Cosmographies: The Naropa Lectures 1988-1990

A collection of lectures delivered by Harry Smith for the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University (Boulder, Colorado). The volume, edited by Raymond Foye, includes photocopies of handouts just as Smith delivered them to his students. A poetic rendering of classroom transcriptions, Cosmographies highlights the various sides of the Smith mythos while focusing on the inveterate collector’s obsession with categorization and comparison. Remarks range from Thelonious Monk to Gertrude Stein, tarot, Haitian Vodou, and the indigenous folklore worlds of spirits and demons.

Includes texts by Raymond Foye, Peter Lamborn Wilson, Diane di Prima, and Charles Stein, as well as lecture handouts and works cited.