I just came across this extraordinary document by the son of the poet, Louis Zukofsky. What a piece of shit he appears to be, though there's something almost admirable about his determination to present himself in the worst light possible. I've had his father's work sitting on my shelf for years, but this is the first time I've felt the slightest urge to quote from it or, indeed, refer to it in any way. Zukofsky has always seemed the least interesting of the group of writers with whom he's associated. Certainly, he isn't a patch on George Oppen. I assume I'm allowed to say that without attracting the wrath of his appalling son.
I was going to post a picture of Zukofsky to go with this, risking who knows what legal brimstone from Singapore, but while I was looking I came across this one of Pound, a better-looking man and a finer poet, so I thought I'd use it instead. Fuck off, PZ.
2 comments:
Quote away, if you want to do so to illustrate your point about Zukofksy's position among his peers.
Zukofksy Jr (I say Jr, though he's 66, and presumably exercising his right to be a miserable old bastard) says:
"“Fair use” is a very-broadly defined doctrine, of which I take a very narrow interpretation, and I expect my views to be respected"
Tough. The copyright holder has no right to expect his interpretation of 'fair use' to be respected. Here are the factors which (US) copyright law takes into account in determining fair use, and it's abundantly clear from these that an academic thesis (not for profit, quoting selectively, not affecting the market for the work) will constitute fair use under any interpretation of the law. So boo sucks to Paul Zukofksy.
Thank you for clearing that one up, John. But I don't think I'll be bothering to quote any of the old man's verse. Though I might post a bit of Oppen one of these days...
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