CFP: Earle Birney and Al Purdy (09/15/01; NEMLA 04/12/02-04/13/02)
The Last Canadian Poets?
For the 2002 NEMLA at Toronto, I have approval for a panel on two poets
who were dominant voices in Canadian poetry. Each had strong links to
earlier and subsequent Canadian poets, and each admired the other's
work: Birney came to rely on Purdy's critical opinions, while Purdy said
that he admired Birney with "rather a schoolboyish veneration," and at one
time he planned to write a critical study of the older poet. In 1999, Sam
Solecki argued that Purdy was "the last Canadian poet": for Solecki, Purdy
was the fulfillment of the cultural nationalism that started to fade long
before Purdy did. Since the death of nationalism may itself be an
illusion, everything in Solecki's book needs to be carefully assessed. And
many of the issues that it raises are also relevant for Birney. What is
the status of these poets today? What happens when such timely poets pass
into literary history? How does their work respond to the newer critical
concerns that dismay Solecki? Send two-page proposals or ten-page papers
by September 15 by email or regular mail to Tracy Ware, Dept. of English,
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6; tw5@qsilver.queensu.ca.
Tracy Ware
Department of English
Queen's University
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