Midway : Letters from Ian Hamilton Finlay to Stephen Bann 1964-69 - Hardcover

Stephen Bann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1908524340 ISBN 13: 9781908524348

Publisher: Wilmington Square Books, 2014

Synopsis

Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925-2006) was one of Scotland's leading 20th Century public intellectuals, and one of its most brilliant and combative correspondents. His letters raise issues of particular and widespread interest both within Scotland and further afield. His correspondence with Stephen Bann, the English poet and academic have a very special place in this context. These letters present the development of his ideas about poetry and art, and increasingly about sculpture and gardening, over this critical five year period of his creative life in 1964-69.

About this title

Review:

"The Scottish concrete poet, visual artist, short story writer, aphorist, editor, and 'avant-gardener' Ian Hamilton Finlay is one of the great polymaths of our time. His writings alone would put him in the pantheon of twentieth century poets."-Marjorie Perloff, author of The Futurist Moment and Unoriginal Genius: Poetry by other means in the 21st Century.
"Ian Hamilton Finlay was an entirely original, and continuously challenging, voice in the poetry of the English-speaking world over the second half of the twentieth century." --Stephen Bann, author of Ways Around Modernism
"Only a handful of poets working in the visual tradition in the twentieth century have a profile that shows up in the broader scenes of fine art and modern culture. Among them, Ian Hamilton Finlay is probably the most frequently cited." Johanna Drucker, Professor, UCLA.
"While Ian Hamilton Finlay's career is one of complexity, as a creator he was a champion of the simple. Engaging regional melodies, quotidian objects, and native terrain, he took poetry back to its Greek root, 'to make.' This half-century journey--from folk poem to concrete poem to poem-in-the-world--is at all points filled with a vital restlessness." --Lisa Jarnot, author of Night Scenes.

"...Bann's superb two volume set of Finlay's correspondence...These handsomely printed volumes, amply footnoted, with biographical and historical commentary leading readers up and down the stony path, are an extended conversation with one of twentieth-century Britain's most unexpected artists." --Times Literary Supplement

About the Author:

Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925-2006) was one of Scotland's leading twentieth century public intellectuals, and famously one of its most brilliant and combative correspondents. He was famous as a concrete poet, visual artist, short story writer, aphorist, editor, and 'avant-gardener' , creator of the garden Little Sparta.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wilmington Square Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1908524340
• ISBN 13: 9781908524348
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400