Home » Reading & Literature » Modern British Poetry » New British Poetry 27: Not Without Pretext

New British Poetry 27: Not Without Pretext

© Dr J D Ballam

The University of East Anglia, based in Norwich, was the first of the UK's major universities to introduce Creative Writing as a subject for both undergraduate and post-graduate degrees, and its courses of study remain among the most respected in the country. The faculty numbers many talented writers among its staff, and they routinely attract A-list authors, poets and playwrights to participate in their programmes. Not surprisingly, their students quickly develop an attitude of professionalism, and a flair for creative innovation.

As a showcase for this hive of activity, the university produces a substantial twice-yearly journal entitled PRETEXT. In format and presentation this journal is on a par with the very best. The latest issue, called 'On the Market', 10 (Autumn/Winter 2004), takes as its theme the many aspects of literature's often uneasy relationship to 'markets' of all kinds, and it offers some highly contrasting work . The Bibliographical Notes appended to the journal demonstrate just how deep the well of talent the editors have used really is, as virtually all of the authors named possess lengthy lists of credits. This is not, it seems, a venue for untried talent.

That said, there is nothing here to suggest that the material published is in any way merely a collection of scraps fallen from its authors' desks. Quite the opposite. All of the writing shows a tense edginess, and a willingness to risk looking uncertainty squarely in the eye, and in public. Besides the Introduction, there are ten prose pieces - including a translation of Andrey Platonov and a conversation between Blake Morrison and Susie Orbach - and three poems. In all, the journal has 130 perfect-bound pages.

Of the poems, I liked the two short pieces best. Here is the final stanza of Bogdan Tiganov's 'letter to publishers, editors and anybody else'

publish me or not/ like me or not/ it makes no difference/ to the black cat/ in the black night/ and its beautiful green eyes//

sincerely/

And the first stanza of Mike Hoy's 'Workshop':

Names forgotten but not faces/ Eyes that sparkle, crystal peaks/ of acceptance.

As with most journals of this kind, there are advertisements for topics of interest to writers and readers of new work - including an ad for the university's own Pen & Inc Press (info@penandinc.co.uk). But nestled alongside items applicable to a domestic, East-of-England readership are notices from the journal's peer publications abroad, indicating that the concentric rings of writers and readers extends internationally.

The copyright of the article New British Poetry 27: Not Without Pretext in Modern British Poetry is owned by . Permission to republish New British Poetry 27: Not Without Pretext in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.