WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.250 align:middle line:84% It's my pleasure to introduce Susan Briante, who 00:00:02.250 --> 00:00:03.900 align:middle line:90% will introduce Rachel for us. 00:00:03.900 --> 00:00:06.212 align:middle line:84% Susan's on faculty here at the University of Arizona. 00:00:06.212 --> 00:00:07.420 align:middle line:90% She teaches creative writing. 00:00:07.420 --> 00:00:08.580 align:middle line:90% She's a wonderful poet. 00:00:08.580 --> 00:00:11.310 align:middle line:84% Her new book of poems is out this spring, The Market 00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:12.420 align:middle line:90% Wonders. 00:00:12.420 --> 00:00:14.010 align:middle line:84% Please help me welcome Susan Briante. 00:00:14.010 --> 00:00:16.890 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:16.890 --> 00:00:19.770 align:middle line:90% 00:00:19.770 --> 00:00:22.180 align:middle line:84% It's about the vertically-challenged Susan 00:00:22.180 --> 00:00:23.920 align:middle line:90% Briante. 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:24.760 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Tyler. 00:00:24.760 --> 00:00:25.760 align:middle line:90% It's so nice to be here. 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:28.600 align:middle line:84% It's so nice to see you here and not see you at a basketball 00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:31.840 align:middle line:90% game, where I'm not. 00:00:31.840 --> 00:00:34.240 align:middle line:84% So over the past week or so, I've 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:37.150 align:middle line:84% had the pleasure of spending some time with Rachel. 00:00:37.150 --> 00:00:40.360 align:middle line:84% And in that time, I've heard her say emphatically 00:00:40.360 --> 00:00:43.050 align:middle line:84% and repeatedly that she hates introductions. 00:00:43.050 --> 00:00:44.200 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:44.200 --> 00:00:46.180 align:middle line:84% In fact, I believe I heard her say 00:00:46.180 --> 00:00:47.635 align:middle line:90% that they sound like eulogies. 00:00:47.635 --> 00:00:49.990 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:49.990 --> 00:00:55.148 align:middle line:84% So in the spirit of testimony instead of eulogy, 00:00:55.148 --> 00:00:56.440 align:middle line:90% I'm going to give this a whirl. 00:00:56.440 --> 00:00:58.150 align:middle line:84% And hopefully, I won't piss you off. 00:00:58.150 --> 00:01:00.520 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:02.470 align:middle line:84% What I feel like is important to tell 00:01:02.470 --> 00:01:04.690 align:middle line:84% you is that Rachel Zucker is not only 00:01:04.690 --> 00:01:07.720 align:middle line:84% the author of an astonishing body of poetry, 00:01:07.720 --> 00:01:10.900 align:middle line:84% but even before she was given this really 00:01:10.900 --> 00:01:13.570 align:middle line:84% interesting and amazing opportunity to create 00:01:13.570 --> 00:01:16.930 align:middle line:84% these series of lectures, she'd already established herself 00:01:16.930 --> 00:01:20.830 align:middle line:84% as a critic of what I would call considerable and necessary 00:01:20.830 --> 00:01:22.270 align:middle line:90% talent. 00:01:22.270 --> 00:01:25.600 align:middle line:84% You need only check out the Academy of American Poets 00:01:25.600 --> 00:01:30.310 align:middle line:84% website, poets.org, to find some of her thinking 00:01:30.310 --> 00:01:35.320 align:middle line:84% on issues such as the first person, the long poem, 00:01:35.320 --> 00:01:39.400 align:middle line:84% the self, and confessional poetry. 00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:42.670 align:middle line:84% Just to give you an idea of the intelligence and creativity 00:01:42.670 --> 00:01:45.190 align:middle line:84% at work in these essays, I'll tell you 00:01:45.190 --> 00:01:48.850 align:middle line:84% that Rachel has helped me take students 00:01:48.850 --> 00:01:53.200 align:middle line:84% through a brief history of the lyric I from Shakespeare 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:56.590 align:middle line:84% to our current post-language, post-confessional, post 00:01:56.590 --> 00:02:02.200 align:middle line:84% post-modern moment in the course of a class period. 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:06.170 align:middle line:84% Her work is as funny as it is insightful. 00:02:06.170 --> 00:02:10.810 align:middle line:84% She has coined the terms autobiographicality, 00:02:10.810 --> 00:02:14.980 align:middle line:84% confessionalography, confessionalistic, 00:02:14.980 --> 00:02:20.500 align:middle line:84% and the acronym, this is my personal favorite, G-N-A-T, 00:02:20.500 --> 00:02:25.225 align:middle line:84% or GNAT, which stands for a grossly non-academic talk. 00:02:25.225 --> 00:02:26.740 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:26.740 --> 00:02:28.870 align:middle line:84% She actually uses that to preface at least two 00:02:28.870 --> 00:02:31.060 align:middle line:90% of her essays that I know of. 00:02:31.060 --> 00:02:33.910 align:middle line:84% But despite that self-deprecation 00:02:33.910 --> 00:02:37.150 align:middle line:84% inherent in the acronym, I've been teaching these essays 00:02:37.150 --> 00:02:40.990 align:middle line:84% in university settings for many years. 00:02:40.990 --> 00:02:44.110 align:middle line:84% Perhaps that's because Rachel Zucker, the critic, 00:02:44.110 --> 00:02:48.820 align:middle line:84% is much less interested in king-making or canon-building 00:02:48.820 --> 00:02:54.740 align:middle line:84% than she is about thinking about poetry from the blank page up. 00:02:54.740 --> 00:02:56.590 align:middle line:84% What you'll witness in these essays, 00:02:56.590 --> 00:02:59.200 align:middle line:84% and I'm assuming here tonight, is 00:02:59.200 --> 00:03:02.080 align:middle line:84% the mind of a poet who's continually 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:05.920 align:middle line:84% studying, questioning, qualifying, 00:03:05.920 --> 00:03:09.010 align:middle line:84% and even occasionally contradicting themselves 00:03:09.010 --> 00:03:14.050 align:middle line:84% in that messy, exhilarating process that is art-making. 00:03:14.050 --> 00:03:18.130 align:middle line:84% How lucky we are to hear some of the thinking 00:03:18.130 --> 00:03:22.810 align:middle line:84% of an artist whose practice is not only very alive but vital. 00:03:22.810 --> 00:03:25.770 align:middle line:90% I present to you, Rachel Zucker.