Various (Cherkovski, Neeli; Ford, Charles Henri; Joans, Ted; Norse, Harold; Wainio, Ken; Valaoritis, Nanos et al.)

Rejection 1

Berkeley, CA: Rejection / Nanos Valaoritis, 1980. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. Feast your eyes upon this strange & scarce small press curiosity: "Rejection 1," edited by the distinguished Greek Surrealist poet and celebrated SFSU professor, Nanos Valaoritis (1921-2019). A cursory internet search of Valaoritis reveals the following intrigue-appetizing factoids: Nanos emigrated from Greece to avoid war, fleeing to Paris where he was accepted into the dignified circle of Andre Breton, Surrealism's cantankerous Secretary General. We at TMB first learned about Nanos during research for the book project eventually published as "Starting from San Francisco: Thomas Rain Crowe in Conversation with Third Mind Books." (See Item No. 3071, Deluxe Edition No. 3075). During our many interviews with Thomas, we rested our shovels at numerous literary-historical "excavation sites," so to speak; one such fruitful stop came upon inquiring with Crowe, the tireless poet-impresario, about this strange Greek surrealist poet whose name we'd first come across when sorting through his sprawling archive. Shifting now, to the content and aesthetics of the issue, itself: viscous echoes of another quintessential West Coast small press production, Harold Norse's highly collectible "Bastard Angel" magazine, are most certainly in evidence, here. This is no surprise, however, as Valaoritis was a close friend to Norse, and these two Bastard Angels shared a raft of personal and literary affinities. Most obvious to us in the present--given the encyclopedic knowledge of the Second San Francisco Renaissance and The Baby Beat Generation now vividly accessible to Your Devoted Curators at Third Mind Books, from memory--is that this is yet another quintessential SSFR production. This is striking to us for two reasons: first, the contributor list is profoundly representative of the movement at its best; as its inclusion of major SSFR poets like Neeli Cherkovski and Ken Wainio beside Beat Elders like Norse and the inimitable Ted Joans (a personal favorite of Your Devoted Assistant Curator) speaks to its bona-fides. The first reason is more or less predictable given what we now know about the movement, but the second reason is more isomeric and curious: the magazine was published in 1980, a full 3-4 years after the high-water mark-period/year of 1976-77. According to what most of the poets involved have relayed to us (or elsewhere written), the movement was largely in a dissolution, or sunset stage by 1980, with many of its major figures leaving the Bay Area or dropping out of the scene, entirely. To name just a few, the commendable, Surrealist-heavy list of contributors to "Rejection 1" features San Francisco stalwart & Baby Beat Heavyweight, Neeli Cherkovski; the legendary surrealist (and gay literary pioneer), Charles Henri-Ford; the sui generis Beat Surrealist, Ted Joans; the eminent Harold Norse; noted Baby Beat surrealist, Ken Wainio, and Valaoritis himself, as one might expect. These contributions appear in concert with numerous additional Bay Area poets of greater or lesser renown; that acknowledged, all contributions are certainly deserving of inclusion in the issue and the company said inclusion affords them. (For a full contributor list, reference the photos included as part of this listing). Magazine in stapled wrappers; the first issue of this scarce periodical--a relic from the sunset period of the last great grassroots American literary movement (to-date). Magazine in strong fine condition with only modest shelf-wear to fine-edges & corners and contained-though-pronounced rusting to staples at exterior. Fine. [Item #4967]

Price: $50.00