John Ashbery and Anglo-American Exchange

The Minor Eras

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Poetry History & Criticism
Cover of the book John Ashbery and Anglo-American Exchange by Oli Hazzard, OUP Oxford
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Oli Hazzard ISBN: 9780192555090
Publisher: OUP Oxford Publication: June 14, 2018
Imprint: OUP Oxford Language: English
Author: Oli Hazzard
ISBN: 9780192555090
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Publication: June 14, 2018
Imprint: OUP Oxford
Language: English

In 1966, John Ashbery wrote: 'The English language is constantly trying to stave off invasion by the American language; it lives in a state of alert which is reflected to some degree in English poetry.' This book shows how the work of a major post-war American poet has been centrally concerned with questions of national identity and intercultural poetic exchange, by reading crucial episodes in Ashbery's oeuvre in the context of an 'other tradition' of modern English poets he himself has defined. This line runs from the editor of Ashbery's recent Collected Poems, Mark Ford, through Lee Harwood in the late 1960s, F. T. Prince in the 1950s, to 'chronologically the first and therefore most important influence' on his own work, W. H. Auden. Through detailed close readings of the poetry of Ashbery and these English poets, original interviews, and extensive archival research, a new account of Ashbery's aesthetic, and a significant re-mapping of post-war English poetry, is presented. The biographical slant of the book is highly significant, as it reads these writers' poetry and correspondence together for the first time, suggesting how major poetic innovations arose from specific social contexts, from the particulars of relations between poets, and also from a broader climate of Anglo-American exchange as registered by each poet. The book's presentation of the process of poetic influence is attentive to actual exchanges between contemporaries as evidenced in correspondence, as opposed to speculative relationships with dominant figures, and as such represents a departure from many other studies of Ashbery's work. Key themes include 'Englishness' as a national imaginary, the concept of the 'minor', reciprocal influence, and the poetry of coteries. The result is that both Ashbery himself, and the landscape of post-war English poetry, are presented in significantly new lights.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In 1966, John Ashbery wrote: 'The English language is constantly trying to stave off invasion by the American language; it lives in a state of alert which is reflected to some degree in English poetry.' This book shows how the work of a major post-war American poet has been centrally concerned with questions of national identity and intercultural poetic exchange, by reading crucial episodes in Ashbery's oeuvre in the context of an 'other tradition' of modern English poets he himself has defined. This line runs from the editor of Ashbery's recent Collected Poems, Mark Ford, through Lee Harwood in the late 1960s, F. T. Prince in the 1950s, to 'chronologically the first and therefore most important influence' on his own work, W. H. Auden. Through detailed close readings of the poetry of Ashbery and these English poets, original interviews, and extensive archival research, a new account of Ashbery's aesthetic, and a significant re-mapping of post-war English poetry, is presented. The biographical slant of the book is highly significant, as it reads these writers' poetry and correspondence together for the first time, suggesting how major poetic innovations arose from specific social contexts, from the particulars of relations between poets, and also from a broader climate of Anglo-American exchange as registered by each poet. The book's presentation of the process of poetic influence is attentive to actual exchanges between contemporaries as evidenced in correspondence, as opposed to speculative relationships with dominant figures, and as such represents a departure from many other studies of Ashbery's work. Key themes include 'Englishness' as a national imaginary, the concept of the 'minor', reciprocal influence, and the poetry of coteries. The result is that both Ashbery himself, and the landscape of post-war English poetry, are presented in significantly new lights.

More books from OUP Oxford

Cover of the book Selected Fables by Oli Hazzard
Cover of the book The Oxford Illustrated History of the Reformation by Oli Hazzard
Cover of the book Lupus by Oli Hazzard
Cover of the book Passport to Peking by Oli Hazzard
Cover of the book Experiences of Depression by Oli Hazzard
Cover of the book Chesterton and the Romance of Orthodoxy by Oli Hazzard
Cover of the book Walter Scott and Fame by Oli Hazzard
Cover of the book East Wind by Oli Hazzard
Cover of the book Applied Methods of Cost-effectiveness Analysis in Healthcare by Oli Hazzard
Cover of the book Saltpeter by Oli Hazzard
Cover of the book The Latin New Testament by Oli Hazzard
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Taboo Words and Language by Oli Hazzard
Cover of the book Explorations in Information Space by Oli Hazzard
Cover of the book Food: A Very Short Introduction by Oli Hazzard
Cover of the book Borrowed Words by Oli Hazzard
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy