Guy Bennett, is an American writer and
translator
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
. He lives in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
.
Biography
Guy Bennett was born in Los Angeles. After studies in art, music, languages and literature, he graduated with a PhD in French literature from
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
(UCLA) in 1993. Bennett has worked as a musician, teacher, translator, typographer, and book designer. He joined the faculty of
Otis College of Art and Design
Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California, United States. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aero ...
in 1999.
He was guest of honor of the
Oulipo
Oulipo (, short for ; roughly translated as "workshop of potential literature", stylized ''OuLiPo'') is a loose gathering of (mainly) French-speaking writers and mathematicians who seek to create works using constrained writing techniques. It wa ...
in 2024.
Work
Poetry
Early books (1998–2011)
Bennett’s early collections of poetry were written from source texts via the use of constraints. “His writing,” Douglas Messerli has noted, “often has formal systems quietly embedded in it, but the poetry itself is influenced by a wide range of interests: music
photography, film, architecture, and, as one might expect, the languages and literatures of other countries.” In ''The Row'' for example, Bennett adapts the fundamentals of the
twelve-tone technique
The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition. The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale ...
to verse, drawing its verbal content from writings on music by and about Anton Webern, a pioneer of twelve-tone composition. In “The Lilac Variations,” written in memoriam Jackson Mac Low, he applies the latter’s diastic method to Walt Whitman’s elegy on the death of Lincoln, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.” Commenting on this approach, Eleni Gioti observes that, “What he is ultimately interested in is the application of non-literary methods or systems through which poems can be created, and not so much the poems themselves as vehicles of description or narrative.” She adds:
Later books (2015–present)
His more recent collections have evolved away from “external” subject matter to address more writerly and literary concerns. In the essay “Guy Bennett : l’écriture marginale”
“Guy Bennett: Marginal Writing” Jean-Philippe Cazier has claimed that Bennett’s project consists of “writing books which are, as acts, critiques of the book, of the representation and production of the book, a critique that necessarily implies the creation of a new type of book centered on margins.” He explains:
Elaborating on this idea, Gioti writes that, “In itself, this gesture of shifting the center of gravity towards the margins of the poetic text, towards what surrounds a work as a ''parergon,'' has a strong political charge, as it subverts the traditional hierarchy between texts and locates (or invents) the poetic within the non-poetic.” Bennett himself has qualified these later works as explorations in
paratext
In literary interpretation, paratext is material that surrounds a published main text (e.g., the story, non-fiction description, poems, etc.) supplied by the authors, editors, printers, and publishers. These added elements form a frame for the ma ...
, “transforming literary dross
into fully-fledged writerly forms and literary genres now able to stand on their own
”
A similar de-centering informs ''Poetry from Instructions,'' a collaborative collection of generative poetry. In this case, the burden of authorship was assumed by the more than 50 contributors to the project: working from a set of verbal algorithms provided by Bennett, which they were free to interpret as they would, they created “original” poetic content that he otherwise had no hand in. His contribution – the instructions – opened a space for that of his collaborators – the poems themselves – which constitute the actual work.
Translation
In his work as a translator, Bennett has focused primarily on experimental writing by contemporary French and francophone authors, among them Nicole Brossard, Mohammed Dib, Jean-Michel Espitallier, Mostafa Nissabouri, Valère Novarina, and Jacques Roubaud. He has also extensively translated the Italian visual poet
Giovanna Sandri
Giovanna Sandri (1923–2002) was an Italian visual poet, associated with the Italian Neo-Avant-Garde movement. Her career started in the 1960s using dry transfer lettering.
Her work is included in the book ''Women in Concrete Poetry: 1959-1979 ...
, editing a volume of her selected poems in 2016. “I remain fascinated by visual poetries and other more marginal types of writings,” he remarked in an interview with Teresa Villa-Ignacio.
[Teresa Villa-Ignacio interviews Guy Bennett on translation and its relation to his writing, especially of poetry. (October 2013)] “
am intrigued by the problems they pose to translation and what one can make of
experimental writings that may not mean in traditional ways.”
Honors
Named ''
Chevalier de l'Ordre des palmes académiques
Chevalier may refer to:
Honours Belgium
* a rank in the Belgian Order of the Crown
* a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold
* a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold II
* a title in the Belgian nobility
France
* a rank in the French Legion d'h ...
'' by the French Ministry of National Education in April 2005.
Selected publications
Poetry
*''En exergue.'' Paris: Éditions LansKine, 2025.
*
Poetry from Instructions.' Los Angeles: Sophical Things, 2023.
*''Remerciements.'' (Co-translated with Frank Smith) Bordeaux: Éditions de l'Attente, 2021.
*''Wiersze zrozumiałe same przez się.'' (Translation of ''Self-Evident Poems'' by Aleksandra Małecka) Kraków: Korporacja HA!ART, 2021.
*
Post-Self-Evident-Poems.' Digital edition published by Jonas Pelzer, 2020.
*''Œuvres presque accomplies.'' (Co-translated with Frédéric Forte) Bordeaux: Éditions de l'Attente, 2018.
*''Ce livre.'' (Co-translated with Frédéric Forte) Bordeaux: Éditions de l'Attente, 2017.
