日本語 English
| 開講年度/ Academic YearAcademic Year |
20262026 |
| 科目設置学部/ CollegeCollege |
文学部/College of ArtsCollege of Arts |
| 科目コード等/ Course CodeCourse Code |
AM056/AM056AM056 |
| テーマ・サブタイトル等/ Theme・SubtitleTheme・Subtitle |
Expat Beat Writers II: Piero Heliczer |
| 授業形態/ Class FormatClass Format |
対面（全回対面）/Face to face (all classes are face-to-face)Face to face (all classes are face-to-face) |
| 授業形態（補足事項）/ Class Format (Supplementary Items)Class Format (Supplementary Items) |
|
| 授業形式/ Class StyleCampus |
演習・ゼミ/SeminarSeminar |
| 校地/ CampusCampus |
池袋/IkebukuroIkebukuro |
| 学期/ SemesterSemester |
秋学期/Fall semesterFall semester |
| 曜日時限・教室/ DayPeriod・RoomDayPeriod・Room |
水2/Wed.2 Wed.2 ログインして教室を表示する（Log in to view the classrooms.） |
| 単位/ CreditsCredits |
22 |
| 科目ナンバリング/ Course NumberCourse Number |
EAL2411 |
| 使用言語/ LanguageLanguage |
英語/EnglishEnglish |
| 履修登録方法/ Class Registration MethodClass Registration Method |
自動登録/Automatic RegistrationAutomatic Registration |
| 配当年次/ Assigned YearAssigned Year |
配当年次は開講学部のR Guideに掲載している科目表で確認してください。配当年次は開講学部のR Guideに掲載している科目表で確認してください。 |
| 先修規定/ Prerequisite RegulationsPrerequisite Regulations |
|
| 他学部履修可否/ Acceptance of Other CollegesAcceptance of Other Colleges |
履修登録システムの『他学部・他研究科履修不許可科目一覧』で確認してください。 |
| 履修中止可否/ Course CancellationCourse Cancellation |
×（履修中止不可/ Not eligible for cancellation） |
| オンライン授業60単位制限対象科目/ Online Classes Subject to 60-Credit Upper LimitOnline Classes Subject to 60-Credit Upper Limit |
|
| 学位授与方針との関連/ Relationship with Degree PolicyRelationship with Degree Policy |
各授業科目は、学部・研究科の定める学位授与方針（DP）や教育課程編成の方針（CP）に基づき、カリキュラム上に配置されています。詳細はカリキュラム・マップで確認することができます。 https://www.rikkyo.ac.jp/about/disclosure/educational_policy/arts.html |
| 備考/ NotesNotes |
This English literature course aims to help students develop their English abilities in the four core skills of listening, reading, speaking, and writing through a combination of various texts, media and in-class activities. Students enrolled in this course will have the opportunity to enhance their abilities to analyze literary texts through close reading of the original, the provision of supplementary notes, related criticism on the author, videos or audio to aid students in their reading and interpretation of the body of work of the poet from various perspectives. This will facilitate students’ overall understanding of beat-generation poetry in general, and in particular the poetry of Piero Heliczer, one of the most underrated poets of the Beat Generation, whom I place in the category of a ‘fringe beat’. This represents part 2 in a two-part course focusing on expat Beat poets. Most members of the Beat Generation were from the United States and lived there but this course focuses on artists who lived abroad for a large part of their life. In part 2, we will look at Heliczer, his Dead Language Press, and other artists associated with him who lived abroad in France, the Netherlands and elsewhere.
To provide students with a better contextual background, some supplementary materials and information on contemporary beat-generation novelists and poets will also be provided to help students better understand who Piero Heliczer was influenced by (including his contemporaries) and who he, in turn, also influenced through his poetry. Students should note that this course has been designed as a logical follow-up to Preliminary English Seminar 1f, which focused on the writings and art of Brion Gysin and other expat Beat writers who lived in Morocco. However, while the theme of Preliminary English Seminar 1f and 2f are the same (expat Beat writers), it is not essential for students to take the preceding course in the Spring semester if they wish to join only the Fall semester course.
In terms of skills related to English ability and proficiency, students will have the opportunity to improve their English listening skills through the interpretations of the text provided by their teacher in class, and listening to recordings of Piero Heliczer reading his own poetry (some tapes of Heliczer reading are in the teacher’s possession and some available online), not only as a listening-comprehension exercise but as a way to better appreciate the feel and sounds of poetry. Group discussions will be held in regular classes on questions directly related to the text and given to students beforehand to reflect upon. Students will also have the opportunity to make a presentation in class (Assignment #3) to help students improve their written proficiency (in preparing for the presentation) and their spoken English proficiency when they give the presentation in class. Students will give a presentation on one Beat Ggeneration artist in Heliczer’s orbit or circle such as Gregory Corso, Angus Maclise, Gerard Malanga, Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Olivia de Haulleville (‘OM’), Jack Smith, Anselm Hollo, Ira Cohen and Friedrich Hundertwasser. Students will be asked to complete three assignments on supplementary materials provided in class. Assignment #1 will be about a short prose book by Heliczer called Sunday’s Child; Assignment #2 will be about one of Heliczer’s most famous plays, the tomb of henry james diferencia; and Assignment #3 will be about another small prose work by Heliczer called Exiled from Amsterdam. Assignment #4 will be held over two weeks, during which students will give a 3-minute presentation. Supplementary materials will be provided either in class or by email to help students complete Assignment #2 (Heliczer’s plays) and Assignment #4 (presentation). Some guidelines on how to complete these assignments will also be provided by the teacher, to help students improve their abilities in English written composition and expression.
