Christopher Dewdney - biography, career, poetry
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Christopher Dewdney |
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Christopher Dewdney was born in London, Ontario, Canada, in 1951. His father is the late Selwyn Dewdney, the renowned archaeologist, author and historian.
"Because of my father’s concerns, I grew up with a prodigious amount of national history, natural history, and there was as much art around the house as there was science."
That Dewdney’s poems reflect both an interest in art and science is borne out by the fact that his poetry can be found in either the poetry or natural history sections of book stores and libraries.
"My poetry," he says, "is warped out of science. I think I’m a frustrated scientist in poetry and a frustrated poet in science. A lot of poets have an anti-science bias, a vision of themselves as romantics in a tower, but I don’t. I’m a naturalist, I believe that science and nature are one, that science is a perceptual tool which allows us to define nature more specifically. Science has to incorporate and mythologize as it happens. All poetry deals with information, finally."
Christopher Dewdney is one of Canada’s most celebrated and respected writers. He has published 10 books of poetry, including Predators of the Adoration and Radiant Inventory, both of which were nominated for Governor General’s Awards. A first-prize winner of the CBC Literary Competition, Christopher Dewdney has also received a third Governor General’s Award nomination for The Immaculate Perception, a non-fiction book of popular essays about consciousness, language and dreams.
In May, 1994 McClelland and Stewart published Demon Pond. Quill and Quire wrote that in Demon Pond "Dewdney has undergone a transformation; his poetry has taken on greater humanity and been touched by love, while still in touch with the gods."
In 1984 (together with William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Michael Ondaatje and Tom Waits) he was featured in the internationally acclaimed documentary Poetry in Motion. He is an active figure in the North American literary scene, and he has been published in Germany, England, China, Spain, India as well as in the U.S. Recently he has appeared on TVO’s Imprint, CBC’s Newsworld and CITY TV as well as CBC Radio’s Morningside and The Arts Tonight.
Well known for his brilliance, wit and irreverence, Christopher Dewdney is a sought-after speaker and reader in both Canada and the United States.
Books (poetry)
* Signal Fires. (A Natural History of Southwestern Ontario, books 3 and 4.) Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2000.
* Demon Pond. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1994.
* Concordat Proviso Ascendant. (A Natural History of Southwestern Ontario, book 3.) Great Barrington, MA: The Figures, 1991.
* The Radiant Inventory. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1988.
* Permugenesis: A Recombinant Text. (A Natural History of Southwestern Ontario, book 3.) Toronto: Nightwood Editions, 1987.
* Predators of the Adoration: Selected Poems, 1972-82. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1983.
* The Cenozoic Asylum. (A Natural History of Southwestern Ontario, book 2.) Liverpool: Delires, 1983.
* Spring Trances in the Control Emerald Night & The Cenozoic Asylum. (A Natural History of Southwestern Ontario, books 1 and 2.) Berkeley, California: The Figures, 1982.
* Alter Sublime. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1980.
* Spring Trances in the Control Emerald Night. (A Natural History of Southwestern Ontario, book 1.) Berkeley: The Figures, 1978.
* Fovea Centralis. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1975.
* A Palaeozoic Geology of London, Ontario: Poems and Collages. Toronto, Coach House Press, 1973.
* Golders Green: Poems and Crinoid Drawings. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1971.
Books (non-fiction)
* Last Flesh: Life in the Transhuman Era. Toronto: Harpercollins, 1998.
* Nether Mind. Toronto: Nether Mind Artist Collective, 1995. (Art exhibition catalogue)
* The Secular Grail. Toronto: Somerville House, 1993.
* Recent Artifacts from the Institute of Applied Fiction. Montreal: McGill University Libraries, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, 1990.
* The Immaculate Perception. Toronto: Anansi, 1986.
* Judith Schwarz. Southern Alberta Art Gallery, 1986. (pamphlet)
* Jamelie Hassan, Material Knowledge: A Moral Art of Crisis. London, Ontario: London Regional Art Gallery, 1984.
Book Contributions
* Evans, Steve. Deep into the City. Photographs by Steven Evans; poetry by Christopher Dewdney; essay by George Kapelos; edited by Beth Kapusta. Toronto: S. Evans, 1995.
* "Standard Deviations." Dean, Tom. Tom Dean: A Traveling Exhibition. Essays by Christopher Dewdney, A.A. Bronson, and Catherine Crowston. North York, Ontario: The Gallery, 1992. 13-20.
* Grenville, Bruce. S. L. Simpson Gallery, 1980-1990. With Christopher Dewdney and Christopher Youngs. Toronto: S. L. Simpson Gallery, 1990.
* Hurlbut, Spring. Spring Hurlbut. Text by Christopher Dewdney. Vancouver: Contemporary Art Gallery, 1990. (art catalogue)
* Preface to The Inversion of the World: A Geo-Metaphorical Atlas by Richard Purdy. Toronto: Art Metropole, 1990.
* "Reference and Self: The Limits of Subjectivity." Blue Book 8: Dec. 7, 1988 Oct. 2, 1989. By Greg Curnoe. Toronto: Art Metropole, 1989. 175-79.
* Reitzenstein, Reinhard. The Psychic Symbolism of Reinhard Reitzenstein. Essays by Christopher Dewdney and Ted Fraser. Hamilton, Ontario: Hamilton Art Gallery, 1989.
* Dean, Tom. Tom Dean: Excerpts from a Description of the Universe, III. Essays by Christopher Dewdney and Tom Dean. Oakville, Ontario: Oakville Galleries, 1989.
* Theberge, Pierre. Michael Snow: Selected Photographic Works. Essays by Pierre Theberge and Christopher Dewdney. Los Angeles: Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, 1983.
Periodical Essays
* "After Deep Blue." Saturday Night 113.3 (April 1998): 25-27.
* "Consciousness Projected." Descant 27.1-2 (Spring/Summer 1996): 41-44.
* "Power Dreams." Descant 23.1-2 (Spring/Summer 1992): 61-80.
* "Enigmatic Emblematic: The Internal Logic of Judith Schwarz’s Sculpture." Canadian Art 6.4 (Winter 1989): 64-71.
* "Life at the Centre." Canadian Telecom November 1989: 35-38.
* "bpNichol, 1944-1988." Brick: A Journal of Reviews 34 (Fall 1988): 5.
* "Parasite Maintenance." Open Letter series 4 no. 6-7 (Winter 1980-81): 19-35.
Compiled and Edited
* De Kerckhove, Derrick. The Skin of Culture: Investigating the New Electronic Reality. Toronto: Somerville House Publishing, 1995.
Video and Sound
* Video Marquee. Produced by Victor Coleman. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1990. (cassette: poetry and music)
* Ungulate Siesta. With music by Tom Third. London, Ontario: Nightwood Editions, 1990. (cassette: poetry and music)
About the author:
Written by McClelland and Stewart.
http://www.library.utoronto.ca
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