Chaconne for a Solipsist single work   poetry   "The most significant fact about this room is that nothing else"
Alternative title: Chaconne
Issue Details: First known date: 1970... 1970 Chaconne for a Solipsist
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Poetry Now Thomas Shapcott (editor), South Melbourne : Sun Books , 1970 Z53916 1970 anthology poetry South Melbourne : Sun Books , 1970 pg. 206
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Voyage into Solitude Michael Dransfield , Rodney Hall (editor), St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1978 Z444238 1978 selected work poetry St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1978 pg. 35-36
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Consolidation : The Second Paperback Poets Anthology Thomas Shapcott (editor), St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1982 Z45656 1982 anthology poetry St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1982 pg. 214
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Michael Dransfield : Collected Poems Michael Dransfield , Rodney Hall (editor), St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1987 Z368455 1987 selected work poetry St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1987 pg. 243
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Michael Dransfield : A Retrospective Michael Dransfield , John Kinsella (editor), St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2002 Z965225 2002 selected work poetry

    'This is the first publication of Michael Dransfield selected poems, gathered from every book in his relatively considerable output. They were chosen by poet and critic John Kinsella, whose lively Introduction positions this indelible Australian poet at an international level.

    'Always controversial, poet Michael Dransfield's life story has tended to obscure his talent and achievement. Tales of drugs, sexual ambiguity and mythical and ancestral kingdoms have become iconic in the story of Michael Dransfield. However, he was much more. Visionary, poet-ecologist, minstrel, a writer of remarkable dexterity and versatility, he published four collections in three years and another three appeared after his death at 24. While never simply a young poet of his age - the late 60s and early 70s - he was connected to the popular culture of his time and place. He intended to change the world, and believed in the power of his own voice. Linguistically innovative and ahead of his time in so many ways, he also looked back. He was undoubtedly one of the great poets writing in English in his era, whose resonances are increasingly pertinent. Dransfield links the innovations of late twentieth-century Australian poetry with that revolutionary implosion of Ern Malley.'

    Source: Publisher's blurb.

    St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2002
    pg. 70
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Indigo Book of Australian Prose Poems Michael Byrne (editor), Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2011 Z1731936 2011 anthology poetry Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2011 pg. 24
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Stars Like Sand : Australian Speculative Poetry Tim Jones (editor), P. S. Cottier (editor), Carindale : Interactive Publications , 2014 7276800 2014 anthology poetry

    'Travel to the stars and beyond in this anthology by Australia's leading poets. Witness the end of the world, time travel to the future near or far, or teleport with a fairy or witch.

    Ghosts, dreams and strange creatures breed and mingle in these pages.

    Poetry has never been so mind-bending, or so entertaining.' (Publisher's blurb)

    Carindale : Interactive Publications , 2014
    pg. 72
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Anthology of Australian Prose Poetry Cassandra Atherton (editor), Paul Hetherington (editor), Melbourne : Melbourne University Press , 2020 19564336 2020 anthology poetry prose

    'Prose poetry is a resurgent literary form in the English-speaking world and has been rapidly gaining popularity in Australia. Cassandra Atherton and Paul Hetherington have gathered a broad and representative selection of the best Australian prose poems written over the last fifty years.

    'The Anthology of Australian Prose Poetry includes numerous distinguished prose poets-Jordie Albiston, joanne burns, Gary Catalano, Anna Couani, Alex Skovron, Samuel Wagan Watson, Ania Walwicz and many more and documents prose poetry's growing appeal over recent decades, from the poetic margins to the mainstream.

    'This collection reframes our understanding not only of this dynamic poetic form, but of Australian poetry as a whole.' (Publication summary)

    Melbourne : Melbourne University Press , 2020
    pg. 69

Works about this Work

The Digital Pacific : Jack Spicer, Michael Dransfield and the Poetics of Addictation Aaron Nyerges , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Scenes of Reading : Is Australian Literature a World Literature? 2013; (p. 147-155)

'The purpose of this essay is to delimit a zone of inquiry around three emerging and interlaced issues: the parallel history of digital computing and postmodern poetry, with attention to the digitisation of poetic thinking; various post-Enlightenment theories of poetic possession and intoxication; the legal issue of literary properties, both intellectual (as ideas) and real (as books)' [p. 148].

The Digital Pacific : Jack Spicer, Michael Dransfield and the Poetics of Addictation Aaron Nyerges , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Scenes of Reading : Is Australian Literature a World Literature? 2013; (p. 147-155)

'The purpose of this essay is to delimit a zone of inquiry around three emerging and interlaced issues: the parallel history of digital computing and postmodern poetry, with attention to the digitisation of poetic thinking; various post-Enlightenment theories of poetic possession and intoxication; the legal issue of literary properties, both intellectual (as ideas) and real (as books)' [p. 148].

Last amended 24 Feb 2014 09:51:36
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