Successful completion of this course should indicate an understanding of…
1. the historical background and contexts of the Beat Generation and some of the beat poets and artists associated with Piero Heliczer and his Dead Language Press publications;
2. the style, structure, aesthetics, aims and various complexities of Heliczer’s poetry, with a particular focus on his 4 major volumes of poetry, plus some of the broadsides, published during his lifetime;
3. several ways of analyzing a text, through supplementary readings and slides provided in class. NOTE: There has been very little critical analysis of Heliczer’s work to date, apart from one festschrift magazine by Gerard Malanga.
4. a better background knowledge of Heliczer’s life and times (based on some interviews with friends and acquaintances of Heliczer’s, from Préaux-du-Perche, where he lived in France, and also my own translated excerpts of the only biography available on Heliczer to date, L’Arme du Rêve, written in French by Patrick Bard).
5. a basic ability to analyze films after studying some basic concepts from film studies (Heliczer was also an underground filmmaker and we will look at some of his films that are still available).
This course also facilitates the development of the following skills…
1. the ability to interpret and discuss a text, based on its historical and cultural context and milieu;
2. the ability to inform an original text through the use of secondary sources;
3. the ability to interpret and understand the literary analysis of other critics and writers;
4. the ability to assess and/or comment upon experimental film
5. the ability to present an argument or summary of one’s opinion on a literary work.
This course, predominantly conducted in English, will offer enrolled students the opportunity to read and discuss Piero Heliczer’s major works of poetry collected in A Purchase in the White Botanica: The Collected Poetry of Piero Heliczer, which is somewhat a misnomer as this volume does not include many of Heliczer’s more obscure broadsides and chapbooks. We will also talk about some of the contemporary Beat Generation poets, novelists, and artists many of whom were close friends with Heliczer, such as Angus Maclise, Jack Smith, Ira Cohen, Gregory Corso, Maria de Haulleville, Gerard Malanga, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, Friedrich Hundertwasser and others.
Surprisingly, very little has been written on Heliczer’s poetry to date by literary scholars and critics compared with the works of the ‘beat giants’ such as Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs, apart from one recent biography published on Piero Heliczer by Patrick Bard (in French) and one major collection of articles, letters and essays by Gerard Malanga. Some supplementary notes and commentary will be drawn from these scholars and provided to assist students in their comprehension of the poems included in their textbook,A Purchase in the White Botanica: The Collected Poetry of Piero Heliczer
Some supplementary notes based on the teacher’s own analysis of the poems will also be provided to students to facilitate their own readings and analysis of the poems. Finally, where possible, the teacher will use any audio files (such as recordings of Heliczer poetry readings) and students will have a chance to watch a documentary film on Heliczer (in Lesson #1 as an introcution to the course). The aim of sharing these materials is twofold; to enrich students’ knowledge of Piero Heliczer, his poetry and his world, and to help them enjoy studying poetry through audio-visual materials, presented in an alternative format from the standard written page.
