John Furnival

John Furnival (1933–2020) was a key figure for the development of experimental poetry. In the early 1960s, he explored the literary potential of folded paper structures and of processes of unfolding. He worked extensively with Ian Hamilton Finlay on new ways of devising “Visual Poetry” and in 1963, together with Dom Sylvester Houédard, he founded the press “Openings” at his home – Rooksmoor House (Woodchester, Gloucestershire). The press published a variety of folded poem objects by now internationally renowned poet-artists, amongst them Ian Hamilton Finlay, Augusto de Campos, Hansjörg Mayer, Tom Phillips, Louis Zukofsky, Edwin Morgan, Richard Kostelanetz and Ernst Jandl. “Untitled (Unfolder)”, one of Furnival’s own folded poem objects, was originally published in 1967 as part of the experimental journal “OU. Revue de Poésie Evolutive”, edited by Henri Chopin, the legendary French-British sound and typewriter poet.… (meer)