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The LINEbreak Programs

Winner of the 1997 CASE Award for Radio Programming, LINEbreak is a series of half-hour length programs with some of the smartest and most innovative writers and artists at work today. LINEbreak showcases a broad range of authors from around the country and around the world, from famous novelists and screenwriters whose work is regularly reviewed in The New York Times, The Village Voice, and Charles Bernstein, and is produced and directed by Martin Spinelli. Original theme music and bumpers, composed and performed by Eliot King Smith.

The LINEbreak series was distributed nationally to all connected public radio stations in the U.S. over the Public Radio Satellite System in the spring and summer of 1996, and has been heard on a number of public and college stations from New York to California.

Bruce Andrews

  1. Full program (28:57): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Bruce performs his poem "Devo Habit" (2:30): RealAudio

In his program Bruce discusses "language writing," the pitfalls of having "poetry" as an institutional designation and co-editing L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E magazine in the '70s. He also reads from his book I Don't Have Any Paper so Shut Up! His program was recorded in his New York City apartment in 1995.

Transcript of the LINEbreak conversation at EPC and at Jacket2.

Paul Auster

  1. Full program (29:02): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Paul performs some translated poem fragments of Mallarmé from his book The Invention of Solitude (1:40): RealAudio

In his program Paul talks about A Tomb for Anatole, Mallarmé's unfinished book about the death of his son. Paul also reads from his book of fiction The Art of Hunger; he chooses a section with origins in faded childhood memories. His program was recorded in his Brooklyn studio in 1995.

Robert Creeley

  1. First half-hour of Robert Creeley's LINEbreak program (29:12): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Second half-hour of Robert Creeley's LINEbreak program (29:08): MP3, RealAudio
  3. Robert performs his poem "First Love" (0:40): RealAudio
  4. Robert performs his poem "Thinking" (1:00): RealAudio
  5. Robert performs his poem "Just in Time" (0:20): RealAudio
  6. Robert performs his poem "Echo" (0:20): RealAudio
  7. Robert reads from his book Windows (0:30): RealAudio

Robert's two programs span his career from Black Mountain to the present. He was recorded in the Music Department at SUNY Buffalo on Pearl Harbor Day, 1995.

Raymond Federman

  1. Full program (29:13): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Federman performs his "Dada Poem for Two Face to Face" with Charles Bernstein (0:40): MP3
  3. Federman performs his poem "Of Poetry" (1:30): RealAudio

In his program Federman performs a selection from his Smiles on Washington Square and talks about the sentimentality of war memorials. His program was recorded in the Music Department at SUNY Buffalo in 1995.

Transcript of the LINEbreak conversation at the Journal of Poetics Research.

Ben Friedlander

  1. Full program (28:58): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Ben orchestrates a sample of audio art called "Teacher's Pet" produced with help from Martin Spinelli (3:40): RealAudio

In his program Ben Friedlander talks about the Vietnam War as a literary source and discusses the poetry of witness. In addition to his "Teacher's Pet," he performs several other short poems. His program was recorded in the Music Department at SUNY Buffalo in 1995.

Madeline Gins

  1. Full program (29:20): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Madeline performs the "Th" section of her book Helen Keller or Arakawa (4:20): RealAudio
  3. In her program Madeline Gins responds to a series of questions with various readings from her book Helen Keller or Arakawa. She also talks about how "landing sites" function in the perception and construction of reality, and how they work in own writing. Her program was recorded at the Charles Morrow and Associates Studio in New York in 1995.

Loss Pequeño Glazier

  1. Full program (29:16): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Loss performs a selection from his book The Parts (6:00): RealAudio

In their program, co-editors of RIF/t, Loss Pequeño Glazier and Kenneth Sherwood talk about electronic publishing and the politics of editing the first online hypertext journal of poetry and poetics, RIF/t magazine. Their program was recorded in the Music Department at SUNY Buffalo in 1995.

Barbara Guest

  1. Full program (29:01): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Barbara performs her early poem "A Reason" (1:00): RealAudio

In her program Barbara Guest discusses New York School poetry and the influences it has taken from visual art. She reads a broad selection of poems which mark various periods in her fifty-year career as a writer. Her program was recorded at the Charles Morrow and Associates Studio in New York in 1995.

