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Jeff Clark

ジェフ・クラーク

Jeff Clark

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1971-01-01 （United States (birthplace unspecified)）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Southern California (grew up) → San Francisco (moved in 1995) → Ypsilanti, Michigan — base of Crisis (book design studio)

Career

Occupations
poet, book designer, translator, editor, illustrator
Active Years
1992-

Education

University of California, Davis
Degree: 学士（専攻不詳）
Country: United States
Played drums in a band while at UC Davis; recorded an album
Iowa Writers' Workshop (University of Iowa)
Poetry
Degree: MFA（Master of Fine Arts）
Country: United States
Completed an MFA program in poetry

Awards

National Poetry Series
1996
Work: The Little Door Slides Back
Organization: National Poetry Series
Result: 受賞
James Laughlin Award
2004
Work: Music and Suicide
Organization: Academy of American Poets
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Little Door Slides Back

1997 Poetry

A collection of introspective, noir-tinged poems evoking the moon, cheap paperbacks, and cinematic scenes; explores predicaments and paradoxes.

interior lifenoirlonelinessmemory
Adaptations
  • [installation] The Little Door Slides Back (installation by Cosima von Bonin) / Cosima von Bonin (2000)

Music and Suicide

2004 Poetry

A collection noted for its erotic ambition and untimeliness; critics suggested it discloses new poetic possibilities beyond prevailing trends.

eroticismuntimelinesslinguistic ambition

Ruins

2009 Poetry (limited edition)

A limited-edition work written, illustrated, and designed by Clark; an experimental combination of poetry and visual treatments.

visual poetryruinsmateriality

Un Coup de Dés Jamais N'Abolira Le Hasard (translation of Stéphane Mallarmé)

2015 Translation (experimental poetry)

A collaborative translation (with Robert Bononno) of Mallarmé's landmark poem, respecting the original's visual and formal features; published by Wave Books.

symbolismformal experiment

Question Like a Face

2017 Poetry / limited-edition collaboration

A limited-edition collaborative work with text by Christine Hume and image treatments by Clark.

collaborationintersection of image and text

Bibliography

  • The Little Door Slides Back (1997, Sun and Moon Press; reprinted 2004 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • Sun On 6 (2000, Z Press)
  • 2A (2006, collaboration with Geoffrey G. O'Brien)
  • Music and Suicide (2004, Farrar Straus Giroux)
  • Ruins (2009, Turtle Point Press, limited edition)
  • Un Coup de Dés Jamais N'Abolira Le Hasard (2015, translation, Wave Books)
  • Question Like a Face (2017, Image Text Ithaca, collaboration)

Adaptations

  • The Little Door Slides Back — installation by Cosima von Bonin (2000)

Translations by Author

  • Translation of Stéphane Mallarmé's Un Coup de Dés Jamais N'Abolira Le Hasard (co-translated with Robert Bononno, 2015, Wave Books)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
introspective, image-driven poetrynoir-inflected imagerystylistic incorporation of visual and formal experiments
Recurring Motifs
the mooncheap paperbackscinematic scenesdesire/eroticism

Legacy

Jeff Clark is influential both as a poet and a book designer. His poetry combines introspection with visual experimentation, and his book designs have shaped the visual presentation of contemporary poetry through distinctive, spacious covers and typographic choices.

In Popular Culture

  • Works such as 'The Little Door Slides Back' have been referenced in contemporary art contexts (e.g., Cosima von Bonin's installation in 2000).

Quotes

  • a fragile, interior world largely lit by the moon, cheap paperbacks, and noir movies, a place in which predicaments and paradoxes abound.
    Source: John Yau, Boston Review (review of The Little Door Slides Back) (1997)
  • Clark has become one of poetry's most prolific and influential book designers, whose distinctive treatments—characterized by spacious covers; hip, angular fonts; varied elements that elide into one another—a frequent poetry reader could recognize from a distance.
    Source: Publishers Weekly (2008) (2008)

Trivia

  • Played drums in the band Buick while at UC Davis; the album 'Sweatertongue' was released in 1992.
  • Runs the book design studio Crisis based in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
  • Has designed books for numerous small and literary presses and is highly regarded for poetry book design.
  • Winner of the National Poetry Series (1996) and the James Laughlin Award (2004).