Tag Archives: marita dachsel

Russell Books expands into vintage

Russell Books Vintage Grand Opening
with readings from Esi Edugyan, Steven Price and Marita Dachsel
May 14, 2013

Reviewed by Jenny Boychuk

In a time when many independent bookstores are closing their doors, Victoria’s Russell Books has expanded yet again with the addition of Russell’s Vintage.

Russell’s Vintage (located beneath Russell Books in what was formerly Fort Street Café) held its grand opening recently, featuring readings by local authors Steven Price, Esi Edugyan and Marita Dachsel.

The space filled up quickly as people drank wine and browsed the shelves for vintage gardening guides, cookbooks, magazines, volumes of the Guinness Book of Records, poetry, children’s literature and nearly ancient copies and first editions of their favourite classics. The atmosphere was warm and friendly, and it seemed everyone met someone they knew.

Every seat was filled with many people left standing as event organizer and Russell Books employee Vanessa Herman kicked off the night. She announced that Russell’s Vintage will begin holding a monthly reading series. Next, manager Andrea Minter talked about her family and the history of Russell Books, which was founded by her grandfather in Montreal in 1961. The store (now relocated in Victoria) is Canada’s largest used and new bookstore.

“Books are my life and we are so excited for this,” Minter said.

The space is perfect for a reading, with a small stage at the front of the room, set against a backdrop of antique books. The readings proved fitting for the occasion as each of the authors read about history or the making of it.

Marita Dachsel launched her new collection of poetry Glossolalia, which is essentially a series of monologues written from the point of view of each of Joseph Smith’s 34 polygamous wives. (Joseph Smith was the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)

“You always hear about people launching books,” said Dachsel. “But you hardly ever hear of people launching bookstores.”

After an intermission and the cutting of a fabulous cake (an unreal replication of each of the authors’ books stacked on top of each other), Steven Price talked about his and wife Esi Edugyan’s history and love of Russell Books.  Apparently, the couple visits so regularly that the staff is set on adopting their baby daughter.)

“We don’t get out much,” joked Price. “But when we do, we go to three places. Russell Books is one of them.”

Price read from his poetry collection Omens in the Year of the Ox, and from Into That Darkness, his novel about a massive earthquake hitting Victoria.

After more wine, cake and door prizes (orchids, t-shirts, winery tours, books), Esi Edugyan ended the evening with a reading from her novel, Half-Blood Blues, much of which is set in pre-war Berlin.

I expect Russell’s Vintage will see many more nights like this one.

 

Jenny Boychuk is a local writer and reader.

 

Mormon wives “speak” through poems

Poet Marita Dachsel is the author of the new collection Glossolalia, and of the previous collection All Things Said & Done. Glossolalia is a re-imagining of the lives and voices of the 34 wives of Mormon founder Joseph Smith. Julian Gunn interviewed Daschel at the end of April for the Coastal Spectator. See the poet’s blog at maritadachsel.blogspot.ca.

Glossolalia is a long-term project. What was its genesis?

I’ve always been interested in fringe religions, and in 2006 the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints in Bountiful was in the news again. BC has long been home to strange sects and cults, and for the most part they are left alone. I thought that if the FLDS would just give up polygamy, then they could live in peace. I wondered why they practised it, and soon learned that it was a vital part of their faith that had been introduced by Joseph Smith back in the 1840s.

Did you always see Glossolalia as a book about all of Smith’s wives? (Or some version of all, since you mention that the exact count is unknown.)

I could understand why modern women born into Mormon Fundamentalism would choose polygamy—it’s their culture, it’s all they know—but I wondered about those women who agreed, who started it all. I read biographies on Joseph’s wives and began to write poems inspired by their lives. It was perfect timing, as I had finished my first collection, All Things Said & Done, and wasn’t sure what I’d do next with my poetry. I soon knew that I wanted to a whole book on them. At the time, I had no idea it would take six years, but I quickly fell into the rabbit hole of research and obsession.

Often, you have only one poem with which to evoke some aspect of each woman. How did you know what would do justice to each one?

Some were definitely easier [to capture] than others. Some came immediately. I’d “hear” their voice in my head and I knew what they’d disclose. Others took a long time of trial and error—the voice, the form, the story all had to click. “Emma Hale Smith,” for example, was the very first poem I wrote for this series, but it wasn’t right. It was really important to me to do her justice and consequently, it took six years of writing her to finally get her poem work the way I wanted it to.

Despite all the research that I did on the women and early Mormonism, not all the poems are based on biography. In the early years of the project, I was a little too tied to the truth, but learned to let that go. I’m not a historian; I’m a poet. My main goal was to write engaging poetry. Sometimes that meant skimming from the women’s lives; sometimes it meant making things up completely.

You use many different formal techniques in the collection. Was there a process by which you decided what techniques you would use, or was it done by intuition and experimentation?

My process was pretty loose. I’d start by reading about the woman, noting ideas or phrases as I went. I’d write a rough draft or two to see if I could get her voice right. If could, great! Then I’d work on the content and form—one usually informing the other. If I couldn’t get her voice right, then I’d either read some more about her, or move on to another wife. Repeat as necessary.

Like “Emma,” “Lucy Walker” is another [voice] that took a lot of trial and error. A few wives had told their own stories during their lives and I was particularly struck with hers—so full of heartache, confusion, and manipulation. I tried to capture it, but the poem always fell flat. Finally, I realized that I didn’t have to do what she already had done, that I could use her words. I played with her text a lot, but nothing was satisfying. Then I came across Jen Bervin’s amazing Nets and it was like a revelation to me. (She ‘erased’ many of Shakespeare’s sonnets into beautifully spare poems.) What I loved about her take on erasure was that we could still see the original poems, just in lighter text. For Lucy, I wanted her real story to still be available to the reader, but I liked the idea of it being deliberately crossed out, as if she were editing her own story. The private truth versus the public record.

How do you find blogging as a medium, as compared to poetry and conventional essays?

I really enjoy reading other people’s blogs, but I’m a terrible blogger. I don’t make the time to do it properly, so lately my blog has become not much more than a place for shameless self-promotion. A few years ago, I did an interview series with writing mothers that I really enjoyed and it still brings the most readers to the blog. I think that when I find time, I’ll revisit that form—return to interviews and discussions. When done well, blogging is an immediate conversation. It’s topical, yet focused. It creates community. I think I write too slowly and have too many interruptions to do the form justice right now, but I am so thankful that others do.