WEBVTT

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--For us.

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So this is your chance
to welcome him back.

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And on February 9th, there
will be a concert sponsored

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by the University of
Arizona College of Fine Arts

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School of Music
and Dance, that is

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a collaboration between
composer Dan Asia and the poet

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Paul Pines, works that will be
performed by tenor Paul Sperry,

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accompanied by a
violin and piano.

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And that's at 3 o'clock
February 9th at Crowder Hall.

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And at 2, before
that event, there

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will be a panel discussion
by all three artists talking

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about the nature of a
words and music project.

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So I think that
will be interesting.

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And you'll see other publicity
about that in the usual places

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if you want to take
advantage of it.

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The University of
Arizona bookstore

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is here tonight selling
Bob Perelman's books,

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as is Charles Alexander
from CHAX Press.

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Charles has produced a really
beautiful small chapbook of one

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of Bob Perelman's poems, which
is for sale for a mere $5,

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a collector's item at a
bargain price for you tonight.

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And the UA bookstore
has a number

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of Perelman's other works,
and those will be for sale

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after the reading.

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I'd like to thank those who made
the reading possible tonight,

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some of our usual funders--

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the Arizona Commission on the
Arts, the University of Arizona

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Foundation, and in particular,
the Arizona Quarterly,

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who made a special gift to help
sponsor the reading tonight.

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Bob Perelman has been a shaper,
practitioner, and historian

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of the language
writing movement.

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Much of the charm and
intelligence of his work

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comes from the fact
that he is keenly aware

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that when one declares
a literary movement,

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one draws a border.

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I can't resist that overused
regional metaphor which others

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may fear or dread to cross.

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But even as he
draws that border,

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Perelman then applies his
intelligence and good humor

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to erasing it.

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He may want writing to be
an engine of social change.

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But he is the first
to acknowledge

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that aesthetically
radical work may appear

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so incomprehensible
to its audience

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that there is no one
there to be changed.

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His work is out to
change that by honoring

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how the writer's
need for innovation

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can meet his need
for an audience.

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When Perelman lived
in San Francisco,

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he edited Hills
magazine and coordinated

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the San Francisco Talks
series, that were later

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edited and gathered into
the influential series,

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Writing Talks,
published in 1985.

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His books of poetry include
Captive Audience, Braille

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and the two latest--

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Face Value and Virtual
Reality, both from Roof Books.

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He's also published two
important books of criticism

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that helped to place
the language writing

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movement within the context
of other 20th century Avant

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Garde movements.

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These books are The
Trouble with Genius:

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Reading Pound, Joyce, Stein,
and Zukofsky, published

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by the University of
California in 1994,

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and The Marginalization of
Poetry, published by Princeton

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last year.

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Tony Hoagland has
said about his work,

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that it has an antagonistic
relationship with authority,

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even its own authority.

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And I think that's right.

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He does not want to
be master of anything,

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even his own imagination
and poetic forms.

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The fact that I'm
president of this sentence

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should just be an
anecdote among friends.

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Always questioning,
poking, and poking fun

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at the relationship between
reality and language,

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always de-mastering
the master, his work

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is about the love of language
and the distrust of language

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that make poetry necessary.

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Please welcome Bob Perelman.

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[AUDIENCE APPLAUDS]

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