Typestracts - Letters from Dom Sylvester Houédard to Sebastian Barker in the Edwin Morgan Collection
The Mitchell Library’s Edwin Morgan Collection contains Morgan’s personal library, and tells the story of the poet’s diverse reading life. In among the science, history, travel and art texts are also novels and poetry texts including typescript letters written by Dom Sylvester Houédard. This blog explores some of their features, and is the last in a series by Richard Youngs.
Dom Sylvester Houédard, also known as DSH, was a Benedictine monk, concrete poet and friend of Edwin Morgan. Many of his works were created using an Olivetti typewriter using its blue, black and red ribbons. Morgan called them “typestracts”, a conflation of the words “typewriter” and “abstract.”
In the Mitchell Library’s Edwin Morgan Collection, besides many published Houédard works, there is a folder containing letters DSH wrote to the poet Sebastian Barker between 1975 and 1982.
In an introductory text from the Openings 92 portfolio, a collection of prints and poetry produced in honour of Houédard following his death in 1992, Marina Warner writes “A letter from Dom Sylvester Houédard was an archive (though always succinct), a poem (of an unusual kind), a meditation on arcane mysteries, and, sometimes, a personal message of touching kindness.”
Typed on mostly delicate paper, the letters to Sebastian Barker are all of these. Often written with great warmth and an oblique turn of phrase, they can include sections of text arranged visually, not unlike some of his published poems. They hint at his vast theological knowledge, as well as reporting his cultural activity. So, for instance, he talks about attending a symposium of visual and sound poetry where he read his translation of Psalm 22, and he refers to the Lisson Gallery where he first exhibited his work. He also writes how a Derek Jarman screening clashed with one of his own public readings - he had helped Jarman with the Latin dialogue of the Sebastiane film in 1976 and later would offer theological advice for Caravaggio.
More about Dom Sylvester Houédard
Dom Sylvester Houedard on Wikipedia
Items below are part of Edwin Morgan Library at the Mitchell Library. Please contact us to arrange an appoint to consult these.
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