Ron Silliman (born August 5, 1946) is an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

. He has written and edited over 30 books, and has had his poetry and criticism translated into 12 languages. He is often associated with

language poetry The Language poets (or ''L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E'' poets, after the magazine of that name) are an avant-garde group or tendency in United States poetry that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The poets included: Bernadette Mayer, Leslie Sca ...

. Between 1979 and 2004, Silliman wrote a single poem, ''The Alphabet''.

Life and work

In the 1960s, Silliman attended

Merritt College Merritt College is a Public college, public community college in Oakland, California, United States. Merritt, like the other three campuses of the Peralta Community College District, is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accr ...

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, and left without attaining a degree. He lived in the San Francisco Bay area for more than 40 years. Silliman classifies his poetry as part of a lifework, which he calls '' Ketjak'', a name refers to a form of Balinese dance drama based on an ancient text. "Ketjak" is also the name of the first poem of ''The Age of Huts''. If and when completed, the entire work will consist of ''The Age of Huts'' (1974–1980), ''Tjanting'' (1979–1981), ''The Alphabet'' (1979–2004), and ''Universe'' (2005-).

Marriage and family

In 1995 Silliman moved to

Chester County, Pennsylvania Chester County (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Tscheschter Kaundi''), colloquially referred to as Chesco, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in ...

, where he lives with his wife Krishna and two sons.

Language poetry and critical writing

Although he has come to be associated with the

Language poets The Language poets (or L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E (magazine), ''L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E'' poets, after the magazine of that name) are an avant-garde group or tendency in United States poetry that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The poets included: Berna ...

for most of his career, Silliman came of age under the sign of Donald Allen's '' New American Poetry'' (1960). Regarding the latter publication, he's said that it is: Silliman was first published in Berkeley in 1965. In the 1960s he was published by journals associated with what he calls the School of Quietude, such as ''Poetry Northwest,'' ''TriQuarterly,'' ''Southern Review'' and ''Poetry.'' Silliman thought that such early acceptance was less a recognition of his skills than a lack of standards or rigor characteristic of that literary tendency; he began looking for alternatives. Some of these alternatives were initiated through various editing projects that he took part in, which gave him the opportunity to work with a wide range of poets. One of the more influential projects was Silliman's newsletter called ''Tottels'' (1970–81), that was one of the early venues for ''Language Poetry''. He says that "The Dwelling Place," a feature article on nine poets published in '' Alcheringa'' (1975), was his "first attempt to write about language poetry". In 1976 and 1977, he co-curated a reading series with Tom Mandel, at the ''Grand Piano'', a coffee house. Nearly three decades later, some of the poets who took part in this series were still collaborating on a work based on these readings. This collaboration became part of what was called "an experiment in collective autobiography," co-authored by ten of these Language poets in San Francisco. When the project was completed, it consisted of 10 volumes in all. The other nine writers included were Bob Perelman,

Barrett Watten Barrett Watten (born October 3, 1948) is an American poet, editor, and educator associated with the Language poets. He is a professor of English at Wayne State University in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, where he teaches modernism and cultural stu ...

, Steve Benson, Carla Harryman, Tom Mandel, Kit Robinson,

Lyn Hejinian Lyn Hejinian ( ; May 17, 1941 – February 24, 2024) was an American poet, essayist, translator, and publisher. She is often associated with the Language poets and is known for her landmark work ''My Life'' (Sun & Moon (publisher), Sun & Moon, 198 ...

, Rae Armantrout, and

Ted Pearson Ted Pearson (born 1948 in Palo Alto, California) is an American poet. He is often associated with the Language poets. Life and work Pearson was born in 1948 in Palo Alto, California. He began studying music in 1960 and began writing poetry in 196 ...

. " om 1976 to 1979 the authors took part in a reading and performance series. The writing project, begun in 1998, was undertaken as an online collaboration, first via an interactive web site and later through a listserv."

