Robert Bly in This World

by Smith, Thomas R.; Lenfestey, James

• ISBN13: 9780816677702
• ISBN10: 0816677700
• Edition: DVD
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-06-01
• Publisher: Univ of Minnesota Pr

Summary

In 1958, a powerful new voice in American poetry emerged from the windswept prairie farmland of western Minnesota. Beginning with publication of The Fifties, “a magazine of poetry, translation and general opinion,” Robert Bly’s transformative poetry, translations, essays, and poetry readings rolled across the country like an invigorating prairie storm. In his eighty-third year, to celebrate acquisition of his archives, the Elmer L. Andersen Library at the University of Minnesota sponsored a major conference, Robert Bly in This World. This is the record of that historic event. Scholars and authors from America and England presented papers on Bly’s poetry, translations, criticism, mythopoetic storytelling, and other major achievements, including his annual Great Mother and Minnesota Men’s conferences. A trip to Madison, Minnesota, where Bly’s writing studio has been restored and preserved on the Lac Qui Parle County fairgrounds, is also chronicled here, plus intimate appreciations by Bly’s friends and admirers Coleman Barks, Donald Hall, Jane Hirshfield, Lewis Hyde, and others. A vintage documentary on Bly, A Man Writes to a Part of Himself, screened at the conference, is included as a DVD in a supplement to the book. In Robert Bly’s long career as a poet and translator, he has authored more than forty volumes. His pioneering prose explorations of ancient stories include the international bestseller Iron John. His latest collection of poems, Talking into the Ear of a Donkey, was released in 2011.

Table of Contents

Preface: The Prophet Speaks Fire from the Provinces	p. 7
Introduction: Robert Bly in This World (and the Other)	p. 13
Lessons from Robert Bly's Barn	p. 19
Shadows on the Prairie: Where the Gift Gathers	p. 31
Birth of a Revolution: The Fifties	p. 47
Under the Sign of Odin: Robert Bly's Wild Little Magazine	p. 55
Bly and Wright: A Passionate Poem	p. 85
Antonio Machado's Eyeglasses: The Influence of Robert Bly's Translations on American Poetry	p. 96
So Much Happens When No One Is Watching	p. 110
Small Engine Repair: Thirty-Five Years of the Annual Conference on the Great Mother and the New Father, Organized by Robert Bly	p. 120
Notes and Pieces on Speaking Poems and Stories, Learning by Heart	p. 149
A Little Book Project with Robert Bly	p. 160
Praising the Soul in Women and Men: Robert Bly and the Men's Movement	p. 166
Robert Bly: Still Taking on the Wor(l)d	p. 186
Robert Bly's Poetry: The Later Years	p. 208
Robert Bly in the Shadow of Hafiz	p. 230
Releasing Birds to the Air (and two poems)	p. 268
Tributes	p. 273
The Poet Comes Home	p. 283
Chronology	p. 295
Contributor Notes
DVD. A Man Writes to a Part of Himself: Robert Bly
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