No, the late Robert Duncan hasn't risen to walk among us (although it sort of looks like he's thinking about it in the photo above, from Michael Anania's old magazine Audit). But his spirit will surely descend on the attendees of a Duncan shindig sponsored by the Chicago Poetry Project, the Writ ing Program of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Poetry Center of Chicago.
I mean, what more could you want? Michael Palmer will be there, and Nathaniel Mackey, and Joseph Donahue (to whom I owe a bourbon, after the MLA in Philly last year) and Peter O’Leary (whom I last saw manfully brazening his way through an evening at the Brazilian consulate with what looked like a blood stain on his shirt). Norman Finkelstein will be there, and my old prof Stephen Fredman, and Canada's own Stephen Collis, and many more. Look for me by the book table, trying to cadge free copies of whatever's on offer.
The official details:
The Truth and Life of Myth: A Robert Duncan Symposium
April 22-24, 2010
Chicago
“The surety of the myth for the poet has such force that it operates as a primary reality in itself, having volition. The mythic content comes to us, commanding the design of the poem; it calls the poet into action, and with whatever lore and craft he has prepared himself for that call, he must answer to give body in the poem to the formative will.”
Keynote speakers:
Michael Palmer - “Robert Duncan and the Invention of Childhood”
Nathaniel Mackey in conversation with Joseph Donahue and Peter O’Leary
Presenters:
Faith Barrett + Stephen Collis + Joseph Donahue + Amy Evans + Norman Finkelstein + Stephen Fredman + Karl Gartung + Siobhan Scarry + MargaretSloan + Brian Teare
Events include: talks and read ings by the keynote speak ers; a dramatic reading of Duncan’s play “Medea in Kolchis”; poetry readings by presenters; and talks, presentations, and conversation about Robert Duncan’s poetry.
Events will take place at the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
in the Columbus Auditorium
280 S. Columbus Drive
Chicago, IL 60603
and
The Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection
5th floor, 37 S. Wabash Ave.
Chicago, IL 60603
More information is available on the Chicago Poetry Project blog.