Rational Geomancy

The Kids of the Book-Machine, The Collected Research Reports of the Toronto Research Group 1973-1982

introduction by Steve McCaffery, by bp Nichol

tagged: canadian, composition & creative writing

Description

The Toronto Research Group was an eighteen-year collaboration and friendship between the late bpNichol and Steve McCaffery.

In addition to reports on translation; the book-as-machine; and the search for non-narrative prose; this collection includes an informative introduction by McCaffery; a report on performance; ‘Reading and Writing: The Toronto Research Game’; and much hitherto unpublished material. From scholasticism to pop-up books, the Book of Nature to comic strips, these frequently witty, often irreverent and methodically mischievous reports document a vital era, not only in the intellectual growth of two individuals, but in the history of critical collaboration in North America.

With a revised format, additional bibliography and profuse illustrations, this book will prove to be of inestimable value to anyone tracing the poetic archeology of the seventies in Anglophone Canada.

About the Authors

Steve McCaffery is the author of over twenty-five books of poetry and criticism. He has twice been awarded the Gertrude Stein Award for innovative poetry and twice shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award. His poems have been published in more than a dozen countries. A long-time resident of Toronto, he is currently the David Gray Professor of Poetry and Letters, University at Buffalo.

bpNichol was one of Canada’s most challenging and innovative poets. His writing spans a remarkable range—from concise allegories on a single letter, on through to sound poetry, fiction, theoretical investigations and culminating in his nine-volume poem The Martyrology. Nichol’s curiosity and his care of language provoke his readers to embark on their own explorations into the language frontier. Meanwhile: The Critical Writings of bpNichol (2001), bpNichol Comics (2001), Rational Geomancy (1992) and Selected Writing: As Elected (1980) are also available from Talonbooks. A celebration of Nichol’s work, Tracing the Paths (1988), edited by Roy Miki, was published by Talonbooks shortly before Nichol’s death in 1988. Writing by bpNichol also appears in Imago 20 (1974), edited by George Bowering.

Contributor Notes

Steve McCaffery is a Canadian poet and scholar who was a professor at York University. He currently holds the Gray Chair at SUNY Buffalo (Amherst). McCaffery was born in Sheffield, England and lived in the UK for most of his youth attending University of Hull. He moved to Toronto in 1968. In 1970, he began to collaborate with fellow poets Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Paul Dutton, and bpNichol, forming the sound-poetry group, The Four Horsemen. McCaffery’s poetry attempts to break language from the logic of syntax and structure to create a purely emotional response. He has created three-dimensional structures of words and has released a number of sound and video works, often in collaboration with other poets. Two of his books of poetry, The Theory of Sediment (1991) and Seven Pages Missing (2000) have each been nominated for a Governor General’s Award.

Age:: 17 to 18
Grade:: 12

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Rational Geomancy

The Kids of the Book-Machine, The Collected Research Reports of the Toronto Research Group 1973-1982

introduction by Steve McCaffery, by bp Nichol

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