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»Ted Hughes 2000« – An International Conference. Lyon, 25 & 26 Feb. 2000.
Last Update: 21-vii-2003:
Conference
Publication
On this page you will find additional information the Ted Hughes 2000 conference.
Proceedings of Ted Hughes 2000 — An International Conference have been published in Ted Hughes: Alternative Horizons (Routledge, 2004).
TED HUGHES 2000 – An International Conference was convened by the CERAN
at Université Lumière-Lyon II on 25 & 26 February 2000.
It was organized by Joanny Moulin and Adolphe Haberer. Thanks are also
due to all the invisible and semi-visible helpers who made this conference
possible.
Terry Gifford sent a poem dedicated to the
memory of the late Fred Rue Jacobs, a friend of Ted Hughes's and of
many of the contributors. Fred had very much wanted to be at Lyon. He died
in the winter of 1999.
Below is a List of Participants and an indication
as to the topics of their talks.
The original programme is on a separate
page.
A short, personal write-up on the Lyon Conference
I am well aware that the extremely brief descriptions of the talks below cannot do justice to the actual scope of the papers given (After all, speakers were allowed a generous thirty minutes to present their theses.) And in a sense this is not the place to do so. Nevertheless, I hope that, brief and limited as they are, the notes may serve the purpose of giving a glimpse of what to expect from the forthcoming conference volume.
We arrived in Lyon by train on Thursday 24 February. A late, sunny afternoon.
The atmosphere in town was warm and welcoming. It was still rather early
so that after checking into the hotel, which our hosts Adolphe Haberer
and Joanny Moulin had booked for us, we went for a few cappuccinos and
a walk to the old town. The intact though partly crumbling beauty of the
old building substance struck me as a stark contrast to many German towns,
wrecked by the war and subsequent re-building.
Returning to the hotel we found a message saying that our hosts and some
other early arrivals were waiting for us in a nearby café. It was
strange and pleasant at the same time to finally meet in person good friends
whom I had known only through e-mails and letters.
Friday 25 February
A hasty French breakfast after getting up a little too late and a walk
to the University (Lyon II). I never expected so many students to attend
the conference. At times, the lecture hall was so packed that the only
remaining spaces to sit were on the steps.
It was Leonard Scigaj who opened the conference with his talk »The
Deterministic Ghost in the Machine of Birthday Letters«. The
paper centred on Hughes's retrospective portrayal of events during his
marriage to Sylvia Plath. Len Scigaj found an »over-determined« portrayal
of the causes of Plath's psychic deterioration. He looked into »genetic
pre-determination«, »rigid mechanisms« in Hughes's description
of events that seem to fail the ›real events‹ on several counts.
The talk presented several aspects which, though seemingly of major importance
to Plath herself, went »unacknowledged« in Birthday Letters,
aspects that Hughes may have »failed to recognize« due to his »deterministic
view«. [Also, on Len's handout for the first time I saw Plath's »Caryatids« poem.]
Gayle Wurst was next with her talk on »The Imagination of Ted Hughes
in the Early Poetry of Sylvia Plath«. The paper started off with
a mapping of Sylvia Plath's move from »juvenilia« to »mature« poetry
as apparent from the published collections themselves. Gayle gave an account
of the two sides of the »male muse« in Plath's poetry and showed
its connections with her struggles against writing blocks and creative
sterility (as apparent from her journals). The talk benefited greatly from
Gayle's use of overheads of several original paintings which Plath had
used as an inspiration for some of her poems. It was the first time I saw
most of them.
Carol Bere's paper concentrated on a collection most of us had never seen
(or even heard of) before: the limited edition (50 copies!) of Capriccio,
published with Leonard Baskin's illustrations by his Gehenna Press in 1990.
The book collects twenty poems which have Hughes's relationship with Assia
Wevill as their background. Interestingly, eight of them were published
in the New Selected Poems but in different order. The mythology
of Capriccio seems related to »The Dreamers«, the »Assia-poem« from Birthday
Letters. As the poems are heavily coded in mythology, Carol offered
a guide into some major myths, which the poems make use of. Quite heavy
and highly stimulating stuff for an early morning, and I, for one, sorely
needed the break to get a grip on what I had just heard. Maybe this is
a good place to thank all the students who helped making this conference
possible, bustling away in the background to make attendants most comfortable
and events run smoothly.
Terry Gifford was next with his talk on »Culture as Nature in Remains
of Elmet and Elmet«. He presented a fascinating comparison
on the differences between the two books. Slides illustrated some major
points made. Terry's talk answered several questions raised by the differences
between both publications, and he showed the progress in Ted Hughes's and
Fay Godwin's portrayal of »Culture as Nature«. In addition
to this, having just recently conducted an interview with Fay Godwin, Terry's
talk was spiced with interesting insights into the collaboration between
photographer and poet. A treat for attendant students, Terry gave away
free copies of a paper on »Nature as Culture / Culture as Nature«.
Moreover, he brought the late Fred Rue Jacobs's absence to our awareness:
a friend to many of the speakers.
After lunch, Christian la Cassagnère gave a talk on the poem »Wind«.
He applied his knowledge of Lacanian thought, to examine in great detail
the conflict between »Real« and »Sublime« in the
formal poetry, with central focus on different »horizons« in
the poetic text. He also portrayed Hughes as one of the »last romantics«.
Ann Skea presented stunning findings on Birthday Letters. The 88
poems, it seems, correspond to aspects of Cabbalist numerology (paths of
the Sephirothic Tree), while Tarot cards appear to have been used as a
mnemonic in writing and/or sequencing the poems. Well aware that almost
anything may be interpreted into a book of poems, Ann carefully presented
sample charts of correspondences between Cabbala, Tarot and poems from Birthday
Letters, strengthening her point.
Next was Stephen Enniss, curator of the Ted Hughes archive at Emory University,
Atlanta. Steve had changed the topic of his talk and gave a fascinating
account of Hughes's self-representation as apparent from his treatment
of his own manuscripts: Soon after the publication of his first volume
of poetry, Hughes seems to have become aware of the value and advantages
of his MSS over the published versions as representing works in progress.
The many hundreds of manuscripts at Emory seem to bear witness to Hughes's
change in self-representation.
After the well-attended book launch of Keith Sagar's The Laughter of
Foxes in a downtown bookstore, we left the party (who were to dine
in a beautiful old restaurant) so I could finish shortening the jumble
of notes for my own talk to the required thirty minutes. Sadly, therefore,
we missed out on most of a very happy gathering.
Saturday 26 February
Another early morning after a rather late night. Half-missed breakfast
and arrived late for the first talk: Axel Nesme on »Drives and their
Vicissitudes in Ted Hughes's Poetry«. From what I gathered, the paper
drew on the Lacanian concept of the drive (esp. the »death drive«)
in connection to Hughes's writing, and on the conflict between silence
and voice in the poetry.
Neil Roberts's talk on the »Female Addressee« in Hughes was
next. Neil focused on presentations of the Female from such early poems
as »Song« right through to such as »The Rabbit Catcher« of Birthday
Letters. It seems as if Hughes »obliterated« actual women
from the texts of some of his early poems, women on which the texts were
based (or to whom they spoke). What emerged from this was an »anonymous«,
hard-to-grasp image of the Goddess. As an effect of this, as Hughes seems
to have become aware, some poems were often ›mis-interpreted‹.
Obviously, the poems from Birthday Letters stand in marked contrast
to this early approach. Here, given the readers access to/knowledge of
biographical information, the Female all but anonymous.
Joanny Moulin concentrated on Ted Hughes's »anti-mythic method« and
found traces of »anti-Christian myth« in the work. As an example
for this he referred to the »revised crucifixion poems« of
sequences like Crow or Prometheus on His Crag. The basis
for Joanny's talk was his idea that Hughes uses the energy of existing
myth in order to counteract on it. This, Joanny found, had the effect that
the poetry became »ideological polemic« or in the case of Birthday
Letters even became »anti-poetry«.
Diane Middlebrook's paper offered a glimpse of her work-in-progress: Ted
Hughes's autobiographic self-representation through his late poetry. Concentrating
mainly on Birthday Letters, Diane focussed on Hughes self-presentation
as »husband/father«. She then linked this approach of Hughes's
to poems presenting Sylvia Plath's development with frequent allusions
to birth-imagery.
Paul Volsik looked at narrative strategies used by Hughes, which seem based
on a »romantic« understanding of folk and fairy tales. From
Paul's talk emerged a picture of Hughes as a »neo-romantic« poet,
whose writing was strongly influenced by nineteenth-century anthropology.
Presenting the scope and the effects of this influence, the paper also
took into account the interesting political dimension of Hughes's views.
My own paper focussed on Ted Hughes's books for children (and adults) and
their particular place/importance in his work as I see it. His »Moon-Poems« (from The
Earth-Owl, Earth-Moon and Moon-Whales) were the basis
for my talk.
Keith Sagar was the final speaker on the conference and beautifully he
brought it to a close. Rather than offering literary criticism, he presented
us with original Hughes, with the voice of his poetry. Keith read several
unpublished or hard-to-find poems and briefly illuminated their particular
backgrounds. In this, he presented some amazing pieces that had »slipped
through the net« when Hughes selected the New Selected Poems.
It became obvious that the New Selected Poems, though a fine and
representative selection, cannot capture the full scope of Hughes's oeuvre.
And the papers presented during those two days share this slight ›flaw‹.