| 1 | Lesson 1 – An Introduction to Piero Heliczer, the Dead Language Press, & documentary In our first class for the course, we will begin by briefly discussing the historical contexts and backgrounds of the beat generation (which will already be familiar to students who took Preliminary English Seminar 1f in the Spring semester) before turning the focus to Piero Heliczer and his dead language press publications. Each of the weekly assigned readings will be explained as well as the 4 assignments including the methods of evaluation for each respective one. After the syllabus and methods of assessment have been explained, the teacher will briefly introduce the life and works of Piero Heliczer. For the last one hour of the first class, students will be shown a documentary on his life called The Invisible Father, put together by his daughter Thérèse Heliczer. |
| 2 | Lesson 2 – Girl Body & You Could Hear the Snow (Part 1) (pp. 15-32) In Lesson 2, we will start by discussing the documentary on Heliczer which students had the chance to watch in Lesson 1, before starting the textbook. Our discussions in Lesson 2 will focus on some of the earliest publications of Heliczer’s poetry, by looking at one of his earliest broadsides, girl body, and the first half of his first chapbook of poems, You Could Hear the Snow Dripping and Falling into the Deer’s Mouth, both published by his own, now legendary, small-budget imprint, the Dead Language Press. |
| 3 | Lesson 3 – You Could Hear the Snow (Part 2) (pp. 33-43) In Lesson 3, we will quickly review what we covered in the previous lesson, and students will have a chance to listen to a recording of Piero Heliczer (one of the few that has survived) reading poems from his first chapbook, You Could Hear the Snow Dripping and Falling into the Deer’s Mouth. Some analysis of these poems, including analysis by Gerard Malanga will be referred to as well. Finally, the first assignment on Piero Heliczer’s short biographical tract, Sunday’s Child, will be explained and distributed to students. |
| 4 | Lesson 4 - & I Dreamt I Shot Arrows in my Amazon Bra (pp. 45-62) In Lesson 4, we will look at Piero Heliczer’s second book of poems, & I Dreamt I Shot Arrows in my Amazon Bra, once again published by his own Dead Language press imprint. Piero’s second book shows a tremendous growth in his skills and poetic craft, which we will discuss. We will also discuss some other poets and artists whom Heliczer published such as Anselm Hollo, Olivia de Haulleville (‘Om’), legendary photographer and film-maker, Jack Smith, Angus Maclise and others. |
| 5 | Lesson 5 – Wyatt & The Tomb of Henry James Diferencia(pp. 63-69) In Lesson 5, we will try something different; we will take a look at two of Piero’s most well-known plays. An excerpt from the play, Wyatt, is included in the textbook but another play, The Tomb of Henry James Diferencia, which was a very early publication for Heliczer (1957) will also be discussed (a copy of this play will be provided to students). This play is also the topic for the second assignment so students will have a chance to study this play in class before tackling the assignment questions at home. |
| 6 | Lesson 6 – The First Battle of the Marne (pp. 71-91) In Lesson 6, we will take a look at one of Heliczer’s strongest collections of poems, The First Battle of the Marne. We will compare the language and themes of this text with his previous publications, in an attempt to analyze and chart some of the progress and changes of this vastly-underrated poet, towards the end of the 1960s. |
| 7 | Lesson 7 – The Soap Opera: part 1 (pp. 97-114) In Lesson 7, we will take a look at The Soap Opera, published by Trigram Press, which was the most widely-available book and collection of Piero Heliczer’s poetry until the more-recent publication of A Purchase in the White Botanica. As this sequence of poems is one of the longest, we will discuss it over two classes. |
| 8 | Lesson 8 – The Soap Opera: part 2 & Jack Smith (pp. 115-129) In Lesson 8, we will look at the second half of Heliczer’s The Soap Opera, and discuss his relationship with Jack Smith, the legendary film-maker and photographer. For those planning to do some research on Jack Smith for their presentation, this will be an important lesson to attend. Some scans of The Beautiful Book, a collection of photos by Jack Smith and published by Piero Heliczer will also be shared with students, as well as a brief discussion on Jack Smith’s famous movie, Flaming Creatures. (NOTE: For those students interested in film studies, one of the essay options on the final exam will be to provide an analysis of Heliczer’s films, Smith’s films and Brakhage's films, and therefore the content of Lesson 8 may be very useful for this particular topic). |
| 9 | Lesson 9 – Interview with Marisabina Russo (pp. 131-150) Now that we have finished reading, studying and analyzing all the poems in the textbook, we will focus on an interview with Marisabina Russo, who talks about Piero Heliczer’s life. In this lesson, your teacher will provide some extra materials, such as from Gerard Malanga’s special magazine, Little Caesar #9, which was a special issue (festschrift) devoted to Piero Heliczer’s life and work. |
| 10 | Lesson 10 – Other Works & Criticism (pp. 186-209) In Lesson 10, we will focus on some extra poems by Heliczer not included in the textbook, such as his broadsides, a small bilingual (English and Dutch) collection called The Abdication of the Throne of Hell, a prose work called The Perfect Detective, but mostly poems taken from the recent bilingual publication (in French and English), Piero Heliczer: Poems & Documents. If there is time remaining, students will have time to work on their presentations which begin in the following week and ask the teacher questions about the content of their presentation scripts. |
