Anne Carson: Possessive Used as Drink (Me) + Bracko October 18, 2009

The Joseph Warren Beach Endowment is delighted to welcome Anne Carson to the University of Minnesota for the 50th anniversary of the Joseph Warren Beach Lectures in Literature. Recently the poet and scholar has exhilarated East Coast audiences with live mash-ups of poetry, dance, and performance art, drawing fans such as Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. Here she brings two of her best-known such collaborations west to the Twin Cities.

With Merce Cunningham dancers Rashaun Mitchell (who choreographed) and Marcie Munnerlyn accompanying, Carson will read portions of her translated Sappho text in a piece titled "Bracko." Originally created for a Harvard conference, "Possessive Used as Drink (Me): A Lecture in the Form of 15 Sonnets" incorporates Carson reading, a projection of dancers with an audio track, and Mitchell and Munnerlyn. Carson's many publications include her latest translation An Oresteia: Agamemnon by Aiskhylos; Elektra by Sophokles; Orestes by Euripides (Faber & Faber, 2009). She has won the Lannan Literary Award, the Pushcart Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a MacArthur Fellowship. A Canadian, Carson is currently Distinguished Poet-in-Residence at New York University.

Reception and book-signing to follow.

Official Website: http://english.cla.umn.edu/alumni/AnneCarson.html