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Bruce Whiteman

{{short description|Canadian poet, translator, and essayist}}

Bruce Whiteman (born David Bruce Whiteman, June 18, 1952) is a Canadian poet, translator, editor, and essayist whose writings focus on music, bibliography, cultural history, and literature. Born in Southern Ontario and educated at Trent University and the University of Toronto,{{cite web|title=Bruce Whiteman|url=http://www.calrbs.org/program/faculty/whiteman/|work=California Rare Book School|accessdate=13 April 2012}} in 1996 Whiteman was appointed director of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at the University of California, Los Angeles, a position he held until 2010.{{cite web|title=Finding Aid for the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library Institutional Archive 1934-2010: Subseries 6. Bruce Whiteman, 1996-2010.|url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt8p3038s0/dsc/#c02-1.2.10.5.9|publisher=Online Archive of California (OAC)|accessdate=11 April 2012}} Currently Whiteman lives in Peterborough, Ontario,{{cite book|title=Contributor's biographies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5wmZDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Bruce+Whiteman%22+%22Peterborough%2C+Ontario%22&pg=PT265|work=Best Canadian Essays 2019|date = 10 December 2019|publisher=Biblioasis|isbn = 9781771963336|accessdate=17 December 2019}} and contributes book reviews and essays regularly to publications such as TriQuarterly, Rattle, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.{{cite web|title=Contributor biography|url=http://triquarterly.org/bios/bruce-whiteman|work=TriQuarterly Online|accessdate=13 April 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120522212225/http://triquarterly.org/bios/bruce-whiteman|archivedate=22 May 2012}}{{cite web|last=Whiteman|first=Bruce|title=Dark Archive by Laura Mullen|url=http://www.rattle.com/poetry/tag/bruce-whiteman/|work=Rattle|publisher=Rattle Foundation|accessdate=13 April 2012}}{{cite web|last=Whiteman|first=Bruce|title=A Serious Man Whose Love Will Last: On Two New Classical Translations by David R. Slavitt|url=http://lareviewofbooks.org/post/13252272696/a-serious-man-whose-love-will-last|work=Los Angeles Review of Books|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401182156/http://lareviewofbooks.org/post/13252272696/a-serious-man-whose-love-will-last|archivedate=2012-04-01}}

Poetry

Although he has published extensively as a rare books librarian, scholar, and critic, Whiteman has called writing poetry "the part of my life I'm most passionate about."{{cite web|last=Scudder|first=Kirby|title=Bruce Whiteman|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJj0BkXz0ZU|work=Inspired by California|accessdate=13 April 2012}} Known primarily as a prose poet who has been compared to fellow Canadian poets Christopher Dewdney and bpNichol,{{cite web|title=1984|url=http://archives.chbooks.com/online_books/tweny20/1984.html|work=Tweny/20|publisher=Coach House Books|accessdate=13 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140425173921/http://archives.chbooks.com/online_books/tweny20/1984.html|archive-date=2014-04-25|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Publisher's description: The Invisible World is In Decline|url=http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Invisible-World-Is-In-Decline-Bruce-Whiteman/9781550227475-item.html?ikwid=bruce+whiteman&ikwsec=Books|work=Inigo.com|accessdate=13 April 2012}} Whiteman's opus magnum is The Invisible World is In Decline, a continuing long poem he began working on in 1981 and which was first published in 1984; the work now comprises eight books, with the ninth and final volume due for publication in 2022.{{Cite web|title=The Invisible World Is in Decline Book IX|url=https://ecwpress.com/products/invisible-world-is-in-decline-ix|access-date=2021-11-30|website=ECW Press}} A 2015 publication entitled Tablature marked Whiteman's return to the sort of verse poetry that characterized much of his earlier work.{{Cite web|date=2015-04-06|title=Tablature|url=https://quillandquire.com/review/tablature/|access-date=2021-11-30|website=Quill and Quire|language=en}}

Selected publications

Poetry

  • The Sad Mechanic Exercise. Kentville, NS: Gaspereau Press, 2019.
  • Tablature. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2015.
  • Intimate Letters. Toronto: ECW Press, 2014.
  • The Invisible World Is in Decline, Books I-VI. Toronto: ECW Press, 2006.
  • Tristia. Pasadena: Vero Press, 2002.
  • XXIV Love Poems. Sherman Oaks: Ninja Press, 2002.
  • The Invisible World Is in Decline, Book V. Toronto: ECW Press, 2000.
  • The Forger Contemplates Rossetti. Los Angeles: Lyceum Press, 2000.
  • Visible Stars: New and Selected Poems. Dorion: The Muses' Company, 1995.
  • Zukofsky Impromptus. Toronto: Sin Tax, 1995.
  • Polyphonic Windows. Montreal: Poets & Painters Press, 1993.
  • The Invisible World Is in Decline, Books II-IV. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1989.
  • En avoir fini avec le corps seul. Le Sambuc: La Presse des Poètes et des Peintres d'Outre-Mer, 1987.
  • A Nature Murder. Hamilton: Poets & Painters Press, 1985.
  • Recesses in the Heart: The Thera Poems. Toronto: blewointmentpress, 1984.
  • The Invisible World Is in Decline. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1984.
  • The Cold Engineering of the World. Toronto: League of Canadian Poets, 1983.
  • The Thera Poems. North Walsham: Warren House Press, 1982.
  • 10 Lessons in Autobiography. Guelph: Gryphon Press, 1981.
  • Inventions. Toronto: Three Trees Press, 1979.
  • The Sun At Your Thighs, The Moon At Your Lips. Toronto: Piraeus Press, 1978.
  • 12 Poems, 12 Drawings. With M.W. Jewell. Toronto: Poets & Painters Press, 1978.

Translation

  • Tiberianus. Pervigilium Veneris. New York: Russell Maret, 2009.
  • Catullus. LXXXV/CV: Two Poems in Five Essays. Fullerton: Lyceum Press, 2006.
  • François Charron. After 10,000 Years, Desire: Selected Recent Poems. With Francis Farley-Chevrier. Toronto: ECW Press, 1995.

Cultural History

  • Best Canadian Essays 2021. Windsor: Biblioasis, 2021.
  • The World from Here: Treasures of the Great Libraries of Los Angeles. Los Angeles: UCLA Armand Hammer Museum, 2001. Edited by Bruce Whiteman and Cynthia Burlingham.
  • J.E.H. Macdonald. Kingston: Quarry Press, 1995.
  • Lasting Impressions: A Short History of English Publishing in Quebec. Montreal: Véhicule Press, 1994.
  • The Letters of John Sutherland, 1942-1956. Toronto: ECW Press, 1992.
  • A Bibliography of Macmillan of Canada Imprints 1906-1980. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1985.
  • Raymond Souster and His Works. Toronto: ECW Press, 1985.
  • Raymond Souster: A Descriptive Bibliography. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1984.
  • A Literary Friendship: The Correspondence of Ralph Gustafson and W.W.E. Ross. Toronto: ECW Press, 1984.
  • Leonard Cohen: An Annotated Bibliography. Downsview: ECW Press, 1980.

References

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Category:1952 births

Category:20th-century Canadian poets

Category:Canadian male poets

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century Canadian translators

Category:Canadian male essayists

Category:20th-century Canadian essayists

Category:20th-century Canadian male writers