Oppen, George

Discrete Series with: Ephemera

Cleveland, OH: mother/asphodel, 1966. First Edition Thus. Softcover. With promotional, letterpress postcard and manuscript advert (with drawing) by Merle Hoyleman. A volume of poems by George Oppen (1908-1984), the great American poet affiliated with Charles Reznikoff (1894-1976) and the Objectivist movement in literary modernism. Discrete Series was first published by the legendary Objectivist Press in 1934 at the height of the Objectivist Movement’s influence. The Objectivists, while all poetical descendants of William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), the acknowledged maestro of the genre-bending assembly, which counted the likes of Louis Zukofsky — a master of tension and [T.S.] Eliot-esque abstraction — and men like Charles Reznikoff, whose Rhythms I [1918], Rhythms II [1919]; and Poems [1920] were highly influential for Allen Ginsberg — both men not only practiced very different styles of verse, but pursued completely different lines of inquiry. This idea, of setting out from common ground on a new and different course, is reflected in the title of the work, as Oppen wrote in an essay, later. Discrete Series is a reference to the idea that in “a purely mathematical series, [each series] is derived by a rule or a convention from the preceding term. A discrete series, to the mathematician, is a series of which each term is empirically true. The problem of poetry, circa 1929–1933, was, I thought, the problem of honesty and of intelligence: and to construct meaning, an adequate vision.” This book, in other words, sought to correct, refine, and redress the failings and blind spots of the major instantiation of literary modernism that fathered and preceded it: the Imagism of Williams and [Ezra] Pound (1885-1972). Pound had the nose of a bloodhound for ambition at scale — which is the very same instinct that led him to Joyce, as well as to several other promising peers and project cases of the Modernist period — and he sniffed the project out, accordingly: hence his introduction to the work as published in 1934. In 1966, the work was revived and republished by "mother/asphodel," — which was Ron Caplan (of Mother magazine and press) working in conjunction with the great Jim Lowell of the Asphodel Book Shop in Cleveland, OH. The Asphodel, as students of the Beat Generation and Mimeograph Revolution are likely aware, was the ‘City Lights of Cleveland, OH’ during the peak of d.a.levy’s (1942-1968) bittersweet reign as a duke in the Mimeograph Revolution. levy was one of the movement’s great polymaths — a poet-printer-publisher (and painter!) whose knack for organization and vast, worldly intelligence tragically collided with the city of Cleveland. Before corrupt law enforcement officers, murky grand juries, and the forces of censorship and order in Cleveland suicided the Mimeograph Revolution in Cleveland (and also, in the Midwest, broadly), d.a.levy’s Renegade Press and Seven Flowers imprints were ingeniously contributing to the print culture of the Mimeograph Revolution. Lowell and levy put Cleveland on the map: using levy’s publications and Lowell’s bookstore to create culture and effect literature within and beyond the city of Cleveland. Outside of the work itself, which is great on its own, two things are testified to by the existence of this pamphlet, and by the parties who contributed to making it a reality. First, the Mimeograph Revolution was not made up of a bunch of illiterate, slovenly punks. You could not be a cretin and hang with these guys. Secondly, Lowell’s commitment to fine and rare books (their acquisition, as well as their production) was something that he continued to pursue with friends like Ron Caplan, and with people Caplan himself either worked with or believed in. Included in this listing along with the Oppen volume itself are two pieces of ephemera, which we have found and retained & are including (as is our practice) as part of the listing. The first of these is a small, letterpress postcard featuring an advertisement for the Oppen volume offered here and accompanied by a quote from E.P.’s introduction of 1936. The second piece of ephemera is an oblong promotional announcement [folded in thirds] regarding a forthcoming / promised volume by Merle Hoyleman (1905-1984), who was one of several authors that Caplan vociferously championed (as Your Devoted VP-of-Operations work with the Jim Lowell Papers at Kent State revealed). At any rate: on the advert’s recto side is the address for the Asphodel Book Shop, followed by bibliographical information regarding how the book was to be made (its size; its tip-ins; its limitation, etc.). For more information, consult the photographs attached to this listing. Chapbook in stapled wrappers: First Edition Thus, as indicated on copyright page; First Printing, with no reference to other printings thereon. From the collection of Robin Eichele (b. 1941), noted Mimeograph Revolutionary & co-founder (with John Sinclair) of the Detroit Artists’ Workshop. In strong near fine condition with only minor-to-moderate rubbing, shelf-wear, light bumping & scattered, light nicks & low-visibility scuffs to front, back covers & spine-edge; interior similarly near fine with light-to-moderate age-toning throughout; otherwise, generally clean. All ephemera in Very Fine condition with only slightest shelf-wear to fine-edges & a few microscopic exhibits of bumping at/along fine-edges at recto & verso sides; otherwise, pristine. Near Fine / Very Fine [Ephemera]. [Item #8662]

Price: $100.00