Robin Blaser, one of the key North American poets of the postwar period, emerged from the "Berkeley Renaissance" of the 1940s and 1950s as a central figure in that burgeoning literary scene. The Holy Forest, now spanning five decades, is Blaser's highly acclaimed lifelong serial poem. This long-awaited revised and expanded edition includes numerous published volumes of verse, the ongoing "Image-Nation" and "Truth Is Laughter" series, and new work from 1994 to 2004. Blaser's passion for world making draws inspiration from the major poets and philosophers of our time--from friends and...

Looks at the roles various world views have played in generating cultural policies at various times in Western history.

Evan Alderson's introduction places the work within its social, political and historical framework. Robin Blaser addresses the problem of how we can begin to locate a responsible cultural position at the present time. The volume's historical progression begins with John Humphrey looking at the relation of arts and state in Imperial Rome. Haijo Westra focusses on the relation of language and culture in the medieval world. Jonathan Bordo examines the emergence of...

Robin Blaser moved from his native Idaho to attend the University of California, Berkeley, in 1944. While there, he developed as a poet, explored his homosexuality, engaged in a lively arts community, and met fellow travelers and poets Robert Duncan and Jack Spicer. The three men became the founding members of the Berkeley core of what is now known as the San Francisco Renaissance in New American Poetry.
In the company of a small group of friends and writers in 1974, Blaser was asked to narrate his personal story and to comment on the Berkeley poetry scene. In twenty autobiographical...