Charles Bernstein

Curated talk series:
New York Talk (Winter/Spring 1984)
St. Mark's Talks (Fall 1984 - Spring 1986)
The Politics of Poetic Form (Fall 1988)

Talks

"On Theatricality" (incomplete); Aug. 23, 1979; Catskill, New York; with Marshall Reese and Kirby Malone; see essay and transcription (from 1981) in Content's Dream: Essays 1975-1989 (15:42)

"Politics and Language" -- talk and discussion, The Institute for Policy Studies, DC (1:25:47): MP3
with P. Inman and Lynne Dreyer

Bernstein in conversation with Bruce Andrews and Ron Silliman, March 6, 1981

1. oppositional writing (9:09): MP3
2. our relationship to a community and "highbrow" hegemonic culture (6:24): MP3
3. considering the possibility of and what could be defined as ruling class poetry (9:02): MP3
4. writers, class, and downward social mobility (12:01): MP3
5. leisure time, the new flaneur, and the work experience (7:58): MP3
6. the project of writing and dealing with an experience (4:06): MP3
7. group definitions and social formations (7:30): MP3
8. Ron Silliman reading "Poem" by Ron Padgett (0:18): MP3
9. on Ron Padgett's "Poem" (7:26): MP3
10. the break between Black Mountain & St. Mark's and reformulating positions between social groups (6:33): MP3
11. correspondence and conversation (4:05): MP3
12. interpersonal relationships and social formations (14:33): MP3
13. a self assessment of the conversation and tape (8:10): MP3
14. 17th century prose and the "clear style" (4:09): MP3
15. contextualizing and highlighting the political dimensions of the poetry one writes (8:09): MP3
16. on the term "language poetry" and making generalizations (4:50): MP3
17. composition as explanation (4:13): MP3
18. the influence of class background (13:58): MP3

Part 1 (44:37): MP3
Part 2 (44:43): MP3
Part 3 (43:32): MP3

"Characterization" presented at New Langton Arts (80 Langton Street), San Francisco, January 1981 (text subsequently published in Content's Dream (1:33): MP3
A reading and performance was also presented as part of from this residency.

Talk on the long poem, 1984, Long Liners conference, York University, Canada: (42:43): MP3
pulished in Open Letter

• talk (1:04:00): MP3
• discussion (1:06:30): MP3
  

Fulcrum Debate with Frank Bidart, Massachusetts Poetry Festival, Lowell, MA, October 11, 2008:
conversation (ends abruptly) (57:18): MP3   /   glitch coda (12:52): MP3
PennSound Daily entry on this recording

Ola Stahl: COUNTING EACH STEP OF THE SUN; 2009 interview (mirrored in CB-media-server /Edzine)

Simon Fraser University: "Sound Tools for Sound Living," January 8, 2010
Three essays: "Making Audio Visible," "Hearing Voices," and "The Bound Listener" plus Q&A
recorded by Fred Wah. MP3

ArtSpeak Gallery, Vancouver: "Is Art Criticism 50 Years Behind Poetry, or Aren't You the Kind that Tells," January 9, 2010 (Speakeasy series)
slide presentaiton of collaborations with Susan Bee, Mimi Gross, RIchard Tuttle, followed by talk on poetry/criticism verbal/visual and discussion.
MP3

Dongguk University, Seoul, Oct. 19, 2010 (152 minutes): video
"Transnationalism and Cultural Translation: Distinguished Lecture Series and Symposium"
•Introduced by Brother Anthony. Poster here (pdf)
•Begins with lecture by Prof. Youngmin Kim on "Poetry and Typography/Topology: The Poetics of the Grid/Klein Bottle in Transnational 20thPoetry in English.”
•Then Bernstein talk/reading/discussion on poetry, sound, and technology starts at 40', talking through three essays: "The Art of Immemorability," " Making Audio Visible: Poetry's Coming Digital Presence," and
"Hearing Voices," (all collected in Attack of the Difficult Poems). At 66' there is a reading of "Most Frequently Words in Girly Man in Descending Order," at 72' "In Particular,". This is followed by discussion, and then ending, at 146': with a reading of “Azoot D'Puund.”

PennState University, Dec. 3, 2010, from The Attack of the Difficult Poems; MP3
Starts with sound track to "What Makes a Poem a Poem," Yellow Pages, and "The Answer"; then to readings from book: "The Difficult Poem," "Invention Follies," intro to American Studies Association of Korea keynote (on Obama and the "more perfect"), and Zukosky excerpt from "Objectivist Blues," followed by discussion.

Poetry in 1960: A Symposium, on On My Eyes by Larry Eigner, Kelly Writers House, Dec. 6, 2010

Dominique Fourcade and Charles Bernstein in conversation, "La poétique, l'écriture de la poésie et l'invention du modernism" (Poetics, the writing of poetry, and the invention of modernism), Gertrude Stein colloquium at the Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso... L’aventure des Stein" at the Grand Palais in Paris (same as "The Steins Collect" in SF and NY), Oct. 21, 2011. (1:05:45): MP3

essay for Performance Art Journal 100th anniversay issue, from "Invention Follies" (Attack of the Difficult Poems), for Dec. 12, 2011 (5:16): MP3

Ropes Lecture Series in Digital Humanities, University of Cincinnati, February 2, 2012 (with Kenneth Goldsmith

Reading and discussion of Charles Reznikoff's "Amelia" for Library of Congress, The Poetry of American Identity: Work and Industry, 7/29/12: MP3

American Philosophical Society Celebration of Marjorie Perloff, KWH, UPenn, November 10, 2012 (8:26): MP3

return to main Bernstein page

These recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the author. © 2008 Charles Bernstein. Used with permission of Charles Bernstein. Distributed by PennSound.