Robin Francis Blaser (May 18, 1925 – May 7, 2009) was an American-born Canadian playwright, poet, and translator.

Personal background

Born in

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Blaser grew up in

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

, and came to

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

, in 1944. There he met Jack Spicer and Robert Duncan, becoming a key figure in the

San Francisco Renaissance The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centered on San Francisco, which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetry avant-garde in the 1950s. However, others (e.g., Alan Watt ...

of the 1950s and early 1960s. He moved to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in 1966, joining the faculty of

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

; after taking early retirement in the 1980s, he held the position of

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

. He lived in the

Kitsilano Kitsilano ( ) is a neighbourhood in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Named after Squamish chief August Jack Khatsahlano, Kitsilano is located along the southern shore of English Bay, Vancouver, English Bay between Fairview, Vancou ...

neighborhood of

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. In June 1995, for Blaser's 70th birthday, a conference was held in Vancouver to pay tribute to his contribution to

Canadian poetry Canadian poetry is poetry of or typical of Canada. The term encompasses poetry written in Canada or by Canadian people in the official languages of English and French, and an increasingly prominent body of work in both other European and Indigen ...

. The conference, known as the "Recovery of the Public World" (a phrase borrowed from

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German and American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theory, political theorists of the twentieth century. Her work ...

), was attended by poets from around the world, including Canadian poets

Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer and essayist. Ondaatje's literary career began with his poetry in 1967, publishing ''The Dainty Monsters'', and then in 1970 the critically a ...

Steve McCaffery Steven McCaffery (born January 24, 1947) is a Canadian poet and scholar who was a professor at York University. He currently holds the David Gray Chair at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. McCaffery was born in Sheffie ...

, Phyllis Webb, George Bowering, Fred Wah, Stan Persky and Daphne Marlatt; and poets who reside in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, including Michael Palmer and Norma Cole (who was born in Canada, subsequently migrating to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

). Blaser was also well known as the editor of '' The Collected Books of Jack Spicer'', which includes Blaser's essay, ''The Practice of Outside''. The 1993 publication ''The Holy Forest'' represents his collected poems to that date. In 2006, Blaser received a special Lifetime Recognition Award given by the trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, which also awards the annual

Griffin Poetry Prize The Griffin Poetry Prize is a Canadian poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. Before 2022, two separate awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. I ...

. Blaser won the Prize itself in 2008.

Bibliography

Poetry

*''The Moth Poem'' (White Rabbit Press, 1964) *'' Les Chimères: Translations of Nerval for Fran Herndon'' (Open Space, 1969) *''Cups'' (Four Seasons Foundation, 1968) *''Image Nations 1-12 & The Stadium of the Mirror'' (Ferry Press, 1974) *''Image Nations 13 & 14, Luck Unluck Oneluck, Sky-stone, Suddenly, Gathering'' (Cobblestone Press, 1975) *''Harp Trees'' (Sun Stone House & Cobblestoen Press 1977) *''Image Nation 15: The Lacquerhouse'' (W. Hoffer, 1981) *''Syntax'' (Talonbooks, 1983) *''The Faerie Queene and The Park'' (Fissure Books, 1987) *''Pell Mell'' (Coach House, 1988) *''The Holy Forest'', edited Stan Persky & Michael Ondaatje (Coach House, 1993) *''Nomad'' (Slug Press, 1995) *''Wanders'', with Meredith Quartermain (Nomados, 2002) *''The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser'', revised and expanded edition, edited Miriam Nichols (University of California Press, 2007). (winner of the 2008 Canadian

)

Essays

*''The Fire'', 1967 *''The Stadium of the Mirror'', 1974 *''The Practice of Outside'', 1975 *''The Violets: Charles Olson and

Alfred North Whitehead Alfred North Whitehead (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He created the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which has been applied in a wide variety of disciplines, inclu ...

'', 1983 *''My Vocabulary Did This To Me'' n Jack Spicer 1987 *''Poetry and Positivisms'', 1989 *''The Elf of It'' n Robert Duncan 1992 *''The Recovery of the Public World'' and ''Among Afterthoughts on This Occasion'', 1993 *''Here Lies the Woodpecker Who Was Zeus'' n Mary Butts 1995 * ''Bach's Belief'' (Institute of Further Studies, 1995) *''Thinking about Irreparables, a talk'' (''Raddle Moon'', 2000) *''The Fire: Collected Essays of Robin Blaser'', edited Miriam Nichols (University of California Press, 2006) Includes "Poetry and Positivisms," "The Recovery of the Public World," " 'My Vocabulary Did This to Me,' " "The 'Elf' of It," "Bach's Belief," and most of the others listed above. *''The Astonishment Tapes: Talks on Poetry and Autobiography'', ed. Miriam Nichols (University of Alabama Press, 2015).

Opera libretto

*'' The Last Supper, the libretto for Harrison Birtwistle's opera (2000)

References

External links

Robin Blaser Homepage at the Electronic Poetry CenterLiterary Encyclopedia entryGriffin Poetry Prize biographyGriffin Poetry Prize reading, including video clipGriffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120425163126/http://malahatreview.ca/issues/176reviews_cole.html "Robyn Blaser and Friendship," a review essay by Richard Colebr>MP3 files of Blaser's readings and lecturesSmall Press Traffic honor Blaser's entry in ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''Robin Blaser's obituary notice
from poet Charles Bernstein, including Bernstein's "Afterword" to ''The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser'' (2006)
"Robin Blaser, 1925-2009: Death’s Duty"
by Stan Persky
‘Showing us things both marvellous and horrific'
by Sandra Martin in ''The Globe and Mail''
Records of Robin Blaser are held by Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaser, Robin 1925 births 2009 deaths Academic staff of Simon Fraser University 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people 20th-century Canadian male writers 20th-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian poets American emigrants to Canada American gay writers American LGBTQ poets American opera librettists Canadian male poets Canadian gay writers Canadian LGBTQ poets Canadian opera librettists Gay poets Poets from Colorado Poets from Vancouver Translators of Gérard de Nerval Writers from Berkeley, California Writers from Denver Writers from Idaho