Just a question for any out there that identify themselves as 'avant-garde,' and who may be perchance be reading this post. I've read much the past months, opinion and counterpoint. And much of it revolves around the ignorance of others concerning the subject. I don't wish to argue the point, but I certainly can profess to such an ignorance. So, if there was one book that you would suggest as a starting point to understand the subject in as clear and concise a manner for the uninitiated, like myself, I'd appreciate if you'd leave the title in comments. I'd like to do some research on the matter. Please remember, we're talking beginner's level. Thanks.
And how about that blizzard! (We just got belted with thirty inches of snow!)
COLD AND SOLITUDE
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Freezing weather here after a snowfall. Here again is a winter hokku by
Hashin: No sky, no earth;Only snowCeaselessly falling. And here is Kimio
Eto playin...
3 months ago
4 comments:
Greg-
I'm no 'avant-garde' scholar, but I've been trying to educate myself for some time. Do you have The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics? As I often begin there, there is an entry for 'Language Poetry' that you could use as a primer. If I had a scanner I would happily send the pages for you.
For intermediate to advanced reading I might investigate some of the critical articles that NPEPP notes:
B. Watten, Total Syntax (1985);
M. Perloff, The Dance of the Intellect (1985), ch. 10;
S. McCaffery, North of Intention, Crit. Writings 1973-1986 (1986);
C. Bernstein, Content's Dream: Essays 1975-1984 (1986);
L. Bartlett, "What is 'L.P.'?" CritI 12 (1986);
R. Silliman, The New Sentence (1987);
J.J. McGann, "Contemp. Poetry, Alternate Routes," CritI 13 (1987);
A. Ross, "The New Sentence and the Commodity Form: Recent Am. Writing," Marxism and the Interp. of Culture, ed. C. Nelson and L. Grossberg (1988);
G. Heartley, Textual Politics and the L. Poets (1989).
I hope that this helps. Good luck.
A couple of books that were recently highly recommended as a good place to start for those new to 'post-language' poetry:
21st Century Modernity, by Marjorie Perloff
American Women Poets in the 21st Century: Where Lyric Meets Language (Weslyan 2002)
Hope this helps~*
Bernstein's "A Poetics" is also a good place to start, although the text itself is OOP, I think you can find copies reasonably reasonably at Alibris.
If you are not familiar with the surrealists at all, I myself think of them as relating to a lot of what is going on in post-language writing. Though some would argue that. Breton's "Nadja" is a good introduction in more or less conventional prose, to some of the theoretical tenets of surrealism.
Also Olsen's essay on Projectivism is important also, although this predates Language poetry. Language poets did not necessarily invent the U.S. avant-garde, however.
Thanks all. You've been very helpful. The Bernstein and Perloff sound intriguing. I think I'll look in that direction. And great idea, A.D. on the New Princeton. Why didn't I think of that.
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