Jessssieholmes

Week 4

Stambolian, George, Marcel Proust and The Creative Encounter (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1972) pp 252

Apolloinaire, Guillaume, The Poet Assassinated. Translated by, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. (Zurich: Offset & Buchdruck AG, 1968) pp. 160

Originally published is 1916, before Apolloinaire’s death in 1918.  A very rare, “fantastical autobiography”. The edition specifically published in 68’ with Jim Dine as artist/illustrator. The book is an abstract rendition of an artist (Dine) who assumes his portrayal to the words of Apolloinaire. In this case Dine only has the past existence of Apolloinaire to respond to, his work and archive of his character as the only evidence of authenticity. Dine creates a brilliant series of image collage to accompany the poetry prose. The writing is from 1916 and the imagery is made in the 60s so there is a generational divide that surprisingly or not so surprisingly feels of the same time when paired together. It is a very exciting piece as example of art and poetry merging. While maintaining the traditional book form it definitely breaks boundaries for its time. I am curious how a work like this is made when the author has already deceased. How do rights work, authenticity, copyright, is this somehow considered a collaborative process, an adaptation or homage?…This book is useful to me as a point of exploration regarding these matters and to investigate the subject of boundaries, the art of portrayal and authenticity. In my opinion, the cinematic success between poetry and image, time, generational connectivity and influence in this book is a bizarre journey I thoroughly enjoy going on.