GRIFFIN POETRY PRIZE 2001Canadian Shortlist Book: Nine Visits to the Mythworld
Translator: Robert Bringhurst
Poet: Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas
Publishers: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., University of Nebraska (USA) Click the book cover or title to purchase Nine Visits to the Mythworld online. Read an excerpt. Biography  Robert Bringhurst is one of Canada’s most respected poets, one of its most probing cultural historians, a skilled linguist who has worked for many years with Native American texts and author of Story as Sharp as a Knife, Volume 1 of the trilogy: Masterworks of the Classical Haida. He translated Nine Visits to the Mythworld from Haida, originally phonetically transcribed by a young American anthropologist on the Northwest Coast of North America in 1900. Among the legendary mythtellers was a blind man in his fifties by the name of Ghandl. Robert Bringhurst’s book The Solid Form of Language (Gaspereau Press) delved into the creative tensions between oral language and written script. His 2006 and 2007 books The Tree of Meaning: Thirteen Talks and Everywhere Being is Dancing: Twenty Pieces of Thinking contemplate the connections between poetry, language, nature and philosophy.See also Judges’ Citation For most readers, Nine Visits to the Mythworld will be a revelation. These sophisticated narrative poems by Haida mythteller Ghandl come from an unfamiliar imaginative world, studied by specialists more for its anthropological interest than its artistry. Robert Bringhurst’s sinewy language and acute formal intelligence now reveal poetry of vivacity and stature, which can be enjoyed as a cultural treasure. Back to top More about Robert Bringhurst The following are links to other Web sites with information about poet Robert Bringhurst. (Note: All links to external Web sites open in a new browser window.) Have you read Nine Visits to the Mythworld? Click here to send us your comments. Back to top |
