View source for Robin Blaser

{{short description|Canadian poet}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- For more information see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]]. -->
| image       = Robin Blaser.jpg
| alt         = Robin Blaser
| caption     = Robin Blaser
| birth_name  = Robin Francis Blaser
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1925|05|18}} <!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| birth_place = [[Denver]], [[Colorado]], United States
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|2009|05|07|1925|05|18}}
| death_place = [[Vancouver]], [[British Columbia]], Canada
| occupation = Playwright, poet, translator
| citizenship = American, Canadian
| alma_mater  = [[Simon Fraser University]]
| period      = 1964-2008
| movement    = [[San Francisco Renaissance]]
| awards      = {{Awards|award=Lifetime Recognition Award |year=2006|name= Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry}} {{Awards|award=[[Griffin Poetry Prize]] |year=2008}}
| portaldisp  = y
}}
'''Robin Francis Blaser''' (May 18, 1925 – May 7, 2009) was an American-born Canadian playwright, poet, and translator.

==Personal background==
Born in [[Denver, Colorado]], Blaser grew up in [[Idaho]], and came to [[Berkeley, California]], in 1944. There he met [[Jack Spicer]] and [[Robert Duncan (poet)|Robert Duncan]], becoming a key figure in the [[San Francisco Renaissance]] of the 1950s and early 1960s. <ref>Nichols. Miriam. 2019. ''A Literary Biography of Robin Blaser: Mechanic of Splendor.'' Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. Lewis Ellingham & Kevin Killian. 1998. ''Poetry Be Like God: Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Renaissance.'' Wesleyan University Press.</ref> He moved to [[Canada]] in 1966, joining the faculty of [[Simon Fraser University]]; after taking early retirement in the 1980s, he held the position of [[professor emeritus]].  He lived in the [[Kitsilano]] neighborhood of [[Vancouver]], [[British Columbia]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

In June 1995, for Blaser's 70th birthday, a conference was held in Vancouver to pay tribute to his contribution to [[Canadian poetry]]. The conference, known as the "Recovery of the Public World" (a phrase borrowed from [[Hannah Arendt]]), was attended by poets from around the world, including Canadian poets [[Michael Ondaatje]], [[Steve McCaffery]], [[Phyllis Webb]], [[George Bowering]], [[Fred Wah]], [[Stan Persky]] and [[Daphne Marlatt]]; and poets who reside in the [[United States poetry|United States]], including [[Michael Palmer (poet)|Michael Palmer]] and [[Norma Cole]] (who was born in Canada, subsequently migrating to [[San Francisco]]).

Blaser was also well known as the editor of ''[[The Collected Books of Jack Spicer]]'', which includes Blaser's essay, ''The Practice of Outside''. The 1993 publication ''The Holy Forest'' represents his collected poems to that date.

In 2006, Blaser received a special Lifetime Recognition Award given by the trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, which also awards the annual [[Griffin Poetry Prize]]. Blaser won the Prize itself in 2008.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

==Bibliography==

===Poetry===
*''The Moth Poem'' (White Rabbit Press, 1964)
*''[[The Chimeras|Les Chimères]]: Translations of Nerval for Fran Herndon'' (Open Space, 1969)
*''Cups'' (Four Seasons Foundation, 1968)
*''Image Nations 1-12 & The Stadium of the Mirror'' (Ferry Press, 1974)
*''Image Nations 13 & 14, Luck Unluck Oneluck, Sky-stone, Suddenly, Gathering'' (Cobblestone Press, 1975)
*''Harp Trees'' (Sun Stone House & Cobblestoen Press 1977)
*''Image Nation 15: The Lacquerhouse'' (W. Hoffer, 1981)
*''Syntax'' (Talonbooks, 1983)
*''The Faerie Queene and The Park'' (Fissure Books, 1987)
*''Pell Mell'' (Coach House, 1988)
*''The Holy Forest'', edited Stan Persky & Michael Ondaatje (Coach House, 1993)
*''Nomad'' (Slug Press, 1995)
*''Wanders'', with [[Meredith Quartermain]] (Nomados, 2002)
*''The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser'', revised and expanded edition, edited Miriam Nichols (University of California Press, 2007). {{ISBN|0-520-24593-8}} (winner of the 2008 Canadian [[Griffin Poetry Prize]])