Carla Harryman

  1. Full program (28:57): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Carla performs her poem "The Male" (5:00): RealAudio

In Carla Harryman's LINEbreak she interrogates conceptions of maleness and femaleness in writing, and also performs a selection from her book There Never Was a Rose without a Thorn. Her program was recorded at SUNY Buffalo's Center for the Arts in 1995.

Lyn Hejinian

  1. Full program (29:16): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Lyn performs a selection from her book The Cell (4:00): RealAudio

In her program Lyn talks about the influence 18th-century travel narratives have had on her writing. She also talks about her poetic reinvention of the genre of autobiography and reads from her book My Life. Her program was recorded at the Charles Morrow and Associates Studio in 1996.

Susan Howe

  1. Full program (58:44): MP3
  2. First half-hour of Susan Howe's LINEbreak program (29:44): MP3, RealAudio
  3. Second half of Susan Howe's program (29:00): MP3, RealAudio
  4. Susan performs a selection from her book My Emily Dickinson RealAudio
  5. Susan performs a selection from her book The Nonconformist's Memorial (3:00): RealAudio

Complete interview segmented by topic

In her program Susan Howe discusses the trajectory of her literary career, from her roots in painting to the establishing of the Poetics Program at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She also speaks about the poetry of war in relation to women writers and about the misrepresentations of Emily Dickinson in the study of American Literature. Susan's programs were recorded on a hot summer day in a New York City apartment in 1995.

Karen Mac Cormack

  1. Full program (29:04): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Karen reads a selection from her book Quill Driver (2:00): RealAudio
  3. Karen reads a selection from her book Marine Snow (0:40): RealAudio

In her program Karen discusses her resistence to the poetics of an oral tradition and talks about her book Nothing by Mouth. Her program was recorded in the Music Department of SUNY Buffalo in 1995.

Jackson Mac Low

  1. Full program (28:59): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Jackson reads heis poem "Forties 105 - Linguistic Relatives" (4:00): RealAudio

In his program Jackson discusses limitation and chance operation as compositional practices. In addition to reading from The Forties, he also performs some of his work on Pound's Cantos. His program was recorded at the Charles Morrow and Associates Studio in New York in 1995.

Steve McCaffery

  1. First half-hour of Steve McCaffery's LINEbreak program (29:05): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Second half of Steve McCaffery's program (29:00): MP3, RealAudio
  3. Steve performs his Yorkshire dialect translation of The Communist Manifesto (3:00): RealAudio
  4. Steve performs sound poem, "Midnight Peace" (3:00): RealAudio
  5. Steve performs "Invariant" from Theory of Sediment (3:00): RealAudio
  6. Steve reads his "Codicil" from Theory of Sediment (2:00): RealAudio

During Steve's two programs he talks about "the book" as material object and aesthetic convention, as well as the politics of subverting meaning. He was recorded in the Music Department at SUNY Buffalo in 1995.

Lance & Andrea Olsen

  1. Full program (29:05): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Lance reads a selection from his book Tonguing the Zeitgeist (6:00): RealAudio
In their program Lance and Andrea talk about television's impact on contemporary fiction and what makes a "postmodern" writer. Lance also reads from his novel Tonguing the Zeitgeist. Their program was recorded in the Music Department at SUNY Buffalo in 1995.

Jena Osman

  1. Full program (29:09): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Jena stages her radio play The Detective (17:00): RealAudio

In her program Jena talks about the role of puppets in writing for the theatre and her work on the magazine Chain. Her program was recorded in the Music Department at SUNY Buffalo in 1995.

Ted Pearson

  1. Full program (29:17): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Ted performs his poem "Descant" RealAudio
  3. In his program Ted Pearson talks about his painstaking compositional practice and about the craft involved in writing the lyric poem. He also performs another poem from his book Evidence called "Ellipsis." His program was recorded in the Music Department at SUNY Buffalo in 1995.

Jerome Rothenberg

  1. Full program (49:56): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Jerome performs two selections from his poem "That Dada Strain" (3:20): RealAudio
  3. Jerome enacts a "total translation" of a Navaho horse blessing from The Horse Songs of Frank Mitchell (3:40): RealAudio
  4. Jerome reads "The Scream" from Khurbn (2:20): RealAudio

In his program Jerome discusses the relationship between Ethnopoetics and Multiculturalism and talks about the concept of "total translation." His program was recorded in the Music Department of SUNY Buffalo in 1996.