| 11 | Lesson 11 – Presentations I In Lesson 11, the first half of the class will give a short 3-minute presentation on a member of the Beat Generation, or a contemporary poet or artist who influenced, was influenced by or collaborated with Piero Heliczer’s poetry and film productions. Some examples include Gregory Corso, Ira Cohen, Angus Maclise, Jack Smith, Andy Warhol, Friedrich Hundertwasser, Gerard Malanga, Anselm Hollo, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and several others. Students who are not presenting but are part of the audience are expected to participate by asking questions in the short Q&A session after each presentation. Students who ask their classmates questions will be rewarded with bonus points towards their overall participation score (30% of their final score). Students who are NOT presenting in this week (but only listening as members of the audience) will be encouraged to read and study some poems from Piero Heliczer: Poems & Documents, a book recently published which includes many extra poems by Heliczer published in little magazines and periodicals. |
| 12 | Lesson 12 – Presentations II In Lesson 11, the second half of the class will give a short 3-minute presentation on a member of the Beat Generation or a contemporary poet who influenced, was influenced by or collaborated with Piero Heliczer’s poetry and film productions. Some examples include Gregory Corso, Ira Cohen, Angus Maclise, Jack Smith, Andy Warhol, Friedrich Hundertwasser, Gerard Malanga, Anselm Hollo, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and several others. Students who are not presenting but are part of the audience are expected to participate by asking questions in the short Q&A session after each presentation. Students who ask their classmates questions will be rewarded with bonus points towards their overall participation score (20% of their final score). Students who are NOT presenting in this week (but only listening as members of the audience) will be encouraged to read and study some poems from Piero Heliczer: Poems & Documents, a book recently published which includes many extra poems by Heliczer published in little magazines and periodicals. |
| 13 | Lesson 13 – Comprehensive Review & Quiz Game In our penultimate lesson for the course (Lesson 13), we will review all sections of a purchase in the white botanica, plus briefly cover some of the supplementary materials, including broadsides, plays, prose works, audio & video excerpts, as well as interviews and literary criticism on Heliczer’s life and work. In this lesson, we will do something which students may find enjoyable – we will have a quiz game in teams in which we will review the most important questions covered throughout the course. If any time remains during class, students are encouraged to ask questions, especially regarding any questions to which they did not know the answer, to ensure that they are better prepared for the final exam. |
| 14 | Lesson 14 – Final Test In Lesson 14, students will take their final test. All parts of the textbook will be covered in the final test as well as some of the supplementary materials either distributed in class or shared through email (or uploaded onto Google Classroom). There will be three sections to the final examination: 1) in the first section students will answer multiple-choice questions; 2) in the second section students will write short-answer questions; 3) in the third section, students will write one essay on a topic relating to Heliczer’s poetry or the publications of Dead Language Press. |
板書 /Writing on the Board
スライド（パワーポイント等）の使用 /Slides (PowerPoint, etc.)
上記以外の視聴覚教材の使用 /Audiovisual Materials Other than Those Listed Above
個人発表 /Individual Presentations
グループ発表 /Group Presentations
ディスカッション・ディベート /Discussion/Debate
実技・実習・実験 /Practicum/Experiments/Practical Training
学内の教室外施設の利用 /Use of On-Campus Facilities Outside the Classroom
校外実習・フィールドワーク /Field Work
上記いずれも用いない予定 /None of the above
Study Required Outside of Class
In addition to the weekly reading assignments from the textbook, students will also be encouraged to read and explore other supplementary sources of information. Some of the supplementary reading materials will be provided by the teacher (either photocopies handed out in class or sent by email) and extra 'recommending reading' sections will be suggested by the teachers to help them enrich their understanding of the poems, the writer and the course overall. Furthermore, students are encouraged to listen to the audio recordings of Heliczer reading his poetry to get a better understanding and ‘feel’ for the poetry. Several of Heliczer’s films are also available online and students are encouraged to watch them at their own leisure.
While copies of the textbook may be hard to track down, students are encouraged to purchase a copy of it if possible. Another advantage of buying the textbook is that students can use the content and notes from the textbook in the final part (Section 3) of the final exam when they are required to write an academic essay.
| 種類 (Kind) | 割合 (%) | 基準 (Criteria) |
|---|---|---|
| 平常点 (In-class Points) | 100 |
Assignment #1(10%) Assignment #2(10%) Assignment #3 (Presentation)(10%) Assignment #4(10%) In-class discussions & participationclass(30 %) 最終テスト(Final Test)(30%) |
| 備考 (Notes) | ||
| No | 著者名 (Author/Editor) | 書籍名 (Title) | 出版社 (Publisher) | 出版年 (Date) | ISBN/ISSN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heliczer, P. | A Purchase in the White Botanica | Granary Books | 2001 | 9781887123570 |
| No | 著者名 (Author/Editor) | 書籍名 (Title) | 出版社 (Publisher) | 出版年 (Date) | ISBN/ISSN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heliczer, P, Thorel, B (ed.), & Vinet, S. (ed.) | Piero Heliczer: Poems & Documents | After 8 Books | 2022 | 9782492650000 |
| 2 | Heliczer, P. | I must be more like an ant than a cigale because I like to sing in winter | Counter Culture Chronicles | 2020 | |
| 3 | Kugelberg, J. | Piero Heliczer & The Dead Language Press: A Bibliography | Boo-Hooray | 2014 | 9781938265167 |
| 4 | Vinet, S. (ed.) | Piero Heliczer: L’Underground a Preaux-du-Perche | Les Bains Douches | 2015 | |
| その他 (Others) | |||||
| Copies of some other rare and hard-to-obtain publications will be provided in class. | |||||
1) The first matter students should be aware of is the attendance policy for this class. Students are required to attend at least 10 of the 14 classes / sessions in order to pass this course. In other words, students who are absent 5 times or more will automatically fail the course. Therefore, students who are planning to undertake an internship, work experience or will be away for a number of weeks during the course should take this in mind. Official absences will only be allowed in cases of illness or bereavement.
