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Patagoni
Part travelogue, part meditation on mobility across the American continent, via Henry Ford’s invention of the automobile and the native mythologies of Peru, this is as weird and wild as anything Metcalf published. It is segmented into three discontinuous sections. Beautifully published by The Jargon Society — see picture above.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1971
37 people want to read
About the author
Paul Metcalf
103 books12 followersPaul Metcalf (1917–1999) was an American writer. He wrote in verse and prose, but his work generally defies classification. Its small but devoted following includes Robert Creeley, William Gass, Wendell Berry, Guy Davenport, Howard Zinn, and Bruce Olds. His many books include Will West (1956), Genoa (1965), Patagoni (1971), Apalache (1976), The Middle Passage (1976), Zip Odes (1979), and U.S. Dept. of the Interior (1980).
He was the great-grandson of one of his major literary influences, Herman Melville.
Paul Metcalf was born in 1917 in East Milton, Massachusetts. He attended Harvard but left before graduating. In 1942, he married Nancy Blackford of South Carolina and over the next two decades spent long periods in the South. Metcalf traveled widely through North and South America and these travels figure largely in his work. Among his friends and associates were the poet Charles Olson (whom he met when he was thirteen), the artist Josef Albers, poet and publisher Jonathan Williams and the writer Guy Davenport. Later in his career, Metcalf was a visiting professor at the University of California San Diego, SUNY Albany, and the University of Kansas. He died in 1999, near Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
He was the great-grandson of one of his major literary influences, Herman Melville.
Paul Metcalf was born in 1917 in East Milton, Massachusetts. He attended Harvard but left before graduating. In 1942, he married Nancy Blackford of South Carolina and over the next two decades spent long periods in the South. Metcalf traveled widely through North and South America and these travels figure largely in his work. Among his friends and associates were the poet Charles Olson (whom he met when he was thirteen), the artist Josef Albers, poet and publisher Jonathan Williams and the writer Guy Davenport. Later in his career, Metcalf was a visiting professor at the University of California San Diego, SUNY Albany, and the University of Kansas. He died in 1999, near Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
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April 15, 2017
While far less disturbing than Genoa, this piece shares the humility of that meditation on Melville and madness. Patagoni is a triptych of the fauna and flora of Iberian America during the time of Conquest, this is followed by a prose poem on the life of Henry Ford and concludes with a travelogue of a trip Metcalf took across South America, constantly aware of being the ugly American. The last element is especially touching and I was rather pleased that Metcalf shared my love of futbol. The Edenic concept of Nature is ran roughshod by Progress, the soft prayer of the indigenous is soon lost to the billowing smoke and incessant roar of the machines as the Amazon is clear cut.
Displaying 1 of 1 review