Leslie Scalapino

  1. Full program (30:07): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Leslie performs a selection from her book Deer Night (4:00): RealAudio

In her program, Leslie interrogates the categories of "poetry" and "public" while talking about her literary alternative to Gulf War newspaper coverage, Front Matter Dead Souls. She also reads from her book The New Time and discusses her conception of "present moment." Her program was recorded in 1996 at a meeting of the Poetics Seminar at SUNY Buffalo.

Kenneth Sherwood

  1. Full program (29:16): MP3, RealAudio

In their program, co-editors of RIF/t, Loss Pequeño Glazier and Kenneth Sherwood talk about electronic publishing and the politics of editing the first online hypertext journal of poetry and poetics, RIF/t magazine. Their program was recorded in the Music Department at SUNY Buffalo in 1995.

Ron Silliman

  1. Full program (29:04): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Ron performs a selection from his book Albany (5:00): RealAudio

In his program Ron talks about the politics of poetic experiment and reads from his Albany. His program was recorded at the Charles Morrow and Associates Studio in New York City in March of 1996.

Peter Straub

  1. First half-hour of Peter Straub's LINEbreak program (29:05): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Second half of Peter Straub's program (29:00): MP3, RealAudio
  3. Peter reads a selection from his story "Hunger" (3:00): RealAudio
  4. Peter reads a selection from his story "Mr. Club and Mr. Cuff" (2:30): RealAudio
  5. Peter reads from his novel The Throat (2:30): RealAudio

During his program, best-selling author Peter Straub discusses horror as a literary genre and its relationship to the Vietnam War. He also reads from his Ko-Ko and talks about his early aspirations to poetry. His programs were recorded in his New York City studio in 1995.

Luci Tapahonso

  1. Full program (29:03): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Luci performs her poem-song "The Motion of Songs Rising" (3:20): RealAudio

In her program Luci talks about writing poetry in English and in Navaho, and performs serveral multilingual poem-songs. She also reads her poem "Hills Brothers' Coffee." Her program was recorded in the office of the Gray Chair at SUNY Buffalo in 1995.

Dennis Tedlock

  1. Full program (29:03): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Dennis Tedlock translates the Zuni story "Coyote and Junco" (7:00): RealAudio

In his program Dennis talks about more sensative ways of conducting anthropology and performs a translation of the Zuni story "Coyote and Junco." He also plays tapes from various oral traditions. His program was recorded in the Music Department at SUNY Buffalo in 1995.

Fiona Templeton

  1. Full program (28:53): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Fiona performs from her book You--The City (2:00): RealAudio

In her program Fiona talks about her installation Cells of Release and reads from the published version of her play You--The City. Her program was recorded in the Music Department at SUNY Buffalo in 1995.

Cecilia Vicuña

  1. Full program (28:59): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Cecilia improvises a song in Quechua (0:30): RealAudio
  3. Cecilia performs a multilingual quazar (1:40): RealAudio
  4. Cecilia reads her poem "Water" (3:00): MP3

In her program Cecilia performs three selections from her Unraveling Words, The Weaving of Water. She was recorded in September 1995 at the Charles Morrow and Associates Studio in New York City.

Hannah Weiner

  1. Full program (29:44): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Hannah performs a selection from her book Clairvoyant Journal (3:00): RealAudio

In her program Hannah discusses her technique of reporting language dictated by astral projections like Paw. Host Charles Bernstein suggests a connection between Hannah's practice of "seeing words" and her roots in a Jewish tradition. This program was recorded in Hannah's apartment on New York City's Lower East Side in 1995.

Ben Yarmolinsky

  1. Full program (28:56): MP3, RealAudio
  2. Ben Yarmolinsky's art song rendering of the Miranda Warning (1:40): RealAudio

In his program composer Ben Yarmolinsky talks about the similarities and the divergences between art songs and pop songs. He also plays music from his vernacular opera Anita based on the Clarence Thomas--Anita Hill Hearings. His program was recorded in his New York City apartment in 1995.