tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9006283425695547617.post3492079424555166713..comments2023-10-30T01:39:08.085-07:00Comments on X Poetics: Charles Bernstein and Norman Fischer :Radical Poetics and Secular Jewish CultureUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9006283425695547617.post-68233349603535770152010-06-02T09:57:38.734-07:002010-06-02T09:57:38.734-07:00I particularly enjoyed this summary/critique of Ch...I particularly enjoyed this summary/critique of Charles and Norman's talk. I have forwarded your comments to Norman and will link this page to Norman's poetry website (normanfishcerzenpoetry.com).<br /><br />Thanks.<br /><br />monica herediaUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06685372408775669627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9006283425695547617.post-2161219946837066052010-05-24T16:29:10.219-07:002010-05-24T16:29:10.219-07:00Chris---
Thanks for this comment and the reference...Chris---<br />Thanks for this comment and the reference, and yes that was a memorable moment. And while Morris's reference in the intro to *Radical Poetics* clearly outlines the problematic and reductive vision of Jewish American Writing articulated in the *Telling and Remembering* anthology for example, that background was not offered in so clear a format in the JCC discussion though I think Norman Fischer's comment about his own experience in NY with his book *Opening to You* and the stories and anecdotes that both offered were suggestive, including Bernstein's comment about his own experience of and interest in Jewish writing and its lineage not so much deriving from Israel but rather Europe. He said something to that effect. At the talk, I was not sure how to interpret Bernstein's performance with the Oz piece because I didn't know who Oz is. It wasn't until Jocelyn outlined Oz and then I had a chance to read the remark (rather than just hear it at the talk) that I could get a handle on it. That is probably NOT the case with the questioner....or maybe there was something about the performativity of that piece that made it challenging to the questioner? What is the politics or the poetics? Where the line between?Robin Tremblay-McGawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04151211742475168081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9006283425695547617.post-64872593809653268092010-05-24T15:30:44.118-07:002010-05-24T15:30:44.118-07:00This is a great summary of that interesting evenin...This is a great summary of that interesting evening, Robin. I just want to mention one moment that stayed with me from the conversation. I'm talking about the moment when Bernstein quoted the Israeli writer Amos Oz (this quote also appears in Loss Pequeño Glazier's interview with Bernstein, collected in the book of essays and interviews, My Way):<br /><br />"Now suppose a new Kafka is growing up right now, here in San Francisco, California. Suppose he is fourteen years old right now. Let's call him Chuck Bernstein. Let's assume that he is every bit of a genius as Kafka was in his time. His future must, as I see it, depend on an uncle in Jerusalem or an experience by the Dead Sea, or a cousin in a kibbutz or something inspired by the Israeli live drama. Otherwise, with the exception of the possiblity that he is growing up among the ultra-Orthodox, he will be an American writer of Jewish origin--not a Jewish American writer. He may become a new Faulkner, but not a new Kafka."<br /><br />Bernstein's comment on this idea was that it was "repugnant," though he didn't explain precisely why. In the Q & A, the young woman employed by the JCC to host the event asked Bernstein why he had such strong feelings about Oz's statement. I don't remember exactly what he said, but it had something to do with how "reductive" an idea of Jewishness it is. What I remembered so vividly was the questioner's clear uncomprehendingness juxtaposed with Bernstein's strong condemnatory language. It felt to me like a moment that stood in for some issues that could not quite be addressed in that setting.<br /><br />Note: The Oz quote is from his essay "Imagining the Other: 1."Christian Naglerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07831743021160866244noreply@blogger.com