We couldn't let the day go by without sending our heartiest birthday greetings to the one and only Marjorie Perloff, who reaches the major milestone of 90 today!
Perloff has been a good friend to the Kelly Writers House, PennSound, and Jacket2 over the years as is evidenced by her PennSound author page, which is home to a wide array of talks, interviews, and readings from 1991 to the present. If you're looking for a starting point amidst so many wonderful recordings, we might humbly suggest Charles Bernstein's three-part 2009 Close Listening program, which features a half-hour reading from Perloff's memoir Vienna Paradox and two full segments containing a wide-ranging biographical conversation.
Another wonderful resource we're glad to point our listeners towards is "Marjorie Perloff: A Celebration," a 2012 Jacket2 feature co-edited by Al Filreis and J. Gordon Faylor. Here's how they introduce the feature:
This feature celebrates the life and work of Marjorie Perloff at almost exactly the moment she receives the honor of induction into the American Philosophical Society, headquartered in Philadelphia, which happens to be — some blocks west of that venerable institution — home base for Jacket2. APS election is something like what in L.A., Perloff's own home, is called "a lifetime achievement award." So it seemed time for us to bring together not just friends but also critical admirers at various distances to write brief retrospective reviews of her work over the years.
Inside, you'll find contributions from Jerome McGann, Joan Retallack, Richard Sieburth, Maggie O'Sullivan, Charles Bernstein, Caroline Bergvall, Johanna Drucker, and Jean-Michel Rabaté, among others. You can start browsing the table of contents by clicking here. We wish Perloff the loveliest of days and many happy returns!
