English prof's challenge to Sault audience: 'Rrumpfftilffto?'

"Grimm glimm gnimm bimbimm," York University English professor Christian Bök told an audience at Algoma University College last night.

"Dedesnn nn rrrrr, ii ee, mpiff tillff toooo," the Griffin Prize-winning poet said, adding: "Pe pe pe pe pe. Pii pii pii pii pii. Poo poo poo poo poooo."

"Rrumpfftilffto?" Bök challenged audience members as he approached the end of his presentation.

Actually, Bök was reciting Kurt Schwitters' famous sound poem Ur Sonata, first published in 1932.

Arguably the best-known sound poem ever written, the work is also widely considered to be the most difficult to perform.

Age and alcohol take their toll

At one time, Bök says he was only person on the planet capable of performing Ur Sonata from memory.

Today he no longer attempts that feat, excusing himself by joking that age and alcohol have taken their toll.

Most performances of Schwitters' sound poem last 40 minutes. Bök's souped-up recitals, however, can be over in as little as 10 minutes.

To read Ur Sonata, please click here. To hear 13 minutes of the landmark work, as recited by Schwitters himself, please click here. (RealPlayer required).

Winner of $40,000 Griffin Prize

Bök is the author of Pataphysics: The Poetics of an Imaginary Science, published last year by Northwestern University Press, as well as two books of poetry, Eunoia (Coach House Books, 2002) and Crystallography (Coach House Press, 1994).

Eunoia, winner of the 2002 Griffin Prize for Poetic Excellence, is a five-chapter book in which every word in each chapter contains the same vowel. (For example, the first chapter contains only the vowel A, while the second chapter has only E.)

To read Eunoia online (the publisher has set up a clever E-marketing scheme that allows you to "tip" the author if you wish), click here.

Created artificial language for Gene Roddenberry

Bök has also created two artificial languages for television.

One, developed for Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict, was not extensively used in the series because actors found it too difficult to articulate, Bök says.

It therefore never developed the popularity of Klingon, commissioned by Roddenberry for his Star Trek series.

Klingon has its own online language institute, a scholarly journal, and translators are currently working on Klingon editions of both the Bible and the works of William Shakespeare.

Bök also developed an artifical language for Peter Benchley's short-lived Amazon television series.

Bök is also a conceptual artist who has made books out of Lego bricks and Rubik cubes.

Hit the links

Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry Christian Bök Page, Electronic Poetry Centre, SUNY Buffalo Klingon Language Institute