Poetic obligation : ethics in experimental American poetry after 1945 / G. Matthew Jenkins.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jenkins, Grant Matthew.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

American poetry.

Experimental poetry, American--History and criticism.

Experimental poetry, American.

Ethics in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (283 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Since at least the time of Plato's Republic, the relationship between poetry and ethics has been troubled. Through the prism of what has been called the "new" ethical criticism, inspired by the work of Emmanuel Levinas, G. Matthew Jenkins considers the works of Objectivists, Black Mountain poets, and Language poets in light of their full potential to reshape this ancient relationship.

Contents:

Introduction: The double-double turn

pt. 1. Objectivist poethics

Saying obligations: George Oppen's Of being numerous

A phenomenology of judgment: Charles Reznikoff's Holocaust

pt. 2. Excess and eros. The ethics of excess: Edward Dorn's Gunslinger

The body ethical: Robert Duncan's Passages

pt. 3. An ethics of sexual alterity. The nearnes sof poetry: Susan Howe's The nonconformist's memorial

Permeable ethics: Lyn Hejinian's The cell

Conclusion: What difference does poetic obligation make?

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [243]-258) and index.

ISBN:

9781587297281

1587297280

OCLC:

609870388