Poetry and language writing : objective and surreal / David Arnold.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Arnold, David.

Series:

Poetry &--

Poetry &

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Language poetry.

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

American poetry.

Poetry, Modern--20th century--History and criticism.

Poetry, Modern.

Surrealism (Literature).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 200 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

It has been variously labelled ‘Language Poetry’, ‘Language Writing’, ‘L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E writing’ (after the magazine that ran from 1978 to 1981), and ‘language-centred writing’. It has been placed according to its geographical positions, on East or West coasts; its venues in small magazines, independent presses and performance spaces, and its descent from historical precursors, be they the Objectivists, the composers-by-field of the Black Mountain School, the Russian Constructivists or American modernism à la William Carlos Williams and Gertrude Stein. Indeed, one of the few statements that can be made about it with little qualification is that ‘it’ has both fostered and endured a crisis in representation more or less since it first became visible in the 1970s. In Poetry & Language Writing David Arnold grasps the nettle of Language poetry, reassessing its relationship with surrealism and providing a scholarly, intelligent way of understanding the movement. Poets discussed include Charles Bernstein, Susan Howe, Michael Palmer and Barrett Watten.

Contents:

The scholarly life of language writing.

Surrealism: an excommunicated vessel?

Under the sign of negation: William Carlos Williams and Surrealism.

The Surreal-O-bjectivist nexus.

Michael Palmer's poetics of witness.

Scorch and scan: the writing of Susan Howe.

'Just rehashed Surrealism'? the writing of Barrett Watten.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-78138-808-3

1-84631-379-1

OCLC:

808730062