Episode 37: How Loss Refuses Itself: Voice at the Limit with Ben Meyerson
In episode #37 I talk with scholar and poet Ben Meyerson about his research and writing surrounding “voice” in diasporic song. Ben researches three musical forms: Troubadour lyric, Sephardic Romanzas, and Flamenco song, all of which originate from the Iberian Peninsula, dating from the 11th century to the present. Ben addresses some of the problems in theories of “voice” from thinkers such as Deleuze and Adriana Cavarero, who, he argues, in seeking to universalize “voice” risk losing track of individual, historical, cultural and physical voices. Ben’s interest lies in the complex ways that the singing voice can both protest particular historical losses and draw listeners into its community. We discuss and read from an essay we both deeply revere, Nathaniel Mackey’s “Sound and Sentiment, Sound and Symbol” and we talk about Édouard Glissant’s Poetics of Relation as articulating how voice/voices can both be “in relation” while also maintaining “rootedness.” Finally, Ben reads one of his own poems and speaks about how his research is connected to his Jewish identity. In this poetics-enthusiast’s episode, we also touch on Kristeva, Doug Kearney, Lorca, and Moten. A special treat: we listen to a live recording of New York-based Flamenco singers Juan Pedro Jimenez, Barbara Martinez, and Jackson Scott, courtesy of Tara Laraway’s Salon of the Bittersweet. Listen to the end for that!
Texts / authors mentioned and Discussed
Adriana Cavarero, For More Than One Voice: Toward a Philosophy of Vocal Expression
Gilles Deleuze, Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza
Gilles Deleuze,Difference and Repetition
Federico García Lorca,Theory and Play of the Duende
Édouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation
Douglas Kearney, Optic Subwoof
Julia Kristeva, Revolution in Poetic Language
Nathaniel Mackey, “Sound and Sentiment, Sound and Symbol”
Nathaniel Mackey, Splay Anthem
Benjamin Meyerson, Seguiriyas
Benjamin Meyerson, “Over-Abundance and Ineffability: Flamenco, Mysticism and the Joyful Language-Game”
Jean-Luc Nancy, Listening
Michel Serres, The Birth of Physics
Steven J. Zipperstein, Pogrom: Kishinev and the Tilt of History.
INTRO Music by Ben Roberts : Benjamin.Roberts447@gmail.com
Comments and ideas to Juliealicecarr@gmail.com
Ben Meyerson
Ben Meyerson is the author of the poetry collection Seguiriyas (Black Ocean, 2023) and five prior chapbooks: Near Enough (Seven Kitchens Press, 2023), After Boabdil (The Alfred Gustav Press, 2023), An Ecology of the Void (Above/Ground Press, 2019), Holcocene (Kelsay Books, 2018) and In A Past Life (The Alfred Gustav Press, 2016). He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota and an MA in philosophy from the Universidad de Sevilla. He is currently a PhD candidate in comparative literature at the University of Toronto, where he studies oral poetries of the Iberian Peninsula and philosophies of material complexity.
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