The Recovery of the Public World: Essays on Poetics in Honour of Robin Blaser
Language: English
Published by Talonbooks, Burnaby, 1999
- First Edition
- Softcover
- Used

Seller: Purpora Books, Comox, BC, CanadaPurpora Books
AbeBooks seller since August 30, 1997
Condition: Used
£ 13.89
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
464 pages with a few B/W illustrations.
Seller Inventory # 12301
- Title
- The Recovery of the Public World: Essays on Poetics in Honour of Robin Blaser
- Author
- (Blaser, Robin). Charles Watts & Edward Byrne (editors)
- Publisher
- Talonbooks, Burnaby
- Publication year
- 1999
- Condition
- Near Fine Plus.
- Binding
- Trade Paperback Original
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0889223882
- ISBN 13
- 9780889223882
- Edition
- First Edition.
- Seller catalogs
- Canadian Literature
The Recovery of the Public World is a collection of texts and talks which address the work of poet Robin Blaser and the field inhabited by his work. It is a field in which the private and the public are grounded in a poetic thinking that operates within the problematics of companionship and community. The companions are “you, dear reader,” the ghosts of Pindar, Duncan, Dante, Sappho, Spicer, Nerval, Mallarmé … and the inquiring voices, echoing throughout this book, of Arendt, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, Lacan, Deleuze, Agamben, Serres, De Certeau, Nancy, Ronell.… The community is an “image-nation,” a community in which, in Robin Blaser’s words, “the struggle in philosophy and poetry [is] central to our private and public lives.” Speaking, writing, working out a poetics like Blaser’s, which is both furious and intelligent, compassionate and amiable, as well as active in its imagination, offers to many of us a means of resistance to that “conditionless condition” which characterizes the common predicament of the mass societies in which we live.
The Recovery of the Public World provides an introduction to that work which, until very recently, was the least well-known major body of work of all the poets who were included in Donald Allen’s ground-breaking anthology, The New American Poets. That Robin Blaser is one of the great North American poets is a fact which many of his peers have known for some time; the availability of The Holy Forest in print and the publication of the essays from three generations of poets from Canada, the U.S.A., the U.K. and New Zealand in The Recovery of the Public World now ensure that a wider reading public will know it as well.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Charles Watts was curator of Special Collections in Simon Fraser University’s library from 1980–1997. A man of rare enthusiasm and energy, he is credited with having built SFU’s contemporary literature collection into one of the best on the continent. In 1995 he and Edward Byrne organised a conference in honour of Robin Blaser and later edited a collection of essays under the same title, The Recovery of the Public World (Talonbooks 1998). He published one book of his own poetry, Bread and Wine (Tantrum 1987), and a number of essays and papers in journals.
Of his vocation, Watts said: “I consider my real graduate education to have begun when I became curator of the contemporary literature collection, I began to know something in detail of the energy, the remarkable production of work by North American poets writing since the end of the Second World War, both of little magazines and books.”
Watts was raised in Roseville, California, and came to Canada for masters studies under Robin Blaser at SFU. Blaser remembers that “Charles had a genius for companionship and drew others to him. He was a key figure in the writing community, particularly in Vancouver.”
Poet, translator, and essayist Edward (Ted) Byrne was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and moved to Vancouver in the late 1960s. His work has been published widely since the 1970s. For many years he was a researcher and later a director at the Trade Union Research Bureau. As a collective member of the Kootenay School of Writing (KSW) for over fifteen years, he organized readings, led seminars, wrote grant applications, and edited several issues of the journal W. He has been an active member in the Lacan Salon and one of its directors since 2010. He has a master’s degree in comparative literature from UBC, and has translated poetry from French, Old French, German, and Italian. His books include Aporia (1989), Beautiful Lies (1995), Duets (2018), A Flea the Size of Paris: The Old French fatrasies & fatras, with Donato Mancini (2020), and, as co-editor, Recovery of the Public World: Essays on Poetics in Honour of Robin Blaser (1999).
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Purpora Books
Comox, BC, Canada
AbeBooks seller since August 30, 1997
Shipping rates from Canada to U.S.A.
| Item | 10 to 20 business days | 5 to 10 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 14.24 | £ 26.23 |
Payment methods
Specialty
US & UK Modern First Editions, Antiquarian, Art & Photography, Canadiana, Vancouver Island Local Histories, Canadian Literature First EditionsSeller's business information
Purpora Books
BC, Canada
Terms of sale
Charles Purpora owns and operates Purpora Books at 1805 Butler Road, Comox,
British Columbia, Canada, and can be reached by e-mail at
charles@purporabooks.com or by phone at 250-890-1077.
Prices are in US dollars. Books are offered by mail; also our bookroom is open
by appointment - please call ahead. We also have a selection of over 4,000
additional books at Browns Books, a general used book store in north Burnaby
near the Vancouver border (3740 Hastings Street). Payment options include
cheque, money order, PayPal, or credit card options available through Abebooks.
For customers in Canada, the HST/GST is included in the price.
Books are returnable for full refund if done so within 10 days of receipt.
Please notify Purpora Books in advance of any returns.
Reciprocal discount offered to the trade.
Book condition is based on the following guidelines: Fine - a copy with only a
very minor flaw and may actually be new and unread; Near Fine - a copy with a
more significant flaw or several minor flaws and/or with an overall feel and
appearance of a lightly used book; Very Good - a more worn copy but still in
collectible condition. Book plates, remainder marks, previous owner names,
price-clipped dust jackets and store stamps are always mentioned.
A scan of a book cover is available upon request.
Right of withdrawal
If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.
Information regarding the right of withdrawal
Statutory right to withdraw
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.
To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).
We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.
We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.
We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.
You shall send back the goods or hand them over to Purpora Books, Comox, British Columbia, Canada, +1 250-890-1077, without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Exceptions to the right of withdrawal
The right of withdrawal does not apply to:
- The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
- The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.
Shipping terms
Orders usually ship within 2 business days. All books are shipped well protected.
Shipping costs are based on books weighing 2.2 LB, or 1 KG. If your book order is
heavy or over-sized, we may contact you about extra shipping charges being
required; conversely, thin, light books will ship for less in Canada and U.S.A.
(an adjustment to the shipping charge will be made after we receive your order at
the default rate).