Language writing, the most controversial avant-garde movement in contemporary American poetry, appeals strongly to writers and readers interested in the politics of postmodernism and in iconoclastic poetic form. Drawing on materials from popular culture, avoiding the standard stylistic indications of poetic lyricism, and using nonsequential sentences are some of the ways in which language writers make poetry a more open and participatory process for the readers. Reading this kind of writing, however, may not come easily in a culture where poetry is treated as property of a special class. It is this barrier that Bob Perelman seeks to break down in this fascinating and comprehensive account of the language writing movement. A leading language writer himself, Perelman offers insights into the history of the movement and discusses the political and theoretical implications of the writing. He provides detailed readings of work by Lyn Hejinian, Ron Silliman, and Charles Bernstein, among many others, and compares it to a wide range of other contemporary and modern American poetry. A variety of issues are addressed in the following chapters: "The Marginalization of Poetry," "Language Writing and Literary History," "Here and Now on Paper," "Parataxis and Narrative: The New Sentence in Theory and Practice," "Write the Power," "Building a More Powerful Vocabulary: Bruce Andrews and the World (Trade Center)," "This Page Is My Page, This Page Is Your Page: Gender and Mapping," "An Alphabet of Literary Criticism," and "A False Account of Talking with Frank O'Hara and Roland Barthes in Philadelphia."

Bob Perelman, both as a poet and an extremely intelligent and witty analyst of the language writing movement, writes as someone genuinely hoping to explain his subject to readers who are not already converts. -- Roger Gilbert

About the Author
Bob Perelman, Associate Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, is a nationally known poet. He has published ten books of poetry as well as a critical book, The Trouble with Genius: Reading Pound, Joyce, Stein, and Zukofsky.

Reviews
"[An] excellent critical study of language writing and its place in literary history... Perelman delivers a Rosetta Stone which will be invaluable to those seeking a clearer understanding of the movement's origins, theories, and goals."--Poetry Room



Book Information
ISBN 9780691021386
Author Bob Perelman
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press
Weight(grams) 28g