Anita Lahey: Were you reading Henry James while in Inuvik? You have at least brought him, or his voice, there via your poem. I\u2019m curious as to how this happened.<\/p>\n
Lesley Battler: I did end up reading Henry James in Inuvik, and I actually found him there. I spent a lot of time in the Caf\u00e9 Gallery and one day I spotted a copy of James\u2019s Transatlantic Sketches<\/em> wedged among a stack of community newspapers, GNWT (Government of the Northwest Territories) bulletins and tourist guide books. I am currently working with found texts and was delighted by this cache. So I scooped it all up, tossed in a corporate report and came up with \u201cIdylls of Inuvik.\u201d In this poem I really wanted to address the layers of colonialism imposed on the north; government, industry and most of all, European culture. The reason I was so excited at finding Transatlantic Sketches<\/em> is because, to me, Henry James has always been a Euro-centric, highbrow writer, full of import. His long sentences, polished language and lyrical descriptions embedded with cultural value judgments are the antithesis of the Canadian north. I felt I could co-opt him to make my own point, which is to linguistically show the colonialism imposed on this little town. And yes, throughout the process of assembling the poem, I did feel as if I were channeling his voice, somehow incorporating his tone into a critique of that very tone.<\/p>\n AL: Can you talk a bit about your strategy to mix Goethe, Carmen, and other laden cultural symbols into the sights and sounds of Inuvik? Is it even right of me to call this a strategy?<\/p>\n LB: \u201cIdylls\u201d is part of an extended work entitled \u201cEndangered Hydrocarbons.\u201d All of the poems in this project are derived from texts generated in a multinational oil company. I splice items such as wellbooks, mudlogs, geological prognoses etc.<\/em>, with a variety of found material. Goethe, Carmen, et al<\/em>., are all figures or cultural references found in Transatlantic Sketches<\/em>. I left them in my text as part of my commentary on colonialism. I do this to show there is no cultural high ground, artistic wilderness or religious sanctuary that can\u2019t be exploited.<\/p>\n Read the full interview in Arc 65. To subscribe or order sample issues please click HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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