Gertrude Stein for the wired world
Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, May 9, 2007
PHILADELPHIA – It’s like an iTunes for poetry – and it’s free.
Professors at the University of Pennsylvania are offering recordings of contemporary poets’ work to the public through a free online audio archive of digital downloads.
“It’s unprecedented within poetry,” said Charles Bernstein, an English professor and the site’s co-director, calling it the “first and the biggest site of its kind.”
Started more than two years ago, PennSound features about 200 writers and more than 10,000 digital recordings contributed by poets, fans and scholars worldwide. Some, such as Gertrude Stein recordings from 1934, date back decades.
The site mainly focuses on historical avant-garde and innovative contemporary poetry, such as works by Allen Ginsberg or current U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall.
Last month, PennSound announced the acquisition of rare readings by Ezra Pound, including previously unknown recordings made between 1962 and 1972.
“These are really hard recordings to find,” said Kenneth Goldsmith, a PennSound senior editor. “For lovers of poetry, this is an amazing thing.”
Many Web sites, such as that of the Academy of American Poets, stream poetry readings, but PennSound offers MP3 files that can be loaded onto digital players such as iPods, Bernstein said.
PennSound says it has permission from the poets, or their estates, to offer the recordings.
In the past year, the site has had 8 million downloads, co-director Al Filreis said.
PennSound: www.writing.upenn.edu/pennsound
