Join Us! – “Alphabets of Creation”

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Albrecht Dürer, alphabets, American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Publishers Association, Arabic, Berkeley, Christian, creation, Gould Auditorium, Grolier Club, Guggenheim Foundation fellowship, Gyles Calvert, Harold Bloom, Hebrew, J. Willard Marriott Library, Jacob Behmen, Jakob Bohme (1575-1624), Jelaluddin Rumi, Jerusalem, libraries, London, M. Simmons, MacArthur Fellowship, Miryam Bartov, Muslim, mysticism, National Jewish Book Award, New Jersey, New York, Paterson, PEN Translation Prize, Peter Cole, poetics, poetry, Quelquefois Press, rare books, Rare Books Classroom, Seattle, Sefer Otiyot Shel Rabi Akiba, Sinai, Spain, Special Collections Gallery, Tabula Rasa Press, Tel-Aviv, The Nation, The University of Utah, Zohar

“Alphabets of Creation: Libraries, Mysticism, Poetics”

How might archives give rise to art? Is obsession with the letter a threat to spirit? When does the lamp shed light on life, and when does it simply make learning stink? In a playful and probing presentation, poet and translator Peter Cole will explore the role of language, libraries, and mystical linkage in the process of poetic creation.

Peter Cole has been called an “inspired writer” (The Nation) and “one of the most vital poets of his generation” (Harold Bloom). He is the author of four books of poetry. Cole’s translation from Hebrew and Arabic, The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, c. 950-1492, received the National Jewish Book Award and the American Publishers Association’s Award for Book of the Year. He has received numerous honors for his work, including a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and the PEN Translation Prize. In 2007 he was named a MacArthur fellow. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Cole now divides his time between Jerusalem and New Haven, where he tends small gardens that fill his poetry.

Wednesday, October 21

Lecture
5:30-6:30PM
Gould Auditorium, Level 1
J. Willard Marriott Library
The University of Utah

Reception, book signing, and Rare Books presentation
6:30-8PM
Special Collections Gallery & Rare Books Classroom, Level 4
J. Willard Marriott Library
The University of Utah

Free and open to the public.

These pieces and others from our rare book collections helped inspire Peter. How will they inspire you?