sewn paper
Poetry
1991
160 pages
ISBN 0-88984-115-2
$10.95
Europe
Louis Dudek
Europe is the poetic journal of Louis Dudek's cultural pilgrimage
to the famous buildings and fabled sites of Europe. Although the sections
of the poem are arranged chronologically in the order of his journeyings,
the poem is less the story of Dudek's travels than a series of moral and
aesthetic meditations prompted by his experiences. Expecting to find in
Europe culture in its most evolved forms, the poet is confronted instead
by materialism and superficiality, by exhausted peoples who are the unworthy
inheritors of past greatness.
Eventually the poet comes to realize that it is the sea,
`constant always in beauty,' that is the real object of his quest.
`The polemic stance in Europe [Dudek's] 1954 opus, here reprinted with minor
emendations in a handsome edition, complete with author's preface and afterword
by Michael Gnarowski, may be irksome to some readers. But Dudek's comments
on the decline of western civilization are still valid. Essentially, the book uses
the structural paradigm of a transatlantic cruise to contrast the ageless
"indifferent benevolence" of sea and rivers with the fickle ways of men, and so
to highlight the devolution of renaissance culture in Europe. The form of poetic
diary absorbs any esoterica, so we have Dudek's strong companionable voice as
tour guide.
`The book is a young man's book, not Dudek's best, of course. Nevertheless,
it is refreshing to see how well the parody and technique hold up after
all these years.' `Far from being "tourist poetry," Europe is a high-minded attempt to
examine both Europe's cultural artefacts and a North American mind built upon them.
It shares the virtues and limitations of Dudek's other work: beautifullt wrought lines,
intelligence, and clarity in perception, tempered
by a lack of humour and a certain arid quality.' `The language of it is so simply put down, without pretense, that I
am all admiration.' `Dudek is Canada's most important -- that is to say consequential -- modern
voice.'
- Calgary Herald
- Books in Canada
- William Carlos Williams
- Robin Blaser
![[Louis Dudek]](dudek.jpg)
In 1968 Dudek advised Tim Inkster (then an English student at University College, University of Toronto) to abandon publishing in favour of distribution. Sage advice, which Inkster (thirty-five years later) is still trying to master.