from The Rough Rider and Other Poems
Bliss Carman
New York: Kennerley, 1906
Related posts:
The Reader at Large
1 hour ago
13 October 2013
12 October 2013
The Foster Poetry Conference at Fifty
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| Irving Layton, Milton Wilson, Leonard Cohen, Eli Mandel and Aviva Layton, Foster Poetry Conference,, October 1963 |
Brome Lake Books
265 E Knowlton Rd
Knowlton, QC
12 October 2013, 2:00 pm
And what better day than today? 'Twas fifty years ago – 12 October 1963 – that Glassco's Foster Poetry Conference opened at the
Glen Mountain Ski Chalet. With Glassco, F.R. Scott, A.J.M. Smith, Irving Layton, Louis Dudek, Ralph Gustafson, Eldon Grier, D. G. Jones, Leonard Cohen, Leonard Angel, Kenneth Hetrz, Henry Moscowitz and Seymour Mayne, it remains the greatest gathering of Quebec's English-language poets.
Three days of poetry, comradeship and drink, even the most subdued reports paint it as a great success. Scott was so fired by the experience that he pressured Glassco to edit the proceedings for McGill University Press.
Three days of poetry, comradeship and drink, even the most subdued reports paint it as a great success. Scott was so fired by the experience that he pressured Glassco to edit the proceedings for McGill University Press.
Glassco agreed to take on the project, but soon came to recognize that the contents failed to capture anything of the exuberant nature of the conference. The late night conversations, the raw exchanges, the drinking – almost all that had been informal, spontaneous, and dynamic had been left unrecorded. What's more he found work on the book a "horrible bore." On 4 May 1964, he wrote Jean Le Moyne: "I shall never be an editor again: this is the work for professionals who have secretaries, electric typewriters, photocopy machines, the co-ordinative faculty and endless patience: but the book is now ready for press."
When the galleys arrived Glassco found the quality so poor that the November 1964 publication date had to be scratched. For months the anthology hung over his head as he awaited, with dread, the reset galleys. What arrived was much improved and he moved quickly to clear the sheets from his desk. Then, just when his work appeared to be finished, Glassco discovered that he'd been saddled with the task of distributing payments to the twenty contributors. The irritation was only compounded by the small sums. Leonard Cohen received three dollars, barely enough to purchase a copy of the book.
My work in editing Glassco's letters was much more pleasurable.
11 October 2013
Tonight: Honouring Gwendolyn Graham
All are welcome.
Speaking will be
Norman Ravvin, Associate Professor and Chair, Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies, Concordia University
Norman Ravvin, Associate Professor and Chair, Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies, Concordia University
and
Claire Holden Rothman, author of Salad Days, Black Tulips
and The Heart Specialist.
Claire Holden Rothman, author of Salad Days, Black Tulips
and The Heart Specialist.
The Venerable Linda Borden Taylor will officiate.
Friday, 11 October 2013, 6 p.m.
Church of St James the Apostle
1439 St Catherine Street West (Bishop Street entrance)
Montreal
A wine and cheese reception will follow.
07 October 2013
N is for Nablo News
All kinds of activity here this past weekend in preparation of Friday's Gwethalyn Graham plaque dedication and Saturday's John Glassco event, but I somehow managed to slip in a bit of work relating to James Benson Nablo. I can now report that The Long November, the Niagara Falls writer's only book, will be returning to print this coming spring as part of the Véhicule Press Ricochet Books series.
I could not be happier.
Set in Toronto, Chicago, Moreland Lakes (read: Kirkland Lake, Ontario), an unnamed Italian village and the author's hometown, The Long November is one of the most interesting novels of the post-war period. News Stand Library pitched it as "a tale of passion and virile drive". It's all that and more.
One of the unexpected pleasures of this exercise, this stroll through the neglected writing of our past, is that it has often brought contact with the children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces of the writers concerned. It was my good fortune that the daughter and grandson of James Benson Nablo spotted my posts on The Long November, the novel's paperback history and the author's career in Hollywood.
So it is that I spent an enjoyable few hours yesterday reading through five James Benson Nablo manuscripts on loan from Nancy Vichert, his daughter. As far as I've been able to determine, all are unpublished and have no connection with the stories that were adapted by Hollywood: Drive a Crooked Road, A Bullet for Joey, Raw Edge and China Doll.
After the success of The Long November – five editions in six years! – the native of Niagara Falls made his way to Hollywood. The duo-tang for one of the of the manuscripts features an address that places him within walking distance of Laurel Canyon Boulevard, not too far from Chateau Marmont:
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| 8401 Ridpath Drive, Hollywood, CA (cliquez pour agrandir) |
Nablo's talent was such that further adaptations appeared after his untimely death at the age forty-five.
I'm pleased to be involved with the return of The Long November. It's been more than a half-century. Long overdue.
Related posts:
06 October 2013
The Heart Accepts It All in Knowlton: An Invitation
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| John Glassco with 'housekeeper' Mary Elizabeth Wilson, Knowlton, QC, 1940 |
Join me this coming Saturday for the Eastern Townships' launch of
The Heart Accepts It All: Selected Letters of John Glassco.
The venue?
Knowlton's Brome Lake Books, not two kilometres from the Glassco's Windermere, immortalized in 'The White Mansion'.
Everyone welcome!
Saturday, 12 October 2013 at 2:00 p.m.
Brome Lake Books
264 E Knowlton Rd
Brome Lake, QC
A reception will follow.
05 October 2013
Tecumseh: 200 Years
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| Tecumseh c.1768 - 5 October 1813 RIP |
 |
| from Tecumseh: A Drama Charles Mair Toronto: Hunter, Rose, 1886 |
04 October 2013
Gwethalyn Graham Memorial Plaque
A week today, 11 October, will see the installation of a plaque dedicated to the memory of novelist Gwethalyn Graham at the Writers' Chapel of Montreal's St James the Apostle Anglican Church.
Speaking will be
Norman Ravvin, Associate Professor and Chair, Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies, Concordia University
Norman Ravvin, Associate Professor and Chair, Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies, Concordia University
and
Claire Holden Rothman, author of Salad Days, Black Tulips
and The Heart Specialist.
Claire Holden Rothman, author of Salad Days, Black Tulips
and The Heart Specialist.
The Venerable Linda Borden Taylor will officiate.
All are welcome.
Friday, 11 October 2013, 6 p.m.
Church of St James the Apostle
1439 St Catherine Street West (Bishop Street entrance)
Montreal
A reception will follow.
03 October 2013
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