*''Poèmes évidents.'' (Translation of ''Self-Evident Poems'' by the author and Frédéric Forte) Bordeaux: Éditions de l'Attente, 2015.
* ''View Source.'' London: vErIsImIlItUdE, 2015.
*''Self-Evident Poems.'' Los Angeles: Otis Books , Seismicity Editions, 2011.
*''32 Snapshots of Marseilles.'' Corvallis, OR: Sacrifice Press, 2010.
*''Drive to Cluster.'' In collaboration with painter Ron Griffin. Piacenza: ML & NLF, 2003.
*''The Row.'' Los Angeles: Seeing Eye Books, 2000.
*''Last Words.'' Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1998.
Translations
*Hollander, Benjamin. ''Vigilance.'' Bordeaux: Éditions de l’Attente, 2022.
ith Frank Smith and Françoise Valéry
The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometers, is the longest line of crags in North Germany.
Geography
Location
The Ith is im ...
*Nissabouri, Mostafa. ''For An Ineffable Metrics of the Desert.'' Los Angeles: Otis Books, 2018.
ith Pierre Joris, Addie Leak, and Teresa Villa-Ignacio*Sandri, Giovanna. ''only fragments found: selected poems, 1969–1996.'' Los Angeles: Otis Books, 2016.
ith Faust Paoluzzi and the author
The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometers, is the longest line of crags in North Germany.
Geography
Location
The Ith is im ...
*Dib, Mohammed. ''Tlemcen or Places of Writing.'' Los Angeles: Otis Books / Seismicity Editions, 2012.
*Spatola, Adriano. ''Toward Total Poetry.'' Los Angeles: Otis Books / Seismicity Editions, 2008.
ith Brendan W. Hennessey*Roubaud, Jacques. ''Poetry, etc. Cleaning House.'' Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2006.
*Khaïr-Eddine, Mohammed. ''Damaged Fauna.'' Los Angeles, Seeing Eye Books, 2006.
*Espitallier, Jean-Michel. ''Espitallier’s Theorem.'' Los Angeles: Seismicity Editions, 2005.
*Novarina, Valère. ''Adramelech’s Monologue.'' Los Angeles: Seeing Eye Books, 2004.
*Brossard, Nicole. ''Shadow / Soft et Soif.'' Los Angeles, Seeing Eye Books, 2003. Selections published i
Drunken Boat 8 (2006)
Selected reviews
*Cazier, Jean-Philippe, “Guy Bennett : Traduire le langage (''En exergue''),” ''Diacritik,'' February 3, 2025.
*Ménard, Pierre, “En exergue, de Guy Bennett: Une compilation d’épigraphes sur la création littéraire et artistique,” ''Liminaire,'' January 10, 2025.
*Nicolas, Alain, “Guy Bennett, merci pour tout et pour rien,” ''L’Humanité,'' July 14, 2021.
*Cazier, Jean-Philippe, “Guy Bennett : l’écriture marginale (''Remerciements''),” ''Diacritik,'' July 9, 2021.
*Rosset, Christian, “Petite constellation d’été : poésie,” ''Diacritik,'' July 6, 2021.
*Dubost, Jean-Pascal, “(Note de lecture), Guy Bennett, ''Œuvres presque accomplies,''” ''Poezibau,'' October 31, 2018.
*Chevillard, Éric, “La fabrique du texte : La chronique d’Éric Chevillard, à propos de « Ce livre », de Guy Bennett,” ''Le Monde,'' March 9, 2017.
*Claro, Christophe, “Le magicien glose : Bennett en son miroir,” ''Le clavier cannibale,'' February 7, 2017.
*Nicolas, Alain, “L’irrésistible évidence des poèmes de Guy Bennett,” ''L’Humanité,'' March 2, 2016.
*Chevillard, Éric, “Nul ptyx : Éric Chevillard chante, lyrique, l’évidence du poète américain Guy Bennett.” ''Le Monde,'' October 7, 2015.
Interviews
"Poesia secondo istruzioni, a cura di Guy Bennett,"''Nazione Indiana,'' Andrea Inglese. (January 2023)
"Guy Bennett se raconte – L'Enfance de la littérature,"Permanences de la littérature, Marie-Laure Picot, directrice. (April 2019)
"Interview with Guy Bennett,"Teresa Villa-Ignacio interviews Guy Bennett on translation and its relation to his writing, especially of poetry. (October 2013)
"LA-Lit Interviews Guy Bennett,"by Stephanie Rioux and Mathew Timmons. (February 2006)
* "Entrevue avec le poète américain Guy Bennett réalisée par Hassan El Ouazzani." art Le Sabord 70 (2005): 44–51.
"Paris / Morocco / L.A.: Poet, translator, and publisher Guy Bennett talks (with Leonard Schwartz) about his poetry, his publishing venture Seeing Eye Books, and his translations of Valère Novarina and Mostafa Nissabouri."
''Double Change II'' (2002).
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Guy
1960 births
Living people
American male poets
Poets from Los Angeles
Otis College of Art and Design faculty
Chevaliers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques
21st-century American poets
21st-century American translators
21st-century American male writers