The Marginalization of Poetry: Language Writing and Literary HistoryLanguage writing, the most controversial avant-garde movement in contemporary American poetry, appeals strongly to writers and readers interested in the politics of postmodernism and in iconoclastic poetic form. Drawing on materials from popular culture, avoiding the standard stylistic indications of poetic lyricism, and using nonsequential sentences are some of the ways in which language writers make poetry a more open and participatory process for the readers. Reading this kind of writing, however, may not come easily in a culture where poetry is treated as property of a special class. It is this barrier that Bob Perelman seeks to break down in this fascinating and comprehensive account of the language writing movement. A leading language writer himself, Perelman offers insights into the history of the movement and discusses the political and theoretical implications of the writing. He provides detailed readings of work by Lyn Hejinian, Ron Silliman, and Charles Bernstein, among many others, and compares it to a wide range of other contemporary and modern American poetry. |
From inside the book
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... formal gestures to register as significant without sacrificing public legibility . We'll see . I have tried to discuss some of the variety of language writing , but I have certainly not succeeded in dealing with or even mentioning many ...
... formal devices ; 1 using or alluding to Marxist or poststructuralist theory in order to open the present to critique and change . These , along with the group interaction and the aggressive dismissals of selfexpressive mainstream ...
... formal experiment and its politicized literary theorizing began to attract notice , positive and negative . Many poets and critics found the work to be overly intellectual , anathema to the model of intuitive self - expression then ...
... The completeness of its self - management allowed for immediate access to publication and review , which in turn encouraged large - scale projects and formal variety . Most importantly this created a sense that writing was public 16 TWO.
... formal level and in terms of how the poet's function is defined , language writing has often been received as problematic by nonacademic poets and by critics . When Joel Lewis wrote an article about language writing for an issue of ...
Contents
The Avantgarde Particulars | 38 |
The New Sentence in Theory | 59 |
Orthography and Community | 79 |
Bruce Andrews | 96 |
Eight An Alphabet of Literary History | 144 |
NOTES | 167 |
INDEX | 183 |
Other editions - View all
The Marginalization of Poetry: Language Writing and Literary History Bob Perelman Limited preview - 1996 |
The Marginalization of Poetry: Language Writing and Literary History Bob Perelman Limited preview - 1996 |