Vladimir Nabokov said that “a good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader.”  November 29, 2022 

The Year in Rereading  The books we returned to this year for insight, comfort, and delight by The New Yorker  The list includes: 

·        P. G. Wodehouse’s “Joy in the Morning”

·        Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities”

·        “Diaries” of Alan Clark

·        “Glyph” by Percival Everett 

·        “It Can’t Happen Here” by Sinclair Lewis  Sinclair Lewis’s satirical novel about an American demagogue turned dictator, was a best-seller when it was first published, in 1935.   

Ekphrasis  “Description” in Greek.  An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art.  Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning.  A notable example is “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” in which the poet John Keats speculates on the identity of the lovers who appear to dance and play music, simultaneously frozen in time and in perpetual motion.  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/ekphrasis   

Look Then Read:  Big Sheets, an exhibition of enlarged versions of visual poems and collages by Joel Lipman, 2022 University of Toledo Department of Art Axon Fellow, is on exhibit in the UT Center for Visual Arts Gallery through January 6, 2023.   Lipman has been a cornerstone of Toledo’s poetry community for decades.  Along with Nick Muska, a fellow poet and driving force behind the Toledo Poetry Museum, Lipman has hosted poetry readings and workshops and has built a community for poets and creative writers.  His affiliation with the University of Toledo’s Department of English allowed him to bring in visiting artists and writers to enrich the local offerings.  His classes revolved around the visceral, the tangible, the essential experiences of expression.  Now a professor emeritus of English at UT, in 2008 Lipman was the first appointed poet laureate of Lucas County.  Lipman’s interests lie at the intersection of writing and art. He has taught about ekphrasis (writing about art or inspired by art) and about artist’s books (Toledo Museum of Art has a great selection in its archives).  The tradition of artists and writers using existing books as a jumping-off point for their own creative expression, like a written collage, is a popular medium.  An example is blackout poetry, where a page from a book is blacked out except for a smattering of words on the page; the words remaining then communicate a sentiment or statement.  Lipman works in this tradition – “treating” pre-existing texts with rubber stamps and graphic elements like printing blocks.  These works require a different sort of interpretation:  look at something to see what it is, identify its components and their origins.  Then, after determining those factors, read to see what it says.  The Axon Fellowship at the University of Toledo’s Department of Art created the opportunity for Lipman to print and display large versions of his collages, with the help of professor Eric Zeigler and the Art Print Center.  Altering the scale of Lipman’s work offers a grander look at his creative process.  Through January 6, 2023. The Center for Visual Arts, adjacent to the Toledo Museum of Art, 620 Art Museum Drive. utoledo.edu/al/art  https://toledocitypaper.com/art-to-heart/look-then-read-joel-lipman/   

Toledo Poetry Museum https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064772523967   

The Lit Hub Staff Picks the Best Books of the Year for 2022 by Emily Temple  https://lithub.com/our-38-favorite-books-of-2022/   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2611  December 27, 2022