{{short description|Canadian poet}} {{Infobox writer <!-- For more information see :Template:Infobox Writer/doc. --> | image = Robin Blaser.jpg | alt = Robin Blaser | caption = Robin Blaser | birth_name = Robin Francis Blaser | birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|05|18}} <!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | birth_place = Denver, Colorado, United States | death_date = {{Death date and age|2009|05|07|1925|05|18}} | death_place = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | occupation = Playwright, poet, translator | citizenship = American, Canadian | alma_mater = Simon Fraser University | period = 1964–2008 | movement = San Francisco Renaissance | awards = {{Awards|award=Lifetime Recognition Award |year=2006|name= Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry}} {{Awards|award=Griffin Poetry Prize |year=2008}} | portaldisp = y }} '''Robin Francis Blaser''' (May 18, 1925 – May 7, 2009) was an American-born Canadian playwright, poet, and translator.
==Personal background== Born in Denver, Colorado, Blaser grew up in Idaho, and came to Berkeley, California, in 1944. There he met Jack Spicer and Robert Duncan, becoming a key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance of the 1950s and early 1960s. <ref>Nichols. Miriam. 2019. ''A Literary Biography of Robin Blaser: Mechanic of Splendor.'' Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. Lewis Ellingham & Kevin Killian. 1998. ''Poetry Be Like God: Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Renaissance.'' Wesleyan University Press.</ref> He moved to Canada in 1966, joining the faculty of Simon Fraser University; after taking early retirement in the 1980s, he held the position of professor emeritus. He lived in the Kitsilano neighborhood of Vancouver, British Columbia.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}
In June 1995, for Blaser's 70th birthday, a conference was held in Vancouver to pay tribute to his contribution to Canadian poetry. The conference, known as the "Recovery of the Public World" (a phrase borrowed from Hannah Arendt), was attended by poets from around the world, including Canadian poets Michael Ondaatje, Steve McCaffery, Phyllis Webb, George Bowering, Fred Wah, Stan Persky and Daphne Marlatt; and poets who reside in the United States, including Michael Palmer and Norma Cole (who was born in Canada, subsequently migrating to San Francisco).
Blaser was also well known as the editor of ''The Collected Books of Jack Spicer'', which includes Blaser's essay, ''The Practice of Outside''. The 1993 publication ''The Holy Forest'' represents his collected poems to that date.
In 2006, Blaser received a special Lifetime Recognition Award given by the trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, which also awards the annual Griffin Poetry Prize. Blaser won the Prize itself in 2008.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}
==Bibliography==
===Poetry=== *''The Moth Poem'' (White Rabbit Press, 1964) *''Les Chimères: Translations of Nerval for Fran Herndon'' (Open Space, 1969) *''Cups'' (Four Seasons Foundation, 1968) *''Image Nations 1-12 & The Stadium of the Mirror'' (Ferry Press, 1974) *''Image Nations 13 & 14, Luck Unluck Oneluck, Sky-stone, Suddenly, Gathering'' (Cobblestone Press, 1975) *''Harp Trees'' (Sun Stone House & Cobblestoen Press 1977) *''Image Nation 15: The Lacquerhouse'' (W. Hoffer, 1981) *''Syntax'' (Talonbooks, 1983) *''The Faerie Queene and The Park'' (Fissure Books, 1987) *''Pell Mell'' (Coach House, 1988) *''The Holy Forest'', edited Stan Persky & Michael Ondaatje (Coach House, 1993) *''Nomad'' (Slug Press, 1995) *''Wanders'', with Meredith Quartermain (Nomados, 2002) *''The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser'', revised and expanded edition, edited Miriam Nichols (University of California Press, 2007). {{ISBN|0-520-24593-8}} (winner of the 2008 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize)
===Essays=== *''The Fire'', 1967 *''The Stadium of the Mirror'', 1974 *''The Practice of Outside'', 1975 *''The Violets: Charles Olson and Alfred North Whitehead'', 1983 *''My Vocabulary Did This To Me'' [on Jack Spicer], 1987 *''Poetry and Positivisms'', 1989 *''The Elf of It'' [on Robert Duncan], 1992 *''The Recovery of the Public World'' and ''Among Afterthoughts on This Occasion'', 1993 *''Here Lies the Woodpecker Who Was Zeus'' [on Mary Butts], 1995 * ''Bach's Belief'' (Institute of Further Studies, 1995) *''Thinking about Irreparables, a talk'' (''Raddle Moon'', 2000) *''The Fire: Collected Essays of Robin Blaser'', edited Miriam Nichols (University of California Press, 2006) <ref> Includes "Poetry and Positivisms," "The Recovery of the Public World," " 'My Vocabulary Did This to Me,' " "The 'Elf' of It," "Bach's Belief," and most of the others listed above.</ref> *''The Astonishment Tapes: Talks on Poetry and Autobiography'', ed. Miriam Nichols (University of Alabama Press, 2015).
===Opera libretto=== *''The Last Supper'', the libretto for Harrison Birtwistle's opera (2000)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{external links|section|date=August 2019}} {{Prone to spam|date=August 2019}} <!-- {{No more links}}
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--> *[http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/blaser/ Robin Blaser Homepage at the Electronic Poetry Center] *[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5244 Literary Encyclopedia entry] *[https://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/awards-and-poets/shortlists/2008-shortlist/robin-blaser/ Griffin Poetry Prize biography] *[https://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/see-and-hear-poetry/a-g/robin-blaser/ Griffin Poetry Prize reading, including video clip] *[http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/awards-and-poets/lifetime-recognition-award/robin-blaser/ Griffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award] *[http://jacketmagazine.com/22/blaser-quar.html''Lyric Capability: the Syntax of Robin Blaser'', an essay by Meredith Quartermain] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120425163126/http://malahatreview.ca/issues/176reviews_cole.html "Robyn Blaser and Friendship," a review essay by Richard Cole] *[https://www.writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Blaser.html MP3 files of Blaser's readings and lectures] *[https://bothbothseries.blogspot.com/2007/02/interview-with-robin-blaser-that.html Interview with Robin Blaser, conducted by John Sakkis] *[https://archive.today/20110815182213/http://www.berkeleydaily.org/text/article.cfm?issue=09-11-07&storyID=27990 Small Press Traffic honor ] *[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/robin-blaser Blaser's entry in ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''] *[http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/bernstein/blog/#05-07-09 Robin Blaser's obituary notice] from poet Charles Bernstein, including Bernstein's "Afterword" to ''The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser'' (2006) *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090512202322/http://dooneyscafe.com/archives/1593 "Robin Blaser, 1925-2009: Death’s Duty"] by Stan Persky *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090529105306/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/article1136274.ece ‘Showing us things both marvellous and horrific'] by Sandra Martin in ''The Globe and Mail'' *[http://www.lib.sfu.ca/system/files/28909/finding_aid_blaser_2015.pdf Records of Robin Blaser are held by Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202025219/http://www.lib.sfu.ca/system/files/28909/finding_aid_blaser_2015.pdf |date=2017-02-02 }}
{{Poets in The New American Poetry 1945–1960|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control}}
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