Sam Riviere on “Künstlerroman”

On "Künstlerroman"

Künstlerroman—Literally "artist novel" in German, the Künstlerroman, according to Google's AI overview, is a sub-category of the Bildungsroman, an educational novel or coming-of-age story. Calling a poem a novel is even more appealing than calling a novel a poem.

You have to be lonely—I.e. in order to appreciate that kind of story, of solitary self-determining ascent.

a Danish astronaut—The astronaut who remains in transit behind the moon while his crew visit the lunar surface is perhaps the loneliest figure in human history. The poem came out of art-related trips to Copenhagen and Warsaw. I can confirm that in terms of general presentation a Danish astronaut might very well be indistinguishable from a Danish artist (c.f. Andreas Mogensen).

lucky drunk weirdos—A remark made to me by a Norwegian in the non-EU passport queue. "We were conquered by the Swedes, the Danes, but guess who found the oil, fuck you!"

Scandinavians…—"Swedes don't exist, Scandinavians in general don't exist, take it from there." J. Berryman

Americans ‘with questions’…— Or, as if often heard at the poetry reading Q&A, "less of a question, more of a comment…"

variously gifted sisters­—I think think of the Glasses or Tenenbaums… The precocious, therapized and remorselessly productive brownstone origins of NYC gallery girls.

according to your T-shirt—The idea that advertising one's own complicity is the best way to evade accountability, or something like that.

principlet—Coinage: R. Walser

equinox investor—"Pecunia non olet" – Money doesn't smell – Roman adage.

Freetown Christiania—Famous and picturesque anarchist commune in Copenhagen, now somewhat tidied up.

lifeless experts—This is about art collecting, and the indignity as an artist of explaining your works to prospective patrons (!) …In Warsaw, I observed the humiliation of a young creative as he decoded his eco sculpture to a handful of disinterested buyers, who barely looked up from their phones and croissants.

mille-feuille—Art fair VIP welcome pack.

Martian—In sci-fi, the delegation of another planet typically displays values and priorities at odds with those of "earthlings."

Lines 15–19—Copied directly from the website of a Polish art collection.

The rocket discards…—We're back to the astronaut/artist analogy, which is followed more or less effortfully for the rest of the poem.

fuel cell / recoil—Variations on the career arc imagery, into lift-off or death spiral.

peak of the parabola—The engagement of the shuttle's boosters has to be incredibly precise to free the vessel from earth's gravitational field, or so I'm led to believe by every film about space I've seen—likewise, the poem speculates, the timing of an artist's graduation to significance, at the crucial moment, requires something of the accuracy of the atomic clock, and the alchemy of rocket fuel.

fork your trajectory—"In chess, a fork is a tactic in which a piece attacks multiple enemy pieces simultaneously." A fork might also be a splitting or doubling of intention or strategy—to avoid disaster or obtain advantage—a speculative move to try and discern possible outcomes and adjust accordingly.

neither/nor—A reference to Either/Or by Kierkegaard, which portrays two life views. Each life view is written and represented by a fictional author; also "a man who chases two rabbits catches none" (attributed to Confucious).

Twin trail…Smoke sculpture—The final image of fatal splitting is about destruction as spectacle, or at least a guarantee of attention.