2) The second point students should keep in mind is how they will receive a grade for in-class participation. Each week we will hold discussions IN ENGLISH in class. Students are expected to participate in these discussion IN ENGLISH. Failure to do will result in point penalties.
NOTE: Students who are absent from class due to club activities, work experience or some similar reason will not be considered eligible for ‘official absence.'
Students should possess either a laptop or iPad or similar device, and have access to some form of software which will allow them to generate slides for their presentation (Assignment #3) such as PowerPoint etc.
Students who are caught cheating or plagiarizing on any assignments on tests will automatically incur penalties. (NOTE: This includes using AI software to write essays. However, if students can prove that they have used AI as a tool for learning or generating ideas, not for simply generating their final product, this could be deemed acceptable. Guidelines will be drawn up and shared with students on this matter). Therefore, while students may collaborate or study together both inside and outside the classroom, students are expected to turn in / submit ORIGINAL writing or work for the assignments. Failure to do so will result in point penalties.
This English literature course aims to help students develop their English abilities in the four core skills of listening, reading, speaking, and writing through a combination of various texts, media and in-class activities. Students enrolled in this course will have the opportunity to enhance their abilities to analyze literary texts through close reading of the original, the provision of supplementary notes, related criticism on the author, videos or audio to aid students in their reading and interpretation of the body of work of the poet from various perspectives. This will facilitate students’ overall understanding of beat-generation poetry in general, and in particular the poetry of Piero Heliczer, one of the most underrated poets of the Beat Generation, whom I place in the category of a ‘fringe beat’. This represents part 2 in a two-part course focusing on expat Beat poets. Most members of the Beat Generation were from the United States and lived there but this course focuses on artists who lived abroad for a large part of their life. In part 2, we will look at Heliczer, his Dead Language Press, and other artists associated with him who lived abroad in France, the Netherlands and elsewhere.
To provide students with a better contextual background, some supplementary materials and information on contemporary beat-generation novelists and poets will also be provided to help students better understand who Piero Heliczer was influenced by (including his contemporaries) and who he, in turn, also influenced through his poetry. Students should note that this course has been designed as a logical follow-up to Preliminary English Seminar 1f, which focused on the writings and art of Brion Gysin and other expat Beat writers who lived in Morocco. However, while the theme of Preliminary English Seminar 1f and 2f are the same (expat Beat writers), it is not essential for students to take the preceding course in the Spring semester if they wish to join only the Fall semester course.
In terms of skills related to English ability and proficiency, students will have the opportunity to improve their English listening skills through the interpretations of the text provided by their teacher in class, and listening to recordings of Piero Heliczer reading his own poetry (some tapes of Heliczer reading are in the teacher’s possession and some available online), not only as a listening-comprehension exercise but as a way to better appreciate the feel and sounds of poetry. Group discussions will be held in regular classes on questions directly related to the text and given to students beforehand to reflect upon. Students will also have the opportunity to make a presentation in class (Assignment #3) to help students improve their written proficiency (in preparing for the presentation) and their spoken English proficiency when they give the presentation in class. Students will give a presentation on one Beat Ggeneration artist in Heliczer’s orbit or circle such as Gregory Corso, Angus Maclise, Gerard Malanga, Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Olivia de Haulleville (‘OM’), Jack Smith, Anselm Hollo, Ira Cohen and Friedrich Hundertwasser. Students will be asked to complete three assignments on supplementary materials provided in class. Assignment #1 will be about a short prose book by Heliczer called Sunday’s Child; Assignment #2 will be about one of Heliczer’s most famous plays, the tomb of henry james diferencia; and Assignment #3 will be about another small prose work by Heliczer called Exiled from Amsterdam. Assignment #4 will be held over two weeks, during which students will give a 3-minute presentation. Supplementary materials will be provided either in class or by email to help students complete Assignment #2 (Heliczer’s plays) and Assignment #4 (presentation). Some guidelines on how to complete these assignments will also be provided by the teacher, to help students improve their abilities in English written composition and expression.
Successful completion of this course should indicate an understanding of…
1. the historical background and contexts of the Beat Generation and some of the beat poets and artists associated with Piero Heliczer and his Dead Language Press publications;
2. the style, structure, aesthetics, aims and various complexities of Heliczer’s poetry, with a particular focus on his 4 major volumes of poetry, plus some of the broadsides, published during his lifetime;
3. several ways of analyzing a text, through supplementary readings and slides provided in class. NOTE: There has been very little critical analysis of Heliczer’s work to date, apart from one festschrift magazine by Gerard Malanga.
