Invisible fences : prose poetry as a genre in French and American literature / Steven Monte.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Monte, Steven, 1967-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Prose poems, French--History and criticism.

Prose poems, French.

French poetry--History and criticism.

French poetry.

Prose poems, American--History and criticism.

Prose poems, American.

American poetry--History and criticism.

American poetry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (310 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, c2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

For all its recent popularity among poets and critics, prose poetry continues to raise more questions than it answers. How have prose poems been identified as such, and why have similar works been excluded from the genre? What happens when we read a work as a prose poem? How have prose genres such as the novel affected prose poetry and modern poetry in general? In Invisible Fences Steven Monte places prose poetry in historical and theoretical perspective by comparing its development in the French and American literary traditions. In spite of its apparent formal freedom, prose poetry is constrained by specific historical circumstances and is constantly engaged in border disputes with neighboring prose and poetic genres. Monte illuminates these constraints through an examination of works that have influenced the development of the prose poem as well as through a discussion of genre theory and detailed readings of poems ranging from Charles Baudelaire's "La Solitude" to John Ashbery's "The System." Monte explores the ways in which literary-historical narratives affect interpretation: why, for example, prose poetry tends to be seen as a revolutionary genre and how this perspective influences readings of individual works. The American poets he discusses include Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Carlos Williams, T. S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein, and Ashbery; the French poets range from Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, and Stephane Mallarmé to Max Jacob. In exploring prose poetry as a genre, Invisible Fences offers new perspectives not only on modern poetry, but also on genre itself, challenging current theories of genre with a test case that asks for yet eludes definition.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Note on Terminology

Invisible Fences

Introduction

Origins of the Prose Poem and Theories of Genre

A Wide Field of Prose Possibilities

Poetry in a Prosaic World

The Makings of a Genre

The Emergence of Prose Poetry in English

The Idea of an American Prose Poem, Take One

The Idea of an American Prose Poem, Take Two

Negative Dialectics

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [281]-292) and index.

ISBN:

0-8032-0227-X

OCLC:

297290223