Our two-and-a-half days of amazing hospitality and literary criticism ended
with a wonderful gathering at Adolphe Haberer's house in a village outside
Lyon. Great many thanks are due to his wife and children, who prepared
the event.
____
Naturally, during a conference as diverse as this ideas may clash and emotions. So, here is a little ›post-conference discussion‹ of some of the issues that, obviously, were at stake too. Keith Sagar's good-humoured initial note was the only reply to my invitation to share impressions of the conference with a wider public. I should note that the discussion went unedited and that it was (is) open to everyone.
List of Participants / Talks given
(Clearly, the ›additional notes‹ given below cannot do justice the content of the talks - they are intended as a kind of very rough guide to some of the topics covered.)
Leonard SCIGAJ (Virginia Tech, USA):
»The Deterministic Ghost in the Machine of Birthday
Letters«:
- on determinism in Birthday Letters;
- other points discussed were the portrayal of Sylvia Plath, of Hughes
and of the events and circumstances, in the poetry of the collection;
Gayle WURST (Princeton, USA):
»Words to ›Patch the Havoc‹: The Imagination
of Ted Hughes in the Early Poetry of Sylvia Plath«
- on Ted Hughes as imagined/portrayed in Plath's poetry;
- on Sylvia Plath as imagined/portrayed in Hughes's poems;
- other points discussed were male/female muses, imitation, Plath's struggles
with creative blocks, the impossibility for the female writer to meet Graves's
ideas of muse outlined in his White Goddess;
Carol BERE (USA):
»›Complicated with old Ghosts‹: the ›Assia‹ Poems«:
- on the »Assia poems« in the limited ed. Capriccio (Gehenna
Press, 1990);
- republication of eight of them in the New Selected Poems;
- underlying mythology of Capriccio;
- poetry and illustrations;
Terry GIFFORD (Bretton Hall, Leeds, UK):
»›Dead Farms, Dead Leaves‹: Culture as
Nature in Remains of Elmet and Elmet«
- on »Nature as Culture« and »Culture as Nature« in
the two books;
- fascinating comparison as to the differences in both publications;
- on the collaboration between Hughes and Godwin;
Christian LA CASSAGNÈRE (Lumière-Lyon II, France):
» Ted Hughes's Crying Horizons: ›Wind‹ and
the Poetics of Sublimity«
- analysis of the poem »Wind«
- on Lacanian thought in the poetry, »the Real« and »the
Sublime«;
- on Hughes as one of the »last romantics«;
Ann SKEA (Sydney, Australia):
» Poetry & Magic«:
- on correspondences between Birthday Letters and Cabbala;
- on Tarot cards as mnemonic and structuring device;
- further information on Ann's home page (listed in the Links section)
Stephen ENNISS (Emory, USA):
» Fragments of a Life: A Preliminary Reading of
the Ted Hughes Archive«:
- Steve changed the topic of his talk and presented a paper on »self-representation« as
apparent from the MSS collection;
- on Hughes's change of approach towards his own MS;
Axel NESME (Lumière-Lyon II, France):
» Drives and their Vicissitudes in Ted Hughes's
Poetry«:
- on Freudian and Lacanian thought in connection to Hughes's work;
Neil ROBERTS (Sheffield, UK):
» Hughes and the Female Addressee«:
- on presentations of the Female in Hughes's work and changes thereof;
- Goddesses vs. ›real‹ women;
- early work / Birthday Letters;
Joanny MOULIN (Montaigne-Bordeaux III, France):
»Ted Hughes's Anti-Mythic Method«:
- on myth/»anti-myth« in Hughes;
- on »anti-Christian« myth and »anti-poetry«;
- Hughes vs Eliot
Diane MIDDLEBROOK (Stanford, USA):
»In Search of the Autobiography of Ted Hughes«:
- on the literary autobiography as apparent from Hughes's writings;
- on self-presentation through the work;
- Birthday Letters;
Paul VOLSIK (Paris VII, France):
»›Merely Anecdotes‹, ›Small Tales
... Big Myths‹ and ›Successful Legend‹. Ted Hughes and the
Folk Tale«:
- on the sense of narrative and story;
- on folktale traditions and their role in Hughes's work;
- romanticism and Hughes as a »neo-romantic« poet;
- on political implications of some of his writings;
Claas KAZZER (Leipzig, Germany):
»›Earth-Moon‹: Ted Hughes's Books for
Children (and Adults)«:
- on Hughes's books for children (and adults);
- on Peter Hollindale's concept of »childness« as applied to
Hughes;
- on the »Moon-poems«;
Keith SAGAR (Manchester, UK):
»Not the New Selected Poems«:
- Keith gave a reading of some unpublished and hard to find poems that
did not make it into the New Selected Poems. He also gave some
information on the background of the poems read.