On Huot and Majzels, with Erín Moure

Al Filreis and Erín Moure chat in at Erín’s apartment in Montréal about Claire Huot and Robert Majzel's “Veiled Turrets, Scarlet Thread.” Enroll anytime for free in “ModPo,” a free, open, online course on Modern and Contemporary American Poetry, at http://modpo.org. Huot and Majzels have said the following about this work: “There is ... the issue of translation itself, what is translation and what is ‘original’ creation, what is a ‘good’ or ‘faithful’ translation. And this too is historically and contextually determined. What we are attempting in 85 would not have been recognized as translation in Fenollosa/Pound’s day. The larger issue here is classification in general. For some time now, at least since Foucault, the destabilization of classification in itself has become an ethical imperative. The blurring of boundaries between categories termed translation and creation, between author and reader, between spoken and written word is the terrain on which 85 works.” Of Moure, Melissa Jacques has written: "Erin Mouré's poetry is fragmented, meta-critical and explicitly deconstructive. Folding everyday events and ordinary people into complex and often irresolvable philosophical dilemmas, Mouré challenges the standards of accessibility and common sense. Not surprisingly, her work has met with a mixed response. Critics are often troubled by the difficult and therefore alienating nature of the writing; even amongst Mouré's advocates, the issues of accessibility and political efficacy are recurrent themes.”