this hall of several tortures
Reuben Woolley
2019
Knives, Forks, and Spoons [KFS] Press, UK
103 pp
10 British Pounds
Reviewed by Clara B. Jones in
Entropy, October 2019
“What is the 'right' poetry game to be played today?” Marjorie
Perloff
It is 9/26/2019. I am seated at home at my desk, having completed
my third reading of a pre-publication document of Reuben Woolley's
new poetry collection,
this hall of several tortures. Because
of the poems' effects on my imagination and thinking, I am compelled
to write a review while the compositions are vivid in my memory. Like
all of the author's works, these poems can be classified as
“innovative” and “experimental,” the latter term notoriously
difficult to define. In this review, I follow the Russian Formalist,
Viktor Shklovsky, who wrote that experimental poetry “defamiliarizes”
common speech or makes it “strange” by way of deploying a
variety of “devices” or “techniques” [e.g., collage, erasure,
repetition, indeterminance]. In this review, I will reference the
poetry critic, Marjorie Perloff's, treatment of Ludwig Wittgenstein's
philosophical project, in part, because, Woolley, an Englishman
living in Spain and a highly-regarded poet and editor, has studied
linguistics and has recommended Perloff''s wide-ranging examination
of Wittgenstein [University of Chicago Press, 1996].
this hall of
several tortures is dedicated to poets Fran Lock, Antony Owen,
and Jerome Rothenberg, and the stunning cover image by Dean Pasch
portends a handsomely-produced volume.
The 68 poems in this book represent a cohesively arranged
collection since they constitute a plot in the context of a
“multiverse,” an “alternate reality” where we follow a young
woman's dystopian experiences. As Woolley stated recently on
Facebook, the concept of the “multiverse” has been central to
much literature, represented in Science Fiction [e.g., Michael
Moorcock, Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowling], as well as, “straight lit”
[e.g., George Orwell, Aldous Huxley]. In the academic literature,
this hall of several tortures would be classified as
“impossible worlds” writing, exhibiting, in particular, according
to the American critic, Marie Laure Ryan, a “dream-like reality”
with “fluid images” and “a general lack of ontological
stability.” In Woolley's words, “I do not care if [the
“multiverse”] actually exists....This [“parallel”] world...is
seen by [the young woman] as [a] dystopian planet.... The first
person in the poems is not me, the poet, but her. This is fiction
based on a frequently unpleasant reality.”
It is important to point out, however, that many poems in this new
collection include commentary by a second party situated on the
right-hand side of a given page [e.g., “she said”], commentary
directed to him, the author—according to Woolley in an interview in
The Wombell Rainbow [UK]—situated in a space that is
unspecified. This structure is reminiscent of Greek tragedy whereby a
character [in this case, the young woman] speaks to a chorus [in this
case, Woolley, the poet, himself]; although, in
this hall of
several tortures, the poet-receiver of the “I” voice does
not, apparently, influence, the young woman. That there may be
communication between the young woman and the poet, leads one to
suggest, however, that the relationship can be interpreted as a form
of “doubling” or “twinning” whereby the persona of each
performer is difficult to untangle—signaling a type of symbiosis.
Following this idea, the reader might wonder whether there is, in
fact, any separation at all between speaker and receiver. Are we,
possibly, inhabiting a dream generated by the poet's unconscious? Is
the book derived from Surrealism and that movement's promulgation of
Freudian theory? Even more interesting, perhaps, is the possibility
that the psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan's, concept, “mirroring,”
describes the relation [literary, figurative] between young
woman-speaker and poet-receiver or that each is “Other” to the
“Other.” Further, feminist psychoanalyst critics would explore
the implied relationship between older male poet and younger female
subject [Father? Mentor? Teacher? Lover?]. However the reader decodes
or makes sense of Woolley's new compositions—subjectively,
textually, or theoretically—the book will prove to be a rich source
of interpretive material—bounded only by the collection's plot.
