George's fragments: Bowering's phenomenological self

Despite the volume of George Bowering's literary production there has been relatively little criticism of his writing and thus no thorough investigation of his literary theory. This study connects the critical ideas set out in Bowering's interviews and essays to the theory of writing which supports his poems, short stories, and novels. Bowering's phenomenological theory of writing resembles the style of literary existentialism embedded in Charles Olson's essay "Projective Verse" (1950). Olson's essay is the central theoretical impetus in Bowering's development of his own style of literary existentialism. Bowering's theory of writing, however, derives its complexity from the philosophical shifts marked by four historical phases in his development. The first period reflects Bowering's discovery in 1958 of William Carlos Williams' The Desert Music (1954) and his adoption of Olson's "Projective Verse" theory during his time at the University of British Columbia when he co-edited the little magazine TISH (1961-1963). The post-UBC years (1963-1968) reveal Bowering's integration of Williams' poetic theories with those of Olson. The late 1960s and early 1970s present Bowering's movement away from the Williams/Olson nexus via an emphasis on Gertrude Stein's theory that language is consciousness. Finally, from the mid-1970s to 1990 Bowering develops a 'baffle' strategy which reveals the post-modern qualities of his self-consciousness. Bowering's phenomenological theory enables him to construct a paradigm for defining a 'Canadian' literary consciousness, one which emphasizes his own West Coast experience, and conveys his idea of 'locus' nationalism.