Jonathan Williams: Lord of Orchards
Jonathan Williams’ work of more than half a century is such that no one activity or identity takes primacy over any other—he was the seminal small press publisher of The Jargon Society; a poet of considerable stature; book designer; editor; photographer; legendary correspondent; literary, art, and photography critic and collector; early collector and proselytizer of visionary folk art; cultural anthropologist and Juvenalian critic; curmudgeon; happy gardener; resolute walker; and keen and adroit raconteur and gourmand.

Williams’ refined decorum and speech, and his sartorial style, contrasted sharply, yet pleasingly, with his delight in the bawdy, with his incisive humor and social criticism, and his confidently experimental, masterful poems and prose.

His interests raised “the common to grace,” while paying “close attention to the earthy.” At the forefront of the Modernist avant-garde—yet possessing a deep appreciation of the traditional—Williams celebrated, rescued, and preserved those things he described as, “more and more away from the High Art of the city,” settling “for what I could unearth and respect in the tall grass.” Subject to much indifference—despite being celebrated as publisher and poet—he nurtured the nascent careers of hundreds of emerging or neglected poets, writers, artists, and photographers.

Recognizing this, Buckminster Fuller once called him “our Johnny Appleseed”, Guy Davenport described him as a “kind of polytechnic institute,” while Hugh Kenner hailed Jargon as “the Custodian of Snowflakes” and Williams as “the truffle-hound of American poetry.” Lesser known for his extraordinary letters and essays, and his photography and art collecting, he is never only a poet or photographer, an essayist or publisher.

This book of essays, images, and shouts aims to bring new eyes and contexts to his influence and talent as poet and publisher, but also heighten appreciation for the other facets of his life and art. One might call Williams’ life a poetics of gathering, and this book a first harvest.

1125258498
Jonathan Williams: Lord of Orchards
Jonathan Williams’ work of more than half a century is such that no one activity or identity takes primacy over any other—he was the seminal small press publisher of The Jargon Society; a poet of considerable stature; book designer; editor; photographer; legendary correspondent; literary, art, and photography critic and collector; early collector and proselytizer of visionary folk art; cultural anthropologist and Juvenalian critic; curmudgeon; happy gardener; resolute walker; and keen and adroit raconteur and gourmand.

Williams’ refined decorum and speech, and his sartorial style, contrasted sharply, yet pleasingly, with his delight in the bawdy, with his incisive humor and social criticism, and his confidently experimental, masterful poems and prose.

His interests raised “the common to grace,” while paying “close attention to the earthy.” At the forefront of the Modernist avant-garde—yet possessing a deep appreciation of the traditional—Williams celebrated, rescued, and preserved those things he described as, “more and more away from the High Art of the city,” settling “for what I could unearth and respect in the tall grass.” Subject to much indifference—despite being celebrated as publisher and poet—he nurtured the nascent careers of hundreds of emerging or neglected poets, writers, artists, and photographers.

Recognizing this, Buckminster Fuller once called him “our Johnny Appleseed”, Guy Davenport described him as a “kind of polytechnic institute,” while Hugh Kenner hailed Jargon as “the Custodian of Snowflakes” and Williams as “the truffle-hound of American poetry.” Lesser known for his extraordinary letters and essays, and his photography and art collecting, he is never only a poet or photographer, an essayist or publisher.

This book of essays, images, and shouts aims to bring new eyes and contexts to his influence and talent as poet and publisher, but also heighten appreciation for the other facets of his life and art. One might call Williams’ life a poetics of gathering, and this book a first harvest.

30.0 In Stock
Jonathan Williams: Lord of Orchards

Jonathan Williams: Lord of Orchards

Jonathan Williams: Lord of Orchards

Jonathan Williams: Lord of Orchards

Paperback

$30.00 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

Jonathan Williams’ work of more than half a century is such that no one activity or identity takes primacy over any other—he was the seminal small press publisher of The Jargon Society; a poet of considerable stature; book designer; editor; photographer; legendary correspondent; literary, art, and photography critic and collector; early collector and proselytizer of visionary folk art; cultural anthropologist and Juvenalian critic; curmudgeon; happy gardener; resolute walker; and keen and adroit raconteur and gourmand.

Williams’ refined decorum and speech, and his sartorial style, contrasted sharply, yet pleasingly, with his delight in the bawdy, with his incisive humor and social criticism, and his confidently experimental, masterful poems and prose.

His interests raised “the common to grace,” while paying “close attention to the earthy.” At the forefront of the Modernist avant-garde—yet possessing a deep appreciation of the traditional—Williams celebrated, rescued, and preserved those things he described as, “more and more away from the High Art of the city,” settling “for what I could unearth and respect in the tall grass.” Subject to much indifference—despite being celebrated as publisher and poet—he nurtured the nascent careers of hundreds of emerging or neglected poets, writers, artists, and photographers.

Recognizing this, Buckminster Fuller once called him “our Johnny Appleseed”, Guy Davenport described him as a “kind of polytechnic institute,” while Hugh Kenner hailed Jargon as “the Custodian of Snowflakes” and Williams as “the truffle-hound of American poetry.” Lesser known for his extraordinary letters and essays, and his photography and art collecting, he is never only a poet or photographer, an essayist or publisher.

