"To Elsie" symposium
July 8, 1999
Live digital video workshop on William Carlos Williams's "To Elsie" ("the pure products of America go crazy"), convened by Al Filreis, Bob Perelman, and Kristen Gallagher. They fielded questions from people watching on the internet, among them Jena Osman and Terrence Diggory. See the Kelly Writers House calendar entry for more about this event.
- complete video recording in old format (RealMedia): RealVideo
- complete audio recording:
MP3
segmented audio: - introduction by Al Filreis (6:24): MP3
- Bob Perelman reading "To Elsie" (2:21): MP3
- Kristen Gallagher on facing alterity (4:30): MP3
- Al Filreis on the poem's uncertainty (1:54): MP3
- Bob Perelman and Al Filreis on "the pure products of America" and the issue of control (5:26): MP3
- Shawn Walker, Al Filreis, Kristen Gallagher and Bob Perelman on Williams' position towards Elsie (6:44): MP3
- Bob Perelman and Al Filreis on imagination (8:26): MP3
- Bob Perelman and Kristin Gallagher on "peasant traditions" (6:38): MP3
- Al Filreis on ethnic purity (4:09): MP3
- Kristin Gallagher and Bob Perelman on domestic help and modernism (3:34): MP3
- Bob Perelman, Al Filreis and Kristin Gallagher on "voluptuous water" (6:56): MP3
- Kristen Gallagher and Al Filreis on the driverless car (4:24): MP3
- Bob Perelman and Al Filreis on the larger context of Spring and All and the distinction between poetry and prose (7:09): MP3
- Bob Perelman and Kristen Gallagher on Elsie as patient (6:40): MP3
- Shawn Walker reading audience comments (0:54): MP3
- Kristen Gallagher on individual responsibility (1:17): MP3
- Bob Perelman on the form (1:37): MP3
- Al Filreis on Williams' own mixed background (1:51): MP3
- Bob Perelman on how the open architecture and "unsuccessful" quality of Williams' poems are relevant to poetics today (MP3)
- Al Filreis on Williams' attraction to the new "mixed" American culture (MP3)
You can see the text of the poem here.