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Five Avant-Garde Canadians of 2007

By Christian Bök

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I am embarking upon my vacation for the holidays—but before departing, I am going to propose five of the best books of avant-garde poetry published in Canada during this last year. I recommend them all to any interested readership outside my country:
1. Yesno by Dennis Lee
2. The Alphabet Game by bpNichol
3. Thumbscrews by Natalie Zina Walschots
4. Fake Math by Ryan Fitzpatrick
5. Human Resources by Rachel Zolf
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Yesno.jpg
Yesno
by Dennis Lee
House of Anansi
2007
Yesno is the sequel to Un—and like its predecessor, this book continues to speak in the style of Paul Celan about the forthcoming catastrophe of the environment.
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Alphabet%20Game.jpg
The Alphabet Game
by bpNichol
Coach House Books
2007
The Alphabet Game is a compendium of material by bpNichol, the poet who has done more than any other writer to promote the values of linguistic radicalism in Canada.
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Thumbscrews.jpg
Thumbscrews
by Natalie Zina Walschots
Snare Books
2007
Thumbscrews engages with the aesthetics of sadomasochism in order to generate elegant, sensual poetry that writhes inside the shackles of its own linguistic constraint.
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Fake%20Math.jpg
Fake Math
by Ryan Fitzpatrick
Snare Books
2007
Fake Math recombines the results from Internet searches in order to generate poetry that provides an incisive, sardonic critique of contemporary, sociological discourse.
—————–
Human%20Resources.jpg
Human Resources
by Rachel Zolf
Coach House Books
2007
Human Resources uses machines to generate poetry that, likewise, provides a political critique of quotidian language, now debased by the wasteful excesses of capitalism.

2007-12-20

Comments (4)

  • On December 20, 2007 at 8:41 pm Steve wrote:

    Care to post a poem, or sample lines, from any of those? I’m especially interested in the Lee (I have read some of his work before, I believe) and the Walschots (never heard of her).
    Report this comment

  • On December 21, 2007 at 9:36 pm Christian Bök wrote:

    Hello, Steve:
    I will happily do some longer reviews of these books in the New Year.
    Report this comment

  • On December 22, 2007 at 12:04 pm Peter Culley wrote:

    Where’s Donato Mancini? His “Aethel” was clearly the most innovative book published in Canada last year…or does the “avant-garde” (Dennis Lee?) stop at the Rockies?
    Report this comment

  • On December 27, 2007 at 9:36 pm Sandra wrote:

    Looks like more of the same Calgary-Toronto backslapping. When will it end?
    Report this comment


Posted in Group Blog, Uncategorized on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 by Christian Bök.

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