 align:middle line:84% it's quite astonishing I think, and I'm really 00:02:33.230 --> 00:02:34.850 align:middle line:90% moved by the paintings. 00:02:34.850 --> 00:02:36.380 align:middle line:90% So Gloire is-- 00:02:36.380 --> 00:02:39.110 align:middle line:84% I mean, the paintings come up a lot and gold paint comes up 00:02:39.110 --> 00:02:41.443 align:middle line:90% a lot, museums come up a lot. 00:02:41.443 --> 00:02:43.610 align:middle line:84% So it seemed like a good title but then, my friends, 00:02:43.610 --> 00:02:48.260 align:middle line:84% explained to you that if you have a book titled in French, 00:02:48.260 --> 00:02:50.518 align:middle line:90% that's pretentious. 00:02:50.518 --> 00:02:53.450 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:53.450 --> 00:02:54.690 align:middle line:90% I take their point. 00:02:54.690 --> 00:02:57.650 align:middle line:84% So I abandoned Gloire, and I moved on to -- 00:02:57.650 --> 00:02:59.180 align:middle line:84% I was looking around for cover art, 00:02:59.180 --> 00:03:01.970 align:middle line:84% and I was really fascinated by this sort of drawing/painting 00:03:01.970 --> 00:03:06.043 align:middle line:84% by El Lissitzky from 1920 in the -- 00:03:06.043 --> 00:03:08.747 align:middle line:90% the brand new Soviet Republic. 00:03:08.747 --> 00:03:10.080 align:middle line:90% I think it was a great painting. 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:12.380 align:middle line:84% I thought it would make a great piece of cover art 00:03:12.380 --> 00:03:16.850 align:middle line:84% and easy to reproduce, and it's called Communications Workers, 00:03:16.850 --> 00:03:18.530 align:middle line:90% Remember the Year. 00:03:18.530 --> 00:03:21.570 align:middle line:84% And OK, that's a title for my book. 00:03:21.570 --> 00:03:23.428 align:middle line:84% And I held on to that for several months 00:03:23.428 --> 00:03:24.720 align:middle line:90% and I actually gave up on that. 00:03:24.720 --> 00:03:25.553 align:middle line:90% It's being unwieldy. 00:03:25.553 --> 00:03:28.070 align:middle line:90% So we're back down to the-- 00:03:28.070 --> 00:03:31.130 align:middle line:84% what I'm saying is I'm looking for suggestions. 00:03:31.130 --> 00:03:33.897 align:middle line:84% But that's the history of the manuscript which currently 00:03:33.897 --> 00:03:34.980 align:middle line:90% is back to being untitled. 00:03:34.980 --> 00:03:38.210 align:middle line:84% And I'm now going to read some poems from.