Poetic Community
Avant-Garde Activism and Cold War Culture
Published on 4. May 2013
Book
Hardback
368 pages
978-1-4426-4524-0 (ISBN)
Description
Poetic Community examines the relationship between poetry and community formation in the decades after the Second World War. In four detailed case studies (of Black Mountain College in North Carolina, the Caribbean Artists Movement in London, the Women's Liberation Movement at sites throughout the US, and the Toronto Research Group in Canada) the book documents and compares a diverse group of social models, small press networks, and cultural coalitions informing literary practice during the Cold War era.
Drawing on a wealth of unpublished archival materials, Stephen Voyce offers new and insightful comparative analysis of poets such as John Cage, Charles Olson, Adrienne Rich, Kamau Brathwaite, and bpNichol. In contrast with prevailing critical tendencies that read mid-century poetry in terms of expressive modes of individualism, Poetic Community demonstrates that the most important literary innovations of the post-war period were the results of intensive collaboration and social action opposing the Cold War's ideological enclosures.
Drawing on a wealth of unpublished archival materials, Stephen Voyce offers new and insightful comparative analysis of poets such as John Cage, Charles Olson, Adrienne Rich, Kamau Brathwaite, and bpNichol. In contrast with prevailing critical tendencies that read mid-century poetry in terms of expressive modes of individualism, Poetic Community demonstrates that the most important literary innovations of the post-war period were the results of intensive collaboration and social action opposing the Cold War's ideological enclosures.
Reviews / Votes
'Voyce has written an intelligent and provocative book... This important book ought to prompt a vigorous critical conversation. Highly recommended.' - G. Grieve-Carlson (Choice Magazine, vol 51:03:2013) 'Voyce offers a generous sampling of poems with a highly enjoyable interweaving of original theoretical discussion and analysis of poetry.'- Irene Gammel (The Journal of Canadian Studies, vol 50:01:2016)
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Toronto
Canada
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
7 b&w illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
680 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4426-4524-0 (9781442645240)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/2013
1st Edition
University of Toronto Press
€61.95
Available for download
Person
Stephen Voyce is an assistant professor in the Department of English and a member of the Digital Studio for Public Humanities at the University of Iowa.
Content
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. Black Mountain College: A Poetic of Local Relations
Assembly Point of Acts
We are the Process: Toward a Theory of Field
To Join the Arts in Action: John Cage at the College
Polis and Totality in The Maximus Poems
For Love Revisited: Robert Creeley and the Politics of Friendship
"Public Parks" and "Poetic Communes": Denise Levertov and Robert Duncan's Open Form Protest
3. Caribbean Artists Movement: A Poetic of Cultural Activism
Link-up: The Poetic of a Social Movement
Underground Language
"Eating the Dead": Kamau Brathwaite's Arrivants in London
To Havana and Beyond: John La Rose, Andrew Salkey, and a Map for Third World Unity
4. The Women's Liberation Movement: A Poetic for a Common World
Devising our Networks
The Tyranny of Structurelessness
Usurping the Left's Mimeograph Machine: Robin Morgan, WITCH, and Poetic Insurrection
The Location of the Commons: Adrienne Rich, Judy Grahn, and the Building of a Common World
Consciousness-Raising as Poetic Discourse
5. Toronto Research Group: A Poetic of the Eternal Network
The Institute of Creative Misunderstanding
The Kids of the Book-Machine
A Realignment of Kinship: The Four Horsemen
The Eternal Network
6. Epilogue: Community as an Eternal Idea
Notes
Bibliography
Index
List of Figures
Abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. Black Mountain College: A Poetic of Local Relations
Assembly Point of Acts
We are the Process: Toward a Theory of Field
To Join the Arts in Action: John Cage at the College
Polis and Totality in The Maximus Poems
For Love Revisited: Robert Creeley and the Politics of Friendship
"Public Parks" and "Poetic Communes": Denise Levertov and Robert Duncan's Open Form Protest
3. Caribbean Artists Movement: A Poetic of Cultural Activism
Link-up: The Poetic of a Social Movement
Underground Language
"Eating the Dead": Kamau Brathwaite's Arrivants in London
To Havana and Beyond: John La Rose, Andrew Salkey, and a Map for Third World Unity
4. The Women's Liberation Movement: A Poetic for a Common World
Devising our Networks
The Tyranny of Structurelessness
Usurping the Left's Mimeograph Machine: Robin Morgan, WITCH, and Poetic Insurrection
The Location of the Commons: Adrienne Rich, Judy Grahn, and the Building of a Common World
Consciousness-Raising as Poetic Discourse
5. Toronto Research Group: A Poetic of the Eternal Network
The Institute of Creative Misunderstanding
The Kids of the Book-Machine
A Realignment of Kinship: The Four Horsemen
The Eternal Network
6. Epilogue: Community as an Eternal Idea
Notes
Bibliography
Index