4. a better background knowledge of Heliczer’s life and times (based on some interviews with friends and acquaintances of Heliczer’s, from Préaux-du-Perche, where he lived in France, and also my own translated excerpts of the only biography available on Heliczer to date, L’Arme du Rêve, written in French by Patrick Bard).
5. a basic ability to analyze films after studying some basic concepts from film studies (Heliczer was also an underground filmmaker and we will look at some of his films that are still available).
This course also facilitates the development of the following skills…
1. the ability to interpret and discuss a text, based on its historical and cultural context and milieu;
2. the ability to inform an original text through the use of secondary sources;
3. the ability to interpret and understand the literary analysis of other critics and writers;
4. the ability to assess and/or comment upon experimental film
5. the ability to present an argument or summary of one’s opinion on a literary work.
This course, predominantly conducted in English, will offer enrolled students the opportunity to read and discuss Piero Heliczer’s major works of poetry collected in A Purchase in the White Botanica: The Collected Poetry of Piero Heliczer, which is somewhat a misnomer as this volume does not include many of Heliczer’s more obscure broadsides and chapbooks. We will also talk about some of the contemporary Beat Generation poets, novelists, and artists many of whom were close friends with Heliczer, such as Angus Maclise, Jack Smith, Ira Cohen, Gregory Corso, Maria de Haulleville, Gerard Malanga, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, Friedrich Hundertwasser and others.
Surprisingly, very little has been written on Heliczer’s poetry to date by literary scholars and critics compared with the works of the ‘beat giants’ such as Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs, apart from one recent biography published on Piero Heliczer by Patrick Bard (in French) and one major collection of articles, letters and essays by Gerard Malanga. Some supplementary notes and commentary will be drawn from these scholars and provided to assist students in their comprehension of the poems included in their textbook,A Purchase in the White Botanica: The Collected Poetry of Piero Heliczer
Some supplementary notes based on the teacher’s own analysis of the poems will also be provided to students to facilitate their own readings and analysis of the poems. Finally, where possible, the teacher will use any audio files (such as recordings of Heliczer poetry readings) and students will have a chance to watch a documentary film on Heliczer (in Lesson #1 as an introcution to the course). The aim of sharing these materials is twofold; to enrich students’ knowledge of Piero Heliczer, his poetry and his world, and to help them enjoy studying poetry through audio-visual materials, presented in an alternative format from the standard written page.
| 1 | Lesson 1 – An Introduction to Piero Heliczer, the Dead Language Press, & documentary In our first class for the course, we will begin by briefly discussing the historical contexts and backgrounds of the beat generation (which will already be familiar to students who took Preliminary English Seminar 1f in the Spring semester) before turning the focus to Piero Heliczer and his dead language press publications. Each of the weekly assigned readings will be explained as well as the 4 assignments including the methods of evaluation for each respective one. After the syllabus and methods of assessment have been explained, the teacher will briefly introduce the life and works of Piero Heliczer. For the last one hour of the first class, students will be shown a documentary on his life called The Invisible Father, put together by his daughter Thérèse Heliczer. |
| 2 | Lesson 2 – Girl Body & You Could Hear the Snow (Part 1) (pp. 15-32) In Lesson 2, we will start by discussing the documentary on Heliczer which students had the chance to watch in Lesson 1, before starting the textbook. Our discussions in Lesson 2 will focus on some of the earliest publications of Heliczer’s poetry, by looking at one of his earliest broadsides, girl body, and the first half of his first chapbook of poems, You Could Hear the Snow Dripping and Falling into the Deer’s Mouth, both published by his own, now legendary, small-budget imprint, the Dead Language Press. |
| 3 | Lesson 3 – You Could Hear the Snow (Part 2) (pp. 33-43) In Lesson 3, we will quickly review what we covered in the previous lesson, and students will have a chance to listen to a recording of Piero Heliczer (one of the few that has survived) reading poems from his first chapbook, You Could Hear the Snow Dripping and Falling into the Deer’s Mouth. Some analysis of these poems, including analysis by Gerard Malanga will be referred to as well. Finally, the first assignment on Piero Heliczer’s short biographical tract, Sunday’s Child, will be explained and distributed to students. |
| 4 | Lesson 4 - & I Dreamt I Shot Arrows in my Amazon Bra (pp. 45-62) In Lesson 4, we will look at Piero Heliczer’s second book of poems, & I Dreamt I Shot Arrows in my Amazon Bra, once again published by his own Dead Language press imprint. Piero’s second book shows a tremendous growth in his skills and poetic craft, which we will discuss. We will also discuss some other poets and artists whom Heliczer published such as Anselm Hollo, Olivia de Haulleville (‘Om’), legendary photographer and film-maker, Jack Smith, Angus Maclise and others. |
| 5 | Lesson 5 – Wyatt & The Tomb of Henry James Diferencia(pp. 63-69) In Lesson 5, we will try something different; we will take a look at two of Piero’s most well-known plays. An excerpt from the play, Wyatt, is included in the textbook but another play, The Tomb of Henry James Diferencia, which was a very early publication for Heliczer (1957) will also be discussed (a copy of this play will be provided to students). This play is also the topic for the second assignment so students will have a chance to study this play in class before tackling the assignment questions at home. |