===Essays===
*''The Fire'', 1967
*''The Stadium of the Mirror'', 1974
*''The Practice of Outside'', 1975
*''The Violets: Charles Olson and [[Alfred North Whitehead]]'', 1983
*''My Vocabulary Did This To Me'' [on Jack Spicer], 1987
*''Poetry and Positivisms'', 1989
*''The Elf of It'' [on Robert Duncan], 1992
*''The Recovery of the Public World'' and ''Among Afterthoughts on This Occasion'', 1993
*''Here Lies the Woodpecker Who Was Zeus'' [on Mary Butts], 1995
* ''Bach's Belief'' (Institute of Further Studies, 1995)
*''Thinking about Irreparables, a talk'' (''Raddle Moon'', 2000)
*''The Fire: Collected Essays of Robin Blaser'', edited Miriam Nichols (University of California Press, 2006) <ref> Includes "Poetry and Positivisms," "The Recovery of the Public World," " 'My Vocabulary Did This to Me,' " "The 'Elf' of It," "Bach's Belief," and most of the others listed above.</ref>
*''The Astonishment Tapes: Talks on Poetry and Autobiography'', ed. Miriam Nichols (University of Alabama Press, 2015).

===Opera libretto===
*''[[The Last Supper (opera)|The Last Supper]], the libretto for Harrison Birtwistle's opera (2000)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
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*[http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/blaser/ Robin Blaser Homepage at the Electronic Poetry Center]
*[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5244 Literary Encyclopedia entry]
*[http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/awards-and-poets/shortlists/2008-shortlist/robin-blaser/ Griffin Poetry Prize biography]
*[http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/see-and-hear-poetry/a-g/robin-blaser/ Griffin Poetry Prize reading, including video clip]
*[http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/awards-and-poets/lifetime-recognition-award/robin-blaser/ Griffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award]
*[http://jacketmagazine.com/22/blaser-quar.html''Lyric Capability: the Syntax of Robin Blaser'', an essay by Meredith Quartermain]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120425163126/http://malahatreview.ca/issues/176reviews_cole.html "Robyn Blaser and Friendship," a review essay by Richard Cole]
*[http://www.writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Blaser.html MP3 files of Blaser's readings and lectures]
*[http://bothbothseries.blogspot.com/2007/02/interview-with-robin-blaser-that.html Interview with Robin Blaser, conducted by John Sakkis]
*[https://archive.today/20110815182213/http://www.berkeleydaily.org/text/article.cfm?issue=09-11-07&storyID=27990 Small Press Traffic honor ]
*[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/robin-blaser Blaser's entry in ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'']
*[http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/bernstein/blog/#05-07-09 Robin Blaser's obituary notice] from poet [[Charles Bernstein (poet)|Charles Bernstein]], including Bernstein's "Afterword" to ''The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser'' (2006)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090512202322/http://dooneyscafe.com/archives/1593 "Robin Blaser, 1925-2009: Death’s Duty"] by [[Stan Persky]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090529105306/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/article1136274.ece ‘Showing us things both marvellous and horrific'] by Sandra Martin in ''The Globe and Mail''
*[http://www.lib.sfu.ca/system/files/28909/finding_aid_blaser_2015.pdf Records of Robin Blaser are held by Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books]

{{Poets in The New American Poetry 1945–1960|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaser, Robin}}
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Simon Fraser University]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian poets]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian poets]]
[[Category:American emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:American gay writers]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ poets]]
[[Category:American opera librettists]]
[[Category:Canadian male poets]]
[[Category:Canadian gay writers]]
[[Category:Canadian LGBTQ poets]]
[[Category:Canadian opera librettists]]
[[Category:Gay poets]]
[[Category:Poets from Colorado]]
[[Category:Poets from Vancouver]]
[[Category:Translators of Gérard de Nerval]]
[[Category:Writers from Berkeley, California]]
[[Category:Writers from Denver]]
[[Category:Writers from Idaho]]