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Peter Reading

ピーター・リーディング

Pītā Rīdingu

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1946-07-27 （Near Liverpool, England）
Died
2011-11-17 （Shropshire, England） age 65
Nationality
British
Languages
English
Residence History
Liverpool → Shropshire (approximately 40 years) → Little Stretton (later years) → Marfa, Texas (during Lannan residency)

Career

Occupations
Poet, Author, Teacher, Weighbridge operator
Active Years
1970-2011
Nominations
T. S. Eliot Prize shortlist (1997) for 'Work in Regress'

Education

Alsop High School
Country: United Kingdom
Secondary education (based on biographical sources)
Liverpool College of Art
Painting
Period: 1960s
Country: United Kingdom
Studied painting

Awards

Cholmondeley Award
1978
Organization: Cholmondeley Award (administered by Society/awarding body)
Result: 受賞
Dylan Thomas Award
1983
Work: Diplopic
Organization: Dylan Thomas Award
Result: 受賞
Whitbread Prize for Poetry
1986
Work: Stet
Organization: Whitbread/Costa
Result: 受賞
Lannan Literary Award for Poetry
1990
Organization: Lannan Foundation
Result: 受賞
Lannan Literary Award for Poetry
2004
Organization: Lannan Foundation
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Work in Regress

1997 Poetry

A collection addressing decline, regression of civilization and satirical observations; one of his notable 1997 collections, shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize.

NatureDecaySatireMisanthropy

Stet

1986 Poetry

A satirical, anti-romantic collection; winner of the Whitbread Prize for Poetry.

IronySocial critiqueObservation of nature

Diplopic

1983 Poetry

A 1983 collection which won the Dylan Thomas Award.

Formal experimentationDetached observation

Bibliography

  • Water and Waste (1970)
  • For the Municipality's Elderly (1974)
  • The Prison Cell & Barrel Mystery (1976)
  • Nothing for Anyone (1977)
  • Fiction (1979)
  • Tom o'Bedlam's Beauties (1981)
  • Diplopic (1983)
  • 5x5x5x5x5 (1983)
  • C (1984)
  • Ukulele Music (1985)
  • Going On (1985)
  • Essential Reading (1986)
  • Stet (1986)
  • Final Demands (1988)
  • Perduta Gente (1989)
  • Shitheads (1989)
  • Three in One (1991)
  • Evagatory (1992)
  • Last Poems (1994)
  • Collected Poems Vol 1: 1970-1984 (1995)
  • Eschatological (1996)
  • Collected Poems Vol 2: 1985-1996 (1996)
  • Chinoiserie (1997)
  • Work in Regress (1997)
  • Apopthegmatic (1999)
  • Ob (1999)
  • Repetitious (1999)
  • Marfan (2000)
  • [untitled] (2001)
  • Faunal (2002)
  • Civil (2002)
  • Collected Poems Vol 3: 1997-2003 (2003)
  • -273.15 (2005)
  • Vendange Tardive (2010)

Adaptations

  • Filmed readings for the Lannan Foundation archive (2001, 2010)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Anti-romanticSatiricalDetached, observational styleInterest in classical metres
Recurring Motifs
NatureAnimalsIndustrial landscapesDeath and decayMisanthropy

Legacy

Peter Reading was known for his anti-romantic, satirical verse and was regarded as an influential alternative presence on the UK poetry scene. He gained recognition in the United States through his association with the Lannan Foundation and left a unique filmed reading archive.

Archives

  • Lannan Foundation archive (filmed readings)
  • Publishers' archives of his poetry collections (UK)

In Popular Culture

  • Filmed readings included in the Lannan Foundation DVD archive

Quotes

  • My work is a combination of 'painstaking care' and 'misanthropy'.
    Source: Interview by Robert Potts (Oxford Poetry, 1990) (1990)

Trivia

  • Held the one-year Lannan writing residency in Marfa, Texas (1999).
  • One of the only British poets to win the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry twice (1990 and 2004).
  • Worked for 22 years as a weighbridge operator at an animal feed mill; was dismissed after refusing to wear a newly introduced uniform.
  • Author of 26 collections of poetry.