Table Of ContentTHE GUY DAVENPORT READER
ALSO BY GUY DAVENPORT
COMMENTARY
THE INTELLIGENCE OF LOUIS AGASSIZ
THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE IMAGINATION
EVERY FORCE EVOLVES A FORM
A BALTHUS NOTEBOOK
CHARLES BURCHFIELD’S SEASONS
CITIES ON HILLS: EZRA POUND'S CANTOS
THE DRAWINGS OF PAUL CADMUS
THE ILIAD: A STUDY GUIDE
THE ODYSSEY: A STUDY GUIDE
THE HUNTER GRACCHUS
FICTION
TATLIN!
DA VINCI’S BICYCLE
ECLOGUES
APPLES AND PEARS
THE JULES VERNE STEAM BALLOON
THE DRUMMER OF THE ELEVENTH NORTH
DEVONSHIRE FUSILIERS
A TABLE OF GREEN FIELDS
THE CARDIFF TEAM
THE DEATH OF PICASSO
TWELVE STORIES
POETRY
FLOWERS AND LEAVES
THASOS AND OHIO
TRANSLATIONS
CARMINA ARCHILOCHI
SAPPHO: SONGS AND FRAGMENTS
HERAKLEITOS AND DIOGENES
THE MIMES OF HERONDAS
MAXIMS OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS
THE LOGIA OF YESHUA (WITH BENJAMIN URRUTIA) SEVEN GREEKS
The
GUY DAVENPORT
READER
Edited and with an Afterword by Erik Reece
COUNTERPOINT
BERKELEY
Copyright © Estate of Guy Davenport 2013
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may
be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in
the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Davenport, Guy.
[Works. Selections]
A Guy Davenport reader / Guy Davenport ; edited by Erik Reece.
pages cm ISBN 978-1-61902-252-2
I. Reece, Erik, editor of compilation. II. Title.
PS3554.A86A6 2013
818′.5409—dc23
2013014418
Cover design by Jeff Clark Interior design by VJBScribe COUNTERPOINT
1919 Fifth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
www.counterpointpress.com
Distributed by Publishers Group West 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
We gratefully acknowledge the original publishers of the pieces herein: “The Aeroplanes at Brescia,”
“Robot,” and “Herakleitos,” Tatlin!, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974; “The Richard Nixon Freischatz Rag,”
The Hawaii Review, 1975; “A Field of Snow on a Slope of the Rosenberg,” The Georgia Review, 1977;
“The Death of Picasso,” The Kenyon Review, 1980; “Bronze Leaves and Red,” Trois Caprices, Pace Trust
of Louisville, KY, 1981; “A Gingham Dress,” The Drummer of the Eleventh North Devonshire Fusiliers,
North Point Press, 1990; “Jonah,” Nadja Press, 1986; “Gunnar and Nikolai,” “And,” and “The Concord
Sonata,” A Table of Green Fields, New Directions, 1993; “Belinda’s World Tour,” The Santa Monica
Review, 1990; “August Blue,” Antaeus, 1990; “Boys Smell Like Oranges” and “Veranda Hung with
Wisteria,” The Cardiff Team, New Directions, 1996; “The Geography of the Imagination,” The Geography
of the Imagination, North Point Press, San Francisco, 1981; “The Symbol of the Archaic,” Perspective and
The Georgia Review, 1974; “Finding,” Antteus, 1978; “Ralph Eugene Meatyard,” Aperture, 1974;
“Hobbitry,” The New York Times, 1979; “The Hunter Gracchus,” The New Criterion, 1996; “On Reading,”
Antaeus, 1987; “Spinoza’s Tulips”, Perspective; “A Letter to the Masterbuilder,” AIA: Journal of the
American Institute of Architects, 1987; “What Are Revolutions?” The Hunter Gracchus, Counterpoint,
Berkeley, 1996; “The Medusa,” A Geography of Poets, Bantam Books, New York, 1979; “The Resurrection
in Cookham Churchyard,” Poetry, 1967; translations of Archilochos and Sappho, Archilochos Sappho
Alkman, University of California Press, 1980; translations from Anakreon, Conjunctions, 1984; translation
of Herakleitos and Diogenes, Herakleitos and Diogenes, Grey Fox Press, San Francisco, 1979; translations
of the first Duino Elegies, Apples and Pears, North Point Press, Berkeley, 1984; “Journal I,” Antaeus;
“Journal II,” Taking Note: From Poets’ Notebooks/The Seneca Review.
For Bonnie Jean Cox
CONTENTS
Editor’s Note
STORIES
Robot
The Aeroplanes at Brescia
The Richard Nixon Freischütz Rag
A Field of Snow on a Slope of the Rosenberg
The Death of Picasso
Bronze Leaves and Red
A Gingham Dress
Jonah
And
Belinda’s World Tour
Gunnar and Nikolai
The Concord Sonata
August Blue
Boys Smell Like Oranges
Veranda Hung with Wisteria
ESSAYS
The Geography of the Imagination
The Symbol of the Archaic
Finding
Ralph Eugene Meatyard
Hobbitry
The Hunter Gracchus
On Reading
Spinoza’s Tulips
A Letter to the Masterbuilder
What Are Revolutions?
POEMS
The Medusa
The Resurrection in Cookham Churchyard
POETRY IN TRANSLATION
Sappho
Anakreon
Archilochos
Duino Elegy I
LOGIA IN TRANSLATION
Herakleitos
Diogenes
JOURNALS
Journal I
Journal II
Afterword: Remembering Guy Davenport
Description:"The difference between the Parthenon and the World Trade Center, between a French wine glass and a German beer mug, between Bach and John Philip Sousa, between Sophocles and Shakespeare, between a bicycle and a horse, though explicable by historical moment, necessity, and destiny, is before all els
