CLASSIFICATION
Swallow ID:
8377
Partner Institution:
University of Calgary
Source Collection Title:
Robert Kroetsch fonds
Source Collection ID:
Source Collection Contributing Unit:
University of Calgary, Archives and Special Collections
Source Collection URI:
Source Collection Image URL:
ITEM DESCRIPTION
Title:
Robert Kroetsch
Title Source:
Transcribed from the artifact
Title Note:
Professional box with marbled paper, embossed stamp, and leather embossed title.
Language:
English
Production Context:
Classroom recording
Identifiers:
[29.11]
Rights
Rights:
In Copyright (InC)
Notes:
Enters Public Domain at the end of 2037
CREATORS
Name:
Kroetsch, Robert
Dates:
1927-2011
CONTRIBUTORS
MATERIAL DESCRIPTION
Recording Type:
Analogue
AV Type:
Audio
Material Designation:
Cassette
Physical Composition:
Magnetic Tape
Extent:
1/8 inch
Side:
A
Tape Brand:
Sony
Sound Quality:
Good
Physical Condition:
Good
Other Physical Description:
Somewhat grainy.
DIGITAL FILE DESCRIPTION
Duration:
T00:57:50
Size:
953.11 MB
Dates
Date:
1987-03-10
Type:
Performance Date
Notes:
Dates taken from item.
LOCATION
Address:
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Venue:
National Library of Canada
CONTENT
Contents:
Robert Kroetsch
[00:04:33]
Reads excerpts from Badlands.
Robert Kroetsch
[00:14:20]
Reads excerpts from Field Notes.
Robert Kroetsch
[00:15:30]
Reads from "Seed Catalogue".
Robert Kroetsch
[00:20:30]
Reads from "Delphi Commentary".
Robert Kroetsch
[00:35:27]
Reads excerpts from the Real World.
Robert Kroetsch
[00:44:12]
Reads excerpts from the end of Advice to My Friends.
Notes:
Card inside box.
- Introduction. Robert Kroetsch begins speaking at 2:11. The last time he was in the building was fifteen years ago doing research for Badlands, and is going to read from Badlands as a sort of thank you. First came upon the material by accident while travelling around Alberta, the kind of story he likes to parody in his writing, but through the archive came to have a sympathy for the men. Reads the beginning and the end, narrated by the daughter of William Dawe.
- “Seed Catalogue”: Reflection on uncle asking “don’t you understand anything?” Robert Kroetsch notes that he’s been writing poems ever since trying to understand, and that perhaps he was right
- “Delphi”: The only place where the oracle spoke in a human, female voice. There are four voices in this poem: Robert Kroetsch, quotes from Pausanias, commentary by Sir James Fraser, poem called “The Eggplant Poems.”
- Excerpts: Using country music, the “hurting song.” Short prose entries that look like diary entries, intrigued by the authority that we grant to the diary entry.
- Excerpts: anecdote on writers spending a good deal of their time travelling - [00:40:40]
- Advice: Suppressed stories of his mother, a photograph given to him of his mother produced all these poems.
- Question period: The questions are not very discernable. First question about what he is writing, Robert Kroetsch answers “not really,” that he is writing a novel that is unendable and not about the prairies, also his study of narrative. Second question, going back to Athens and Greece. Notes that he goes back quite frequently as he is married to a Greek woman. Third question about Advice as very different from his other writing. Robert Kroetsch responds that his voice between Field Notes (as personal) and Advice (as a persona) are in fact very different. Fourth question indiscernible, Robert Kroetsch responds that he doesn’t believe that poetry is dead, that poetry ought to be accessible to all. Fifth question indiscernible, Robert Kroetsch responds that this period of reading may be an aberration in the history of language and that we may go back to more elaborate readings. A return to the hearing of poems instead of the reading of poems.
NOTES
RELATED WORKS
Citation:
Badlands; Field Notes; Excerpts from the Real World; Advice to My Friends