A single poem [p 13], below, serves to illustrate additional
“devices” employed by Woolley—conventions readily recognizable
throughout his
oeuvre:
turn
the page over she said
the
holes the holes do not come
empty.i dig through a time
a matter
coincides
&
we occupy the room together.who said
she could not fold a
world
away & bring another
skin / another tired
foundling
in
our dark shells &
never speaking.oh the shit
of it all on
both our sides
we scratch a putrid sore
in our
reflections
& bleed a waiting speech
on the earths of
undelight
Several critics have labeled Gertrude Stein's writing,
“impressionistic,” a term befitting the poems in
the hall of
several tortures. Also, similar to Stein and many other
“experimental” works, Woolley's poems are, for the most part,
“indeterminate” [e.g., imprecise, unfinished, non-committal,
“undecidable”] as to meaning, particularly, in their
“associative” or “collage” [fractured, assembled, “cut up”]
components whereby words or phrases do not necessarily follow
grammatically, or logically, from others. Woolley, also, uses
frequent hard and soft “stops,” as seen in the poem above—periods
or backslashes between words, phrases. In many other poems, “white
spaces” are employed. According to Woolley, “The white space is
the same as for music: silence. The greater the space, the longer the
silence. They also give the reader/listener time to think, rethink
and participate creatively.” This explanation applies, as well, to
the aforementioned “stops.” Woolley frequently uses words or
phrases that are ambiguous and difficult to interpret, possibly,
intentionally, and Perloff, following Wittgenstein, suggests that
“senselessness” [see, for example, “& bleed a waiting
speech” in Woolley's poem above] represents a “combination of
words...excluded from the language...” Here, words “excluded from
the language” may be understood as words having been erased by the
poet, effected, according to Perloff, for a variety of reasons, such
as, obfuscation, play, or, possibly, resistance to mainstream
literary norms.
Perloff goes on to point out that Wittgenstein was “obsessed not
only with the 'power of ordinary words,' but with their strangeness.”
One might say the same of Woolley. Throughout
the hall of several
tortures, the poet frequently begins common words with, “un,”
as in “undelight,” in the poem above. Perloff states that
Wittgenstein saw no fundamental difference between “ordinary and
literary language,” a viewpoint consistent with Woolley's
straightforward and unpretentious, though, not simplistic, use of
syntax, including, word usage. Perloff , also, discusses
Wittgenstein's perspective that “certain things cannot be said,
they can only be shown: There is indeed the inexpressible.” Like
Woolley's use of the word, “shit” in “turn the page over she
said,” the poet often uses taboo words to express emotion in place
of using literal language—rather than attempt to describe a state
of being or events in the world . These taboo words may, also,
symbolize or take the place of thoughts [in the present case,
possibly, “I understand.” or “Yes.” or “Really?” or
“OK”], in addition to a range of emotions [possibly, contentment,
acceptance, protectiveness, or awe]. Importantly, Wittgenstein
pointed out that, where words are repeated [repetition characterizing
many experimental poems—see, especially, Stein], they must be
evaluated in context; thus, the “function” of words is expected
to change from location to location in a text.
Like the recently deceased, Steve Dalachinsky, Reuben Woolley
might be called a “jazz poet”—influenced by the “free jazz”
musical movement, and he has sometimes discussed his poetics in
interviews and online. In the online literary journal,
The Wombell
Rainbow [UK], for example, Woolley stated, “I like to think I
write Free Poetry. Any word or image can go anywhere, but only the
really good poet can recognise that place and allow the word or image
to go there....” Because of this poet's literary, intentional, and
contextual skills,
this hall of several tortures is a book
that will be valuable, not only for its literary and artistic import,
but, also, as a text amenable to “close reading” by academics,
critics, and other readers valuing music and image combined with rich
texture, as well as, innovative, “impressionistic” language and
plot. As well, the collection can be entered solely for the pleasure
of experiencing compelling “abstract” art —one of Woolley's
major influences. His new collection is certain to attract a wide
audience—well-deserved attention for a noteworthy practitioner of
avant garde poetry.
