Bylebyl, Michael; Olson, Charles; Glover, Albert

Ismaeli Muslimism (A Curriculum of the Soul No. 18, 1972)

Canton, NY: Intsitute of Further Studies, 1972. First Edition, First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. "65 years and 202 days since the Kaliyuga sunk in Lake Huron carrying a load of iron ore and a crew of sixteen. The seventeenth, John Murphy Second Mate had left the ship when it docked at Erie Pa. so that he could visit some friends in Buffalo." (excerpt, epigraph). American poet & translator Michael Bylebyl's (1896-1974) Ismaeli Muslimism is fascicle number 18 in A Curriculum of the Soul the series of chapbooks issued by the Institute of Further Studies. The series grew out of Black Mountain School Pioneer Charles Olson's (1910-1970) 1968 A Plan for a Curriculum of the Soul, a one-page map of 223 names, terms, and subjects that Olson sketched as a kind of syllabus for the poetic imagination. After Olson died in 1970, John Clarke (1933–1992) and Albert Glover (1942-2026) took his list and assigned individual keywords to different poets, each of whom produced a small chapbook on their assigned subject. Twenty-eight fascicles were produced over roughly three decades. Bylebyl's contribution took on "Ismailism," a branch of Shia Islam emphasizing the esoteric interpretation of Islam. Olson's interest in the topic came almost entirely from Henry Corbin, the French scholar of Islamic mysticism, whom Olson discovered around 1960. Olson wove Corbin's ideas through his later "Maximus" poems and lectures, but his own references to Ismaili thought in the "Curriculum" were brief and allusive. Bylebyl's contribution effectively unpacks and develops the allusions (cyclical time, angelology, ta'wil or spiritual exegesis) Olson made, filling in the Corbin-derived Ismaili material Olson only gestured at. The company it keeps in the series is notable as the other fascicles were done by Robert Duncan (Dante; Item No. 6827), Robin Blaser (Bach's Belief; Item No. 8141), John Wieners (Woman; Item No. 8122), Alice Notley (Homer's Art; Item No. 9203), Fred Wah (Earth, Item No. 9197), Ed Sanders (The Egyptian Hieroglyphs; Item No. 9201), George Butterick (The Norse; Item No.9217), publisher Albert Glover (The Mushroom; Item No. 7966), and others, with Olson himself supplying number 0, Pleistocene Man. Please see Item No. 8138 for the complete series of The Curriculum of the Soul. From the collection of the aforementioned Albert Glover (1942-2026), the great American scholar, bibliographer, author & publisher who until recently was the foremost remaining authority on literary giant Charles Olson (1910-1970), with whom we're honored to have been acquainted. Chapbook in Stapled Wrappers: First Edition, first printing, though neither explicated at copyright page. A most collectible entry from Charles Olson's "Curriculum of the Soul" in its rarest contemporary form, with extremely relevant association & very distinguished provenance. In relatively very fine condition with very mild bumping to corners of front, back covers & spine; no discernible flaws to text bock. Interior very fine with no discernible flaws; essentially mint. Very Fine. [Item #9213]

Price: $150.00 save 10% $135.00