Andrew Joron
Andrew Joron is an American writer of experimental poetry. He began by writing science fiction poetry.[1] Joron's later poetry, combining scientific and philosophical ideas with the sonic properties of language, has been compared to the work of the Russian Futurist Velimir Khlebnikov.[2] Joron currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. In fall 2014, Joron joined the faculty of the Creative Writing Department at San Francisco State University.[3]
He has won the Rhysling Award three times: for Best Long Poem in 1980 and 1986, and for Best Short Poem in 1978; and the Gertrude Stein Award twice, in 1996 and 2006.
Joron's poetry is included in two W. W. Norton anthologies: American Hybrid (2009), edited by Cole Swensen and David St. John, and Postmodern American Poetry (2013), edited by Paul Hoover.
Joron is the translator, from the German, of the Marxist-Utopian philosopher Ernst Bloch’s Literary Essays which was published by Stanford University Press in 1998. Joron is also the translator of The Perpetual Motion Machine by the German fantasist Paul Scheerbart (Wakefield Press, 2011).
During the 1990s, Andrew Joron formed a close friendship with the poet and novelist Gustaf Sobin. Sobin, who died in 2005, designated Joron as his literary co-executor, along with American poet Andrew Zawacki.[4]
Joron also belonged to the circle of Surrealist poet Philip Lamantia in San Francisco from the late '90s until Lamantia's death in 2005. Joron later served as co-editor, with Garrett Caples and Nancy Joyce Peters, of the Collected Poems of Philip Lamantia, published by University of California Press (2013).
Since 2008 he has played theremin in various free-improv and ambient-music ensembles, including Cloud Shepherd. Joron has written an essay, "The Theremin in My Life," on the relation between his literary and musical activities.
In 2019, Joron performed on theremin with Will Alexander on piano and Anne Waldman reading her poetry at the Entanglements conference on science and poetry held at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
List of books
- Force Fields. Borgo Press, 1987.
- Velocities Set (editor). Ocean View Books, 1988.
- Science Fiction. Pantograph Press, 1992.
- Terminal Velocities (editor). Pantograph Press, 1993.
- Invisible Machines with Robert Frazier and Thomas Wiloch. Jazz Police Books, 1997.
- The Removes. Hard Press, 1999.
- The emergency of poetry. Velocities, 2002.
- Fathom. Black Square Editions, 2003.
- Neo-surrealism: Or, The Sun At Night. Black Square Editions, 2004.
- The Cry at Zero: Selected Prose. Counterpath Press, 2007.
- The Sound Mirror. Flood Editions, 2008.
- Force Fields with Brian Lucas. Hooke Press, 2010. (This is a different book than Joron's 1987 book of the same title.)
- Trance Archive: New and Selected Poems. City Lights Books, 2010. ISBN 978-0-87286-530-3
- The Absolute Letter. Flood Editions, 2017. ISBN 978-0-9981695-0-7
References
- Michael Collings, "Dialogues by Starlight," Starshine and Shadows site.
- Steve Evans, "Shelf Life," The Nation magazine
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-08-03. Retrieved 2014-05-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- University of Arizona Poetry Center, Words Through: a Tribute to Gustaf Sobin Archived 2010-02-17 at the Wayback Machine On the occasion of the publication of Sobin's Collected Poetry March 2010. The tribute took place on March 6, 2010 and featured, along with Joron and Zawacki, other writers and artists
External links
- Joron sites, exhibits, artist pages
- Andrew Joron in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
- Andrew Joron at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Andrew Joron in the Poets and Writers Directory
- Andrew Joron's bio at the Poetry Foundation
- Online publications
- Trance Archive Table of Contents and first five poems
- Poetry by Andrew Joron in New American Writing
- Andrew Joron's essay "The Emergency of Poetry"
- Andrew Joron's essay "The Crisis of the Crystal"
- Andrew Joron's "Constellations for Theremin"
- Others on Joron, reviews, perspectives
- Review of Andrew Joron's book Fathom in Rain Taxi
- Review of Fathom in Boston Review
- Review of The Cry at Zero at A Tonalist Notes
- Review of The Cry at Zero in Denver Quarterly
- Review of The Sound Mirror in Bookforum
- Review of Trance Archive on thethepoetry.com
- Review of The Absolute Letter in Publishers Weekly
- Interviews
- Joshua Weiner and Andrew Joron: An Exchange in Chicago Review
- Garrett Caples interviews Andrew Joron for Studio One
- Christopher Nelson interviews Andrew Joron
- Joron's dialogue with "quantum poet" Amy Catanzano
- Barbara Claire Freeman interviews Andrew Joron
- Peter Milne Greiner interviews Andrew Joron for Big Echo: Critical SF
- As theremin player
- Sheldon Brown Group, Blood of the Air, featuring Sheldon Brown's compositions based on poet Philip Lamantia's voice patterns
- Crow Crash Radio, ambient rock trio
- Ouroboros, free-jazz quartet
- Cloud Shepherd, free-improv/dark ambient quartet
- Chamber Cloud, free-improv duo
- M-KAT, free-improv quartet