This book of essays, images, and shouts aims to bring new eyes and contexts to his influence and talent as poet and publisher, but also heighten appreciation for the other facets of his life and art. One might call Williams’ life a poetics of gathering, and this book a first harvest.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781632260871
Publisher: Easton Studio Press, LLC
Publication date: 09/26/2017
Pages: 496
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Jeffery Beam is author of over 20 works of poetry and prose. He is poetry editor emeritus of Oyster Boy Review, a retired UNC-Chapel Hill botanical librarian. He is author of What I Found There: An Informal History of the Jargon Society, and the Rain Taxi interview Tales of a Jargonaut. He resides in Hillsborough, NC.

Richard Owens is the author of several volumes of poetry, including No Class (Barque, 2012), Clutch (Vigilance Society, 2012) and Ballads (Habenicht, 2012; Eth Press, 2015). His poetry has appeared in Cambridge Literary Review, Hi Zero, Poetry Wales, Shearsman, and elsewhere; his critical comments and essays have appeared in Chicago Review, Colorado Review, Open Letter, Paideuma, and Poetry Project Newsletter. Since 2005 Owens has edited Damn the Caesars, a journal of contemporary poetry and poetics, and Punch Press, an imprint featuring broadside, chapbook, and book-length works. He currently resides in Southern Maine.

Table of Contents

Teaching Daylilies to Read-Preface to the Print Edition Jeffery Beam ix

Publisher's Note-The Colonel Who Knew Everything David Wilk xv

The Lord of Orchards: Jonathan Williams at 80 Jeffery Beam Richard Owens xix

Remembering:

A Life in Pictures Jonathan Williams 1

Comment on Jonathan Williams Basil Bunting 23

Dear JW Erica Van Horn 28

Mountainside Reader-for JW James McGarrell 31

A mon cher Stodge Ann McGarrell 33

On With It Anne Midgette 35

Swept in with the Rain Bob Arnold 39

Acts of Kindness Charles Lambert 40

Jonathan Williams-More Mouth on that Man Diana C. Stoll 44

The Bard of Scaly Mountain Gary Garden 47

from Pliny: Naturalis Historia XXVII. xvi 58 Harry Gilonis 50

Jonathan Williams-An Appreciation John Mitzel 52

Last Letter to Jonathan Williams Michael Rumaker 54

Colonel Generosity-Saying Thank You to Jonathan Williams Robert Kelly 57

A Microscopic/Telescopic Collage of The Empire Finals at Verona Ronald Johnson 62

Am Sparked to Write Again-A Selection of Letters from Ronald Johnson to Jonathan Williams 1958 to 1979 Peter O'Leary 65

Anglophone Digressions Simon Cutts 88

Poem and Flower Thomas A. Clark Laurie Clark 94

What Jonathan Wouldn't Mind (for Breakfast) Alex Albright 95

Letters to the Great Dead-Jonathans Last Words John Furnival 96

Kintsugi-with a Foreword by Robert Kelly Thomas Meyer 97

Responding:

Jonathan Williams, Poet Guy Davenport 111

For a Man Gone to Stuttgart Who Left an Automobile Behind Him Charles Olson 124

Nota to Jammin' the Greek Scene Charles Olson 127

Preface to Jonathan Williams' Elegies and Celebrations Robert Duncan 129

Some notes on Jonathan Williams and Robert Duncan James Maynard 131

"Hemi-demi-semi barbaric yawps"-Jonathan Williams and Black Mountain Ross Hair 134

William Burroughs and Jonathan Williams Jed Birmingham 167

Mustard & Evening Primrose-The Astringent Extravagance of Jonathan Williams' Metafours David Annwn 171

An Introduction-"Stay In and Use Both Hands" Eric Mottram 187

Introductions to QUANTULUMCUMQUE Jonathan Williams Jeffery Beam 193

We Were All Beautiful Once (or) Never Bare Your Soul to an Asshole Jim Cory 197

Jonathan Williams-Taking Delight In Two Worlds Jonathan Greene 201

"America's largest openair museum" Kenneth Irby 204

Toiling in the Bullpen-The Blues of Colonel Williams Charley Shively 227

Reckless and Doomed-Jonathan Williams and Jargon Michael McFee 232

Jonathan (Chamberlain) Williams Ronald Johnson 238

JW Gent & Epicurean Thomas Meyer 246

Reviewing:

Image Gallery: 24 photographs Jonathan Williams 255

Portraying the Contemporary-The Photography of Jonathan Williams Richard Deming 267

Burr, Salvage, Yoke Vic Brand 278

Recollecting:

Jonathan Williams, Jargonaut James Jaffe 292

The Jargon Society Kyle Schlesinger 299

The White Trash Cooking Story Thorns Craven 315

If You Can Kill a Snake with It, It Ain't Art-The Art History of a Maverick Poet-Publisher Tom Patterson 322

Some Facts and Some Memories-The Jargon Society Archive at the Poetry Collection State University of New York at Buffalo Michael Basinski 345

Devotion to "The Strange"-Jonathan Williams and the Small Press Dale Smith 349

In Conversation with Jonathan Williams, 1 June 2007 Richard Owens 355

The Jargon Society and Contemporary Literary History Robert J. Bertholf 372

"Inclemented That Way"-Jonathan Williams-Final Script-Talk about Writing: Portraits of North Carolina Writers Neal Hutcheson 378

Jargon Society-A Checklist of Jargon Society Richard Owens Jeffery Beam 426

Blue Darter-A Selected Checklist of Jonathan Williams Publications Jeffery Beam 433

Contributors 451

Acknowledgments 466

Jonathan Williams-Lord of Orchards 471

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews