Poet as war correspondent (Tony Harrison interview):
Listen to the entire Tony Harrison interview here. (.ram format, click the 'Ide hallgass' link)
Q: How did you get involved in writing on the Bosnian conflict and the first Gulf War?
A: It actually did come from the controversy surrounding V. [British national newspaper] The Independent… published the whole of the poem in the news section… Ezra Pound said that poetry is news that stays news… In this case, everybody saw the poem… and this made me think, ah, there's a place for poetry there.
And when the Gulf War started, the Guardian [another British national] said, "Have you got a poem?"… and I said, "Will you… put it in the news section?"
The feedback… was extraordinary, and the editor said, "Well, next time there's a war, why don't we just send you?"
I… didn't think about it again, till I was directing a play of mine in Greece, one of my kamikaze projects on a mountainside, and… the Guardian rang up and said, "Come to the office and get a helmet and a flak jacket, and go to Bosnia." I've got into the habit now of writing… poems for the newspapers.
Listen to the entire Tony Harrison interview here. (.ram format, click the 'Ide hallgass' link)
This entry was posted by eeksypeeksy
on Wednesday, June 16, 2004 at 12:42 PM.
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