Olson festival revives awareness of 'Black Mountain'
By Gail McCarthy
September 30, 2010
Many people who are not poetry aficionados still know the term "Beat
Generation," referring to writers in the 1950s who reacted to a form
of academic poetry emanating from universities.
Many, however, never heard of another group of writers that existed
at the same time, led by an American poet Charles Olson (1910-1970),
who would make Gloucester his home.
But a group of Cape Ann residents want to bring to the community's
attention to the work and influence of Olson, the modernist poet who
inspired many of the Beat Generation and served as mentor to the
Black Mountain School of writers, who were centered at the
experimental college of the same name in North Carolina.
The local group has organized more than a week's worth of events,
ranging from a walking tour to a dance performance to commemorate
Olson's centennial. The kick-off this weekend includes a modern art
installation at the historic White Ellery House, and special readings
on Sunday (see schedule).
While Beat Generation writers produced seminal works such as
"Howl," by Allen Ginsberg, "Naked Lunch," by William S. Burroughs and
"On the Road" by Jack Kerouac Olson was in the midst of creating
his epic work, "The Maximus Poems," which he wrote about Gloucester,
a city he loved for all its grit as well as humanity.
"The two schools grew up simultaneously and they were all friends,"
said Peter Anastas, a writer and founding president of the Charles
Olson Society in 1995. "The Beat writers wrote more of a poetry of
natural speech, a poetry of social concern and poetry in opposition
to what they felt was American materialism. These were the
avant-garde schools and very much a part of American literature."
Olson was older than many of the Beat Generation.
"But he was a tremendous force for them," said Anastas, a Gloucester
resident. "He was a force intellectually as was the Black Mountain
School of writers and he was also an inspiration. His essay
Projective Verse was influential in both schools of writing."
Diane di Prima, poet laureate of San Francisco and a Beat Generation
writer, is one of the special guests at the Olson 100 events.
"She was an incredible force in that world as a woman and as a poet,"
said Anastas. "It was a man's world. When I read her for the first
time, a book called 'Dinners and Nightmares,' I went crazy."
Di Prima, who has published more than 40 books of poetry and prose,
will be joined Oct. 9 by writer and poet Michael Rumaker; both were
close personal friends of Olson, and each represent the two
avant-garde schools.
Tuesday, the Gloucester City Council proclaimed the late poets Olson
and Vincent Ferrini honorary poets laureate of Gloucester as the
Olson 100 events are about to kick off.
Henry Ferrini, Vincent Ferrini's nephew and an Olson 100 organizer,
said he is excited that his uncle's house will have a place in the
region's literary world.
"It's Olson's 100th birthday and Vincent's house is now the
Gloucester Writers Center," he said. "It's fitting that the house
will continue to act as a place where literary events take place.
There were always private literary events when Vincent lived there
and now there will be public events."
The Olson study groups attended by a core group of up to 30 people
are being held there leading up to the centennial events.
Ferrini, a filmmaker, who has attended the study groups, said the
program was a success.
"People who go are bowled over by Peter and James' grasp of the
material," said Ferrini referring to Anastas and James Cook, a poet
and Gloucester High teacher. "They unpack Charles Olson for the
normal person. The thing about someone in Gloucester reading Olson is
that he talks about this piece of rock here, and that's one entry
point to how you get into his writing. He was a brilliant man with
incredible amounts of reference points and it's ultimately rewarding."
As a child, Olson spent his summers in Gloucester. He lived here at
other times before settling here permanently in 1957. "The Maximus
Poems" explores the meaning and importance of "place" in our lives,
and the relation of self to "place" in an epic work.
In addition to the Olson 100 events celebrating the poet, the
organizers also want to celebrate the town.
"We are also celebrating Gloucester, and Cape Ann, as a historic
center for the arts and a nourishing community for arts and artists
of all kinds," Anastas said.
Other members of the Charles Olson Society organizing the centennial
week are poet Kent Bowker, poet and president of the Olson Society
Schuyler Hoffman and writer and bookseller Greg Gibson.
The launch events begin this weekend with a contemporary art
installation, "The Man Who Loved Gloucester," by Susan Erony and "The
Big O," by Paul Cary Goldberg at the White-Ellery House, built in
1710, at 245 Washington St. in Gloucester. Hours Saturday are 11 a.m.
to 3 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m.
Sunday afternoon features a book signing and reception with David
Rich, who edited "Charles Olson: Letters Home, 1949-1969," at the
Cape Ann Museum at 4 p.m. Rich, who was born in Gloucester, was
educated at Boston and Harvard universities.
The new book, published by the museum, contains Olson's colorful
letters to 10 friends who were part of his circle: Alfred Mansfield
Brooks, art historian and president of the Cape Ann Historical
Association; poet Vincent Ferrini; artist Helen Stein; writer
Jonathan Bayliss; artist Mary Shore; inventor John Hays Hammond Jr.;
Anastas; newspaper editor Philip Weld; writer and historian Joseph
Garland; and architect Donald Monell.
Rich calls the book "a group portrait, with Olson at the center, of a
vibrant literary and artistic scene."
Olson also authored "Call Me Ishmael," "In Cold Hell," "In Thicket"
and "The Distances."
Gail McCarthy can be reached at 978-283-7000 x3445, or at
gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com.
Olson 100 events
Highlights of the early events planned for Olson 100, a centennial
celebration of poet Charles Olson (1910-1970).
Oct. 1 and 7 Charles Olson Study Group at 7 p.m. at The Bookstore
at 61 Main St. in Gloucester, led by Peter Anastas and James Cook.
Oct. 4 to 10 Special exhibition of rare, inscribed, and
out-of-print books, letters, magazines and broadsides by Olson,
sponsored by the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library at 2 Dale Ave.
Oct. 2 and 3 Contemporary art installation, "The Man Who Loved
Gloucester" by Susan Erony, along with "The Big O," a photographic
tribute to Olson, by Paul Cary Goldberg, Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.;
Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. at the White-Ellery House, 245 Washington St.
Oct. 3 "Charles Olson: Letters Home," a book signing, reading and
reception with the book's editor, David Rich, 4 to 6 p.m. at the Cape
Ann Museum, 27 Pleasant St.; Ammiel Alcalay, an Olson scholar, will
read from his book "Islanders" at 7 p.m. at The Bookstore of
Gloucester, 61 Main St.
Oct. 4 "The Unusual Suspects": Schuyler Hoffman, Kent Bowker, James
and Amanda Cook, and others will read their work at 7 p.m. at the
Gloucester Writers Center, former home of poet Vincent Ferrini at 126
Main St., in East Gloucester.
Oct. 5 Peter Anastas reads from his newly completed memoir and from
a forthcoming novel, both set in Gloucester; David Rich reads the
fiction of Jonathan Bayliss. 7 p.m., Sawyer Free Library.
Oct. 7 - Final meeting of Charles Olson Study Group, The Bookstore, 7
p.m. A reading by poets Gerrit Lansing and Charles "Chuck" Stein, The
Bookstore in Gloucester, 8 p.m.
Oct. 10 - Charles Olson Walk, 11 a.m., meet at Cape Ann Museum. In
the afternoon will be a performance event: "Apollonius of Tyana," a
dance play by Charles Olson, performed by Sarah Slifer and Mark
Wagner, followed by a musical performance by Willie Alexander at the
Blackburn Performance Center at 3 p.m.
For full schedule of events, visit http://www.Olson100.blogspot.com.
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