Alan Bernheimer
Encyclopedia
Alan Bernheimer is an American poet, often associated with the San Francisco Language poets
.
, where he became friends with poets Steve Benson
, Kit Robinson
, Rodger Kamenetz
, and Alex Smith and studied literature with A. Bartlett Giamatti
and Harold Bloom
and poetry with Ted Berrigan
, Peter Schjeldahl
, and Bill Berkson
.
He continued his association with the New York School
poets and the St. Mark's Poetry Project
for several years, and moved to San Francisco in 1976, where through Benson and Robinson he met other writers—such as Rae Armantrout
, Carla Harryman
, Lyn Hejinian
, Tom Mandel
, Ted Pearson
, Bob Perelman
, Ron Silliman
, and Barrett Watten
-- who would soon become known as the San Francisco Language poets
. Bernheimer wrote and performed for Poets Theater, and produced and hosted the radio program of new writing by poets, "In the American Tree" on KPFA
from 1979 to 1980.
Since the early 1980s, Bernheimer has worked as a corporate communications executive for Bay Area technology companies. He is married to Melissa Riley, a San Francisco public librarian and freedom-of-information activist.
Language poets
The Language poets are an avant garde group or tendency in United States poetry that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s...
.
Biography
He attended Horace Mann School, and graduated in 1970 from Yale CollegeYale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, where he became friends with poets Steve Benson
Steve Benson (poet)
Steve Benson is an American poet and performer. He is often associated with the Language poets. Benson lives in Downeast Maine where he is a licensed psychologist in private practice.-Life and work:...
, Kit Robinson
Kit Robinson
Kit Robinson is an American poet and translator. An early member of the San Francisco Language poets circle, he has published 20 books of poetry.-Life and work:...
, Rodger Kamenetz
Rodger Kamenetz
Rodger Kamenetz is an American poet and author. He was born in Baltimore and educated at Yale, Stanford and Johns Hopkins University...
, and Alex Smith and studied literature with A. Bartlett Giamatti
A. Bartlett Giamatti
Angelo Bartlett "Bart" Giamatti was the president of Yale University and later the seventh Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Giamatti negotiated the agreement that terminated the Pete Rose betting scandal by permitting Rose to voluntarily withdraw from the sport, avoiding further...
and Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
and poetry with Ted Berrigan
Ted Berrigan
-Early life:Berrigan was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on November 15, 1934. After high school, he spent a year at Providence College before joining the U.S. Army in 1954 to serve in the Korean War. After three years in the Army, he finished his college studies at the University of Tulsa in...
, Peter Schjeldahl
Peter Schjeldahl
Peter Schjeldahl, , is an American art critic, poet, and educator.Schjeldahl was born in Fargo, North Dakota. He grew up in small towns throughout Minnesota, and attended Carleton College and The New School...
, and Bill Berkson
Bill Berkson
Bill Berkson is an American poet, critic, teacher and sometime curator, who has been active in the art and literary worlds since his early twenties.-Life:Born in New York on August 30, 1939, Bill Berkson grew up on Manhattan’s Upper...
.
He continued his association with the New York School
New York School
The New York School was an informal group of American poets, painters, dancers, and musicians active in the 1950s, 1960s in New York City...
poets and the St. Mark's Poetry Project
St. Mark's Poetry Project
The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church was founded in 1966 in the East Village of Manhattan by the poet and translator Paul Blackburn, it has been a crucial venue for new and experimental poetries for over four decades....
for several years, and moved to San Francisco in 1976, where through Benson and Robinson he met other writers—such as Rae Armantrout
Rae Armantrout
Rae Armantrout is an American poet generally associated with the Language Poets. Armantrout was born in Vallejo, California but grew up in San Diego. She has published ten books of poetry and has also been featured in a number of major anthologies...
, Carla Harryman
Carla Harryman
Carla Harryman is an American poet, essayist, and playwright often associated with the Language poets. She teaches Creative Writing at Eastern Michigan University and serves on the MFA faculty of the Milton Avery School of the Arts at Bard College...
, Lyn Hejinian
Lyn Hejinian
Lyn Hejinian is an American poet, essayist, translator and publisher. She is often associated with the Language poets and is well known for her landmark work My Life , as well as her book of essays, The Language of Inquiry .-Life:Hejinian was born in the San...
, Tom Mandel
Tom Mandel (poet)
Thomas Poeller Mandel is a contemporary American poet whose work is often associated with the Language poets.-Biography:...
, Ted Pearson
Ted Pearson
Ted Pearson is an American poet. He is often associated with the Language poets.-Life and work:Pearson was born in 1948 in Palo Alto, California...
, Bob Perelman
Bob Perelman
Bob Perelman is an American poet, critic, editor and teacher. He is often associated with the Language School group of poets. Perelman is Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania.-Life and work:...
, Ron Silliman
Ron Silliman
Ron Silliman is an American poet. He has written and edited over 30 books, and has had his poetry and criticism translated into 12 languages. He is often associated with language poetry. Between 1979 and 2004, Silliman wrote a single poem, The Alphabet...
, and Barrett Watten
Barrett Watten
Barrett Watten is an American poet, editor, and educator often associated with the Language poets.Since 1994, Watten has taught modernism and cultural studies at Wayne State University in Detroit...
-- who would soon become known as the San Francisco Language poets
Language poets
The Language poets are an avant garde group or tendency in United States poetry that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s...
. Bernheimer wrote and performed for Poets Theater, and produced and hosted the radio program of new writing by poets, "In the American Tree" on KPFA
KPFA
KPFA is a listener-funded progressive talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station signed on-the-air April 15 1949, as the first Pacifica Station...
from 1979 to 1980.
Since the early 1980s, Bernheimer has worked as a corporate communications executive for Bay Area technology companies. He is married to Melissa Riley, a San Francisco public librarian and freedom-of-information activist.
Works
- The Spoonlight Institute, 2009 Adventures in Poetry, (Princeton, NJ)
- "Paris", Nowhere Magazine, November 2009
- "from THE SPOONLIGHT INSTITUTE", The Sienese Shredder #3
- Billionesque, 1999, The Figures (Great Barrington, MA) ISBN 978-0-935724-97-4
- Cloud Eight, 1999, Sound & Language – with Kit RobinsonKit RobinsonKit Robinson is an American poet and translator. An early member of the San Francisco Language poets circle, he has published 20 books of poetry.-Life and work:...
- State Lounge, 1981, Tuumba (Berkeley, CA)
- Café Isotope, 1980, The Figures (Berkeley, CA)
Translation
- The Hamlet of the Bees (Valery Larbaud), 1981, Whale Cloth
Plays
- "Particle Arms," produced by San Francisco Poets Theater, 1982, published in Hills, 1983 and reprinted in The Kenning Anthology of Poets Theater 1945-1985, 2010
Anthologies
- "20 Questions", The best American poetry, 2004, Editors Lyn Hejinian, David Lehman, Simon and Schuster, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7432-5757-2