Arizona State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
 Department of English

Russell Edson Events

April 9-13
1:30 Master Class Workshop

April 12
6:30 Reception--House of Tricks
7:30
Reading--Murdock Hall

April 13
1:30 Master Class with High School Students

For more information: 480-965-3528.

c     Russell Edson was born in Connecticut in 1935 and currently resides there with his wife, Frances. Edson, who has jokingly called himself "Little Mr. Prose Poem," is often considered the foremost writer of prose poetry in America, having written exclusively in that form before it became fashionable.

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     In a forthcoming study of the American prose poem, Michel Delville suggests that one of Edson's typical "recipes" for his prose poems involves a modern everyman who suddenly tumbles into an alternative reality in which he loses control over himself, sometimes to the point of being irremediably absorbed--both figuratively and literally--by his immediate and, most often, domestic everyday environment.. Constantly fusing and confusing the banal and the bizarre, Edson delights in having a seemingly innocuous situation undergo the most unlikely and uncanny metamorphoses. . . ..

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     Reclusive by nature, Edson has still managed to publish eleven books of prose poems and one novel, The Song of Percival Peacock (available from Coffee House Press

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     This biography was borrowed from Edson's "Unofficial Official" website, which has much more information to offer.  To visit, go to: http://www.msu.edu/user/forddavi/edson/edson.html

To see and hear Russell Edson's reading, click on the following:

     Russell Edson at ASU, 4-12-01

This streaming video was produced by the Department of English, with the help of Bruce Matsunaga.

Viewing of this video requires
RealPlayer 8.  Click to download.

For other Department of English streaming video presentations, visit:
     English@ASU Web Video

Last modified on:
Sunday, April 29, 2001
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