Criticism

Silliman's mature critical writing dates to the early/mid-1970s. Asked to discuss the role of reference in poetry, he wrote the essay, "Disappearance of the Author, Appearance of the World," which was first published in the journal ''Art Con.'' Soon he edited a special issue of the magazine ''Margins,'' devoted to the work of the poet Clark Coolidge. He began to give talks and contribute essays on a regular basis thereafter. He has said that he was influenced by the "New American Poetry", referring to the poets who were published in Donald Allen's groundbreaking anthology '' The New American Poetry 1945–1960''. Today, these same figures have been long recognized. In 1986, Silliman's anthology, ''In the American Tree'', a collection of American language poetry, was published by the National Poetry Foundation.

Legacy and honors

In 2012, Silliman was one of three Kelly Writers House Fellows at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, together with Karen Finley and

John Barth John Simmons Barth (; May 27, 1930 – April 2, 2024) was an American writer best known for his postmodern and metafictional fiction. His most highly regarded and influential works were published in the 1960s, and include '' The Sot-Weed Facto ...

. In 2010, he received the annual Levinson Prize from the Poetry Foundation. Silliman was a 2003 Literary fellow of the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

and a 2002 Fellow of the Pennsylvania Arts Council, as well as a PEW Fellow in the Arts in 1998. He is memorialized in the Addison Anthology, a sidewalk portion in

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 ...

containing plaques honoring poets and authors. Silliman was voted the Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere

Bibliography

*''Crow'' (1971) *''Mohawk'' (1973) *''Nox'' (1974) *''Ketjak'' (San Francisco: This Press, 1978) *''Sitting Up, Standing, Taking Steps'' (1978) *''Legend'' (1980, with Bruce Andrews, Charles Bernstein, Ray DiPalma,

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 ...

) *''Tjanting'' (1981; new edition from

Salt Publishing Salt Publishing is an independent publisher whose origins date back to 1990 when poet John Kinsella launched ''Salt Magazine'' in Western Australia. The journal rapidly developed an international reputation as a leading publisher of new poetry ...

, 2002) *''BART'' (1982) *''ABC'' (1983) *''Paradise'' (1985) *''The Age of Huts'' (1986) *''In the American Tree: Language, Realism, Thought'' ( National Poetry Foundation, 1986; second edition, 2001: anthology) *''Lit'' (1987) *''The New Sentence'' (1987, criticism) *''What'' (1988) *''Manifest'' (1990) * *''Demo to Ink'' (1992) *''Toner'' (1992) *''Jones'' (1993) *''N/O'' (1994) *''Xing'' (1996) *''MultiPlex'' (1998, with Karen Mac Cormack) *® (1999) *''Sunset Debris'' (ubu ebook, 2002), from The Age of Huts *''2197'' (ubu ebook, 2004,) from The Age of Huts *''Woundwood'' (2004) *''Under Albany'' (

, 2004), memoir *''The Chinese Notebook'' (2004, ubu ebook) from ''The Age of Huts'' *(contributor, to each of the 10 volumes)''The Grand Piano: An Experiment In Collective Autobiography'' (with Bob Perelman,

, Steve Benson, Carla Harryman, Tom Mandel, Rae Armantrout, Kit Robinson,

, and

) (Mode A/This Press, 2007: ) *''The Age of Huts ()'' (University of California Press, 2007) *''The Alphabet'' (University of Alabama Press, 2008) *''Wharf Hypothesis'' (Lines Chapbooks, 2011) - chapbook, from ''Northern Soul'' *''Revelator'' (BookThug Press, 2013) - the opening poem of a projected 360-poem sequence entitled ''Universe'' *''Northern Soul'' (Shearsman Books, 2014) - the second book of ''Universe''. *''Against Conceptual Poetry'' (Counterpath, 2014; criticism)

Critical studies and reviews of Silliman's work

;''Leningrad'' * ;''Alphabet'' * ;''The Difficulties''
Silliman issue 1985

References

External links

EPC pagePennSound page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silliman, Ron 1946 births American male poets American bloggers Language poets Living people Writers from San Francisco Pew Fellows in the Arts People from Pasco, Washington San Francisco State University alumni San Francisco State University faculty American male bloggers