Experimentalism as reciprocal communication in contemporary American poetry : John Ashbery, Lyn Hejinian, Ron Silliman / Elina Siltanen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Siltanen, Elina, author.

Series:

FILLM studies in languages and literatures ; v. 4.

FILLM studies in languages and literatures ; volume 4

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ashbery, John, 1927-2017--Criticism and interpretation.

Ashbery, John.

Hejinian, Lyn--Criticism and interpretation.

Hejinian, Lyn.

Silliman, Ronald, 1946---Criticism and interpretation.

Silliman, Ronald.

Ashbery, John, 1927-2017.

Silliman, Ronald, 1946-.

American poetry--20th century--History and criticism.

American poetry.

Experimental poetry, American--History and criticism.

Experimental poetry, American.

Poetics.

Communities in literature.

Authors and readers--United States--History--20th century.

Authors and readers.

History.

Criticism and interpretation.

United States.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Physical Description:

x, 210 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company, [2016]

Summary:

The poems of John Ashbery, Lyn Hejinian and Ron Silliman may seem to offer endless small details of expression, observation, thought and narrative which fail to hang together even from one line to the next. But as Elina Siltanen shows here, this extraordinary flow of uncoordinated detail can stimulate readers to join the poets in a delightful exploration of ordinary language. When readers take a poem in this spirit, they actually begin to read as members of a community: the community not only of themselves and other readers, but also including the poet and other poets, plus all the speakers of the language in which the poem is written. For all these different parties, that language is indeed a shared resource, and the way for readers to get started is simply by recalling or imagining some of the numerous kinds of context in which the given poem's words-phrases-sentences could, or could not, be successfully used. The rewards for such proactive readers are on the one hand a heightened sense of the subtle interweavings of language and life, and on the other hand a freshly empowered self-confidence. 0The point being that, within the community of contemporary experimental poetry, poets have no more authority than readers. Rejecting older cultural hierarchies, they present themselves as teasing out the idiomatic serendipities of their own poems together with their readers.

Contents:

1 Series editor's preface p. vii

2 Acknowledgements p. ix

3 1. Introduction p. 1

4 2. "What makes you think this is a voice?" p. 29

5 3. "Do you see how it posits you the reader?" p. 77

6 4. "What of a poem that told you what it did...?" p. 115

7 5. "Pending panic of sense" p. 149

8 6. Afterword p. 187

9 References p. 195

10 Index p. 207.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Siltanen, Elina, author. Experimentalism as reciprocal communication in contemporary American poetry

ISBN:

9789027201317

9027201315

OCLC:

951754019