Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Video recording of JH. Prynne's Keynote Speech at the First Pearl River Poetry Conference, Guangzhou, China, 8th June 2005, taken from the now-unavailable DVD 'River Pearls: The First Pearl River Poetry Conference, Guangzhou, China, 2005' (distributed through Barque Press, 2008). Filmed by John Wilkinson. The text of the lecture was later published in Quid, 16 (February 2006): 7–17.
"River Pearls celebrates the first Pearl River Poetry Conference, held in Guangzhou, south China, in June 2005. The conference brought together Chinese and British poets and scholars for events at four different universities in the city, including readings, keynote speeches and debates. River Pearls centres on the contributions of Che Qianzi and J.H. Prynne, which are presented in full. It also includes excerpts from readings by other poets and a sample of the debate following a keynote speech by Keston Sutherland. Filmed on location at Guangzhou University of Commercial Studies."
From the opening of the lecture:
"And I have for this morning's talk, oh, a small, quite limited subject, assigned to me by our admirable organisers of this brave new kind of conference. It is nothing more nor less than poetic language, in the history and current situation in the East and the West, and indeed the whole planetary situation--a small topic, easily managed in a couple of sentences. I'm sure I shall enjoy dismissing it with scarcely a passing thought."
In memory of J.H. Prynne (1936–2026)
Video recording of JH. Prynne's Keynote Speech at the First Pearl River Poetry Conference, Guangzhou, China, 8th June 2005, taken from the now-unavailable DVD 'River Pearls: The First Pearl River Poetry Conference, Guangzhou, China, 2005' (distributed through Barque Press, 2008). Filmed by John Wilkinson. The text of the lecture was later published in Quid, 16 (February 2006): 7–17.
"River Pearls celebrates the first Pearl River Poetry Conference, held in Guangzhou, south China, in June 2005. The conference brought together Chinese and British poets and scholars for events at four different universities in the city, including readings, keynote speeches and debates. River Pearls centres on the contributions of Che Qianzi and J.H. Prynne, which are presented in full. It also includes excerpts from readings by other poets and a sample of the debate following a keynote speech by Keston Sutherland. Filmed on location at Guangzhou University of Commercial Studies."
From the opening of the lecture:
"And I have for this morning's talk, oh, a small, quite limited subject, assigned to me by our admirable organisers of this brave new kind of conference. It is nothing more nor less than poetic language, in the history and current situation in the East and the West, and indeed the whole planetary situation--a small topic, easily managed in a couple of sentences. I'm sure I shall enjoy dismissing it with scarcely a passing thought."
In memory of J.H. Prynne (1936–2026)
