Table Of ContentCollage in TwenTieTh-CenTury
arT, liTeraTure, and CulTure
emphasizing the diversity of twentieth-century collage practices, rona Cran’s book
explores the role that it played in the work of Joseph Cornell, william Burroughs,
Frank o’hara, and Bob dylan. For all four, collage was an important creative
catalyst, employed cathartically, aggressively, and experimentally. Collage’s
catalytic effect, Cran argues, enabled each to overcome a potentially destabilizing
crisis in representation. Cornell, convinced that he was an artist and yet hampered
by his inability to draw or paint, used collage to gain access to the art world and
to show what he was capable of given the right medium. Burroughs’ formal
problems with linear composition were turned to his advantage by collage, which
enabled him to move beyond narrative and chronological requirement. o’hara
used collage to navigate an effective path between plastic art and literature, and to
choose the facets of each which best suited his compositional style. Bob dylan’s
self-conscious application of collage techniques elevated his brand of rock-and-
roll to a level of heightened aestheticism. Throughout her book, Cran shows that
to delineate collage stringently as one thing or another is to severely limit our
understanding of the work of the artists and writers who came to use it in non-
traditional ways.
For Martin
Collage in Twentieth-Century
art, literature, and Culture
Joseph Cornell, william Burroughs,
Frank o’hara, and Bob dylan
rona Cran
© rona Cran 2014
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
rona Cran has asserted her right under the Copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988, to be
identified as the author of this work.
Published by
ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing Company
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Cran, rona.
Collage in Twentieth-Century art, literature, and Culture: Joseph Cornell, william
Burroughs, Frank o’hara, and Bob dylan / by rona Cran.
pages cm
includes bibliographical references and index.
iSBn 978-1-4724-3096-0 (hardcover: alk. paper)—iSBn 978-1-4724-4684-8 (ebook)—
iSBn 978-1-4724-4685-5 (epub)
1. american literature—20th century—history and criticism. 2. Collage. 3. art and
literature. 4. art, american—20th century—Themes, motives. i. Title.
PS169.a88C73 2014
810.9’357—dc23
2014013561
iSBn 9781472430960 (hbk)
iSBn 9781472446848 (ebk – PdF)
iSBn 9781472446855 (ebk – ePuB)
IV
Printed in the united Kingdom by henry ling limited,
at the dorset Press, dorchester, dT1 1hd
Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations x
Introduction: Catalysing Encounters 1
1 Habitat New York: Joseph Cornell’s ‘imaginative universe’ 41
2 ‘Confusion hath fuck his masterpiece’: Re-reading William
Burroughs, from Junky to Nova Express 85
3 ‘Donc le poète est vraiment voleur du feu’: Frank O’Hara and the
Poetics of Love and Theft 135
4 Bob Dylan and Collage: ‘A deliberate cultural jumble’ 187
Conclusion: ‘Yield us a new thought’ 213
Bibliography 225
Index 241
This page has been left blank intentionally
vii
List of Figures
I.1 Pablo Picasso. Still Life with Chair Caning, 1912. Oil, oilcloth, and
pasted paper. © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2013. 2
I.2 John Haberle. A Bachelor’s Drawer, 1890–1894. Oil on canvas. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Henry R. Luce Gift, 1970. Image ©
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 13
1.1 Lee Miller. Joseph Cornell, New York Studio, 1933. Black and white
photograph. © Lee Miller Archives, England 2013. All rights
reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk. 45
1.2 Joseph Cornell. Untitled (Woman and Sewing Machine), 1931.
Collage. © The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/
VAGA, NY/DACS, London 2013. 57
1.3 Joseph Cornell. Untitled (Schooner), 1931. Collage. © The Joseph
and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/VAGA, NY/DACS,
London 2013. 58
1.4 Joseph Cornell. Exhibition poster for Surréalisme, Julien Levy
Gallery, 1932. Collage. © The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial
Foundation/VAGA, NY/DACS, London 2013. 60
1.5 Joseph Cornell. Diary entry written on a blank Western Union
telegram form, January 5, 1949 / Joseph Cornell, author. © Joseph
Cornell Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. 64
1.6 Max Ernst. Untitled plate from Une semaine de bonté, 1934.
© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2013. 66
1.7 Joseph Cornell. Untitled (Woman with Lions), c. 1930s. Collage. ©
The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/VAGA, NY/
DACS, London 2013. 67
1.8 Joseph Cornell. Untitled (Man with Portable Motion Picture
Camera and Musical Score), 1932–1938. Collage. © The Joseph
and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/VAGA, NY/DACS,
London 2013. 69
viii Collage in Twentieth-Century Art, Literature, and Culture
1.9 Max Ernst. ‘Le geste élégant du noyé’, plate from Une semaine de
bonté, 1934. © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2013. 70
1.10 Max Ernst. ‘Ici se préparent les premières touches de la grâce et les
jeux sans issue’, plate from La femme 100 têtes, 1929. © ADAGP,
Paris and DACS, London 2013. 74
1.11 Joseph Cornell. Untitled (Children with Carnival Carts and
Suitcases), 1934. Collage. © The Joseph and Robert Cornell
Memorial Foundation/VAGA, NY/DACS, London 2013. 75
1.12 Max Ernst. ‘Suite’, plate from La femme 100 têtes, 1929. ©
ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2013. 76
1.13 Joseph Cornell. Untitled (Seated Figure with Suspended Plates and
Bottles), 1932–1938. Collage. © The Joseph and Robert Cornell
Memorial Foundation/VAGA, NY/DACS, London 2013. 77
2.1 Photograph of archival cut-up material by William S. Burroughs
held at the Columbia Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Draft cut-
up from the Burroughs Papers, Series II (experimental prose), Box 1,
Fols 11–16. Copyright © The Estate of William S. Burroughs, used
by permission of The Wylie Agency LLC. 127
2.1 Photograph of archival cut-up material by William S. Burroughs
held at the Columbia Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Selection
of cut-up fragments from the Allen Ginsberg Papers, Series II,
Box 16, Fols 7–8. Copyright © The Estate of William S. Burroughs,
used by permission of The Wylie Agency LLC. 128
3.1 Mario Schifano. Frank O’Hara, 1965. © DACS 2013. 185
4.1 A postage stamp printed in the Republic of Djibouti showing
Bob Dylan, c. 2011. 211
C.1 John Ashbery. The Mail in Norway, 2009. Collage, digitized print,
16 ¼ x 16 ¼ inches. Courtesy Tibor de Nagy, New York. 222
ix
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to many wonderful people who have helped this book become a
reality, not least Ann Donahue, who agreed to publish it, and Kirsten Giebutowski,
for her editorial assistance. I am deeply grateful to Mark Ford, Hugh Stevens,
J.D. Rhodes, Pat Palmer, Kasia Boddy, and Robert Hampson for their invaluable
academic expertise and support, to Rebecca Robertson and Lucy Griffiths for
indulging and cultivating my teenage love of literature, and to John Ashbery for
his generosity. For their endless encouragement (and for filling our home with
books), I thank my parents, Berna and Hugh Cran. I’ve been aided inestimably by
the support and sense of humour of my sisters, Sophie and Kim, and my friends –
particularly Amy Clarke, who nobly volunteered to read my manuscript, and Dolla
Hutchinson, who persuaded me to run a marathon and thus ensured my enduring
sense of perspective. I would also like to thank the staff at the British Library,
the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Archives of
American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Tibor de Nagy Gallery, the Berg
Collection at the New York Public Library, and the Wylie Agency. This book is
dedicated to Martin Spychal and all three Trawler dynasties, without whom it
could not have been started, let alone finished.
Quotations from unpublished letters of William Burroughs, courtesy of The
Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The
New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. Copyright © The
William S. Burroughs Trust.
Quotations from unpublished letters of William Burroughs courtesy of the
Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University. Copyright © The
William S. Burroughs Trust.
Excerpts from ‘They Dream Only of America’ from The Tennis Court Oath
©1962 by John Ashbery. Reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.
Six lines excerpted from ‘Howl’ on p. 213, five from ‘Wichita Vortex Sutra’ on
p. 215, from Collected Poems 1947–1997 by Allen Ginsberg. Copyright © 2006
by the Allen Ginsberg Trust. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