| 6 | Lesson 6 – The First Battle of the Marne (pp. 71-91) In Lesson 6, we will take a look at one of Heliczer’s strongest collections of poems, The First Battle of the Marne. We will compare the language and themes of this text with his previous publications, in an attempt to analyze and chart some of the progress and changes of this vastly-underrated poet, towards the end of the 1960s. |
| 7 | Lesson 7 – The Soap Opera: part 1 (pp. 97-114) In Lesson 7, we will take a look at The Soap Opera, published by Trigram Press, which was the most widely-available book and collection of Piero Heliczer’s poetry until the more-recent publication of A Purchase in the White Botanica. As this sequence of poems is one of the longest, we will discuss it over two classes. |
| 8 | Lesson 8 – The Soap Opera: part 2 & Jack Smith (pp. 115-129) In Lesson 8, we will look at the second half of Heliczer’s The Soap Opera, and discuss his relationship with Jack Smith, the legendary film-maker and photographer. For those planning to do some research on Jack Smith for their presentation, this will be an important lesson to attend. Some scans of The Beautiful Book, a collection of photos by Jack Smith and published by Piero Heliczer will also be shared with students, as well as a brief discussion on Jack Smith’s famous movie, Flaming Creatures. (NOTE: For those students interested in film studies, one of the essay options on the final exam will be to provide an analysis of Heliczer’s films, Smith’s films and Brakhage's films, and therefore the content of Lesson 8 may be very useful for this particular topic). |
| 9 | Lesson 9 – Interview with Marisabina Russo (pp. 131-150) Now that we have finished reading, studying and analyzing all the poems in the textbook, we will focus on an interview with Marisabina Russo, who talks about Piero Heliczer’s life. In this lesson, your teacher will provide some extra materials, such as from Gerard Malanga’s special magazine, Little Caesar #9, which was a special issue (festschrift) devoted to Piero Heliczer’s life and work. |
| 10 | Lesson 10 – Other Works & Criticism (pp. 186-209) In Lesson 10, we will focus on some extra poems by Heliczer not included in the textbook, such as his broadsides, a small bilingual (English and Dutch) collection called The Abdication of the Throne of Hell, a prose work called The Perfect Detective, but mostly poems taken from the recent bilingual publication (in French and English), Piero Heliczer: Poems & Documents. If there is time remaining, students will have time to work on their presentations which begin in the following week and ask the teacher questions about the content of their presentation scripts. |
| 11 | Lesson 11 – Presentations I In Lesson 11, the first half of the class will give a short 3-minute presentation on a member of the Beat Generation, or a contemporary poet or artist who influenced, was influenced by or collaborated with Piero Heliczer’s poetry and film productions. Some examples include Gregory Corso, Ira Cohen, Angus Maclise, Jack Smith, Andy Warhol, Friedrich Hundertwasser, Gerard Malanga, Anselm Hollo, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and several others. Students who are not presenting but are part of the audience are expected to participate by asking questions in the short Q&A session after each presentation. Students who ask their classmates questions will be rewarded with bonus points towards their overall participation score (30% of their final score). Students who are NOT presenting in this week (but only listening as members of the audience) will be encouraged to read and study some poems from Piero Heliczer: Poems & Documents, a book recently published which includes many extra poems by Heliczer published in little magazines and periodicals. |
| 12 | Lesson 12 – Presentations II In Lesson 11, the second half of the class will give a short 3-minute presentation on a member of the Beat Generation or a contemporary poet who influenced, was influenced by or collaborated with Piero Heliczer’s poetry and film productions. Some examples include Gregory Corso, Ira Cohen, Angus Maclise, Jack Smith, Andy Warhol, Friedrich Hundertwasser, Gerard Malanga, Anselm Hollo, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and several others. Students who are not presenting but are part of the audience are expected to participate by asking questions in the short Q&A session after each presentation. Students who ask their classmates questions will be rewarded with bonus points towards their overall participation score (20% of their final score). Students who are NOT presenting in this week (but only listening as members of the audience) will be encouraged to read and study some poems from Piero Heliczer: Poems & Documents, a book recently published which includes many extra poems by Heliczer published in little magazines and periodicals. |
| 13 | Lesson 13 – Comprehensive Review & Quiz Game In our penultimate lesson for the course (Lesson 13), we will review all sections of a purchase in the white botanica, plus briefly cover some of the supplementary materials, including broadsides, plays, prose works, audio & video excerpts, as well as interviews and literary criticism on Heliczer’s life and work. In this lesson, we will do something which students may find enjoyable – we will have a quiz game in teams in which we will review the most important questions covered throughout the course. If any time remains during class, students are encouraged to ask questions, especially regarding any questions to which they did not know the answer, to ensure that they are better prepared for the final exam. |
| 14 | Lesson 14 – Final Test In Lesson 14, students will take their final test. All parts of the textbook will be covered in the final test as well as some of the supplementary materials either distributed in class or shared through email (or uploaded onto Google Classroom). There will be three sections to the final examination: 1) in the first section students will answer multiple-choice questions; 2) in the second section students will write short-answer questions; 3) in the third section, students will write one essay on a topic relating to Heliczer’s poetry or the publications of Dead Language Press. |
板書 /Writing on the Board
スライド（パワーポイント等）の使用 /Slides (PowerPoint, etc.)
上記以外の視聴覚教材の使用 /Audiovisual Materials Other than Those Listed Above
個人発表 /Individual Presentations
グループ発表 /Group Presentations
ディスカッション・ディベート /Discussion/Debate
実技・実習・実験 /Practicum/Experiments/Practical Training
学内の教室外施設の利用 /Use of On-Campus Facilities Outside the Classroom
校外実習・フィールドワーク /Field Work
上記いずれも用いない予定 /None of the above
Study Required Outside of Class
In addition to the weekly reading assignments from the textbook, students will also be encouraged to read and explore other supplementary sources of information. Some of the supplementary reading materials will be provided by the teacher (either photocopies handed out in class or sent by email) and extra 'recommending reading' sections will be suggested by the teachers to help them enrich their understanding of the poems, the writer and the course overall. Furthermore, students are encouraged to listen to the audio recordings of Heliczer reading his poetry to get a better understanding and ‘feel’ for the poetry. Several of Heliczer’s films are also available online and students are encouraged to watch them at their own leisure.
While copies of the textbook may be hard to track down, students are encouraged to purchase a copy of it if possible. Another advantage of buying the textbook is that students can use the content and notes from the textbook in the final part (Section 3) of the final exam when they are required to write an academic essay.
| 種類 (Kind) | 割合 (%) | 基準 (Criteria) |
|---|---|---|
| 平常点 (In-class Points) | 100 |
Assignment #1(10%) Assignment #2(10%) Assignment #3 (Presentation)(10%) Assignment #4(10%) In-class discussions & participationclass(30 %) 最終テスト(Final Test)(30%) |
| 備考 (Notes) | ||
| No | 著者名 (Author/Editor) | 書籍名 (Title) | 出版社 (Publisher) | 出版年 (Date) | ISBN/ISSN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heliczer, P. | A Purchase in the White Botanica | Granary Books | 2001 | 9781887123570 |
| No | 著者名 (Author/Editor) | 書籍名 (Title) | 出版社 (Publisher) | 出版年 (Date) | ISBN/ISSN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heliczer, P, Thorel, B (ed.), & Vinet, S. (ed.) | Piero Heliczer: Poems & Documents | After 8 Books | 2022 | 9782492650000 |
| 2 | Heliczer, P. | I must be more like an ant than a cigale because I like to sing in winter | Counter Culture Chronicles | 2020 | |
| 3 | Kugelberg, J. | Piero Heliczer & The Dead Language Press: A Bibliography | Boo-Hooray | 2014 | 9781938265167 |
| 4 | Vinet, S. (ed.) | Piero Heliczer: L’Underground a Preaux-du-Perche | Les Bains Douches | 2015 | |
| その他 (Others) | |||||
| Copies of some other rare and hard-to-obtain publications will be provided in class. | |||||
1) The first matter students should be aware of is the attendance policy for this class. Students are required to attend at least 10 of the 14 classes / sessions in order to pass this course. In other words, students who are absent 5 times or more will automatically fail the course. Therefore, students who are planning to undertake an internship, work experience or will be away for a number of weeks during the course should take this in mind. Official absences will only be allowed in cases of illness or bereavement.
2) The second point students should keep in mind is how they will receive a grade for in-class participation. Each week we will hold discussions IN ENGLISH in class. Students are expected to participate in these discussion IN ENGLISH. Failure to do will result in point penalties.
NOTE: Students who are absent from class due to club activities, work experience or some similar reason will not be considered eligible for ‘official absence.'
Students should possess either a laptop or iPad or similar device, and have access to some form of software which will allow them to generate slides for their presentation (Assignment #3) such as PowerPoint etc.
Students who are caught cheating or plagiarizing on any assignments on tests will automatically incur penalties. (NOTE: This includes using AI software to write essays. However, if students can prove that they have used AI as a tool for learning or generating ideas, not for simply generating their final product, this could be deemed acceptable. Guidelines will be drawn up and shared with students on this matter). Therefore, while students may collaborate or study together both inside and outside the classroom, students are expected to turn in / submit ORIGINAL writing or work for the assignments. Failure to do so will result in point penalties.