RADICAL POETICS AND SECULAR JEWISH CULTURE by Daniel Morris (Editor), Stephen Paul Miller (Editor) ( 9780817316754 )

Item Details

Title:

RADICAL POETICS AND SECULAR JEWISH CULTURE

By:

Daniel Morris (Editor), Stephen Paul Miller (Editor)

Format:

Hardback

List price:	£55.50
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ISBN 10:

0817316752

ISBN 13:

9780817316754

Publisher:

THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS

Pub. date:

1 November, 2009

Edition:

2nd ed.

Series:

Modern & Contemporary Poetics

Pages:

552

Description:

No group of writers better represents the problems of Jewish identity than Jewish poets writing in the American modernist tradition - specifically secular Jews: those disdainful or suspicious of organized religion, yet forever shaped by those traditions. This title addresses this often obscured dimension of modern and contemporary poetry.

Synopsis:

Kafka's quip - paradoxical, self-questioning, ironic - highlights vividly some of the key issues of identity and self - representation for Jewish writers in the 20th century. No group of writers better represents the problems of Jewish identity than Jewish poets writing in the American modernist tradition - specifically secular Jews: those disdainful or suspicious of organized religion, yet forever shaped by those traditions. This collection of essays is the first to address this often obscured dimension of modern and contemporary poetry: the secular Jewish dimension. Editors Daniel Morris and Stephen Paul Miller asked their contributors to address what constitutes radical poetry written by Jews defined as 'secular', and whether or not there is a Jewish component or dimension to radical and modernist poetic practice in general. These poets and critics address these questions by exploring the legacy of those poets who preceded and influenced them - Stein, Zukofsky, Reznikoff, Oppen, and Ginsberg, among others.While there is no easy answer for these writers about what it means to be a Jew, in their responses there is a rich sense of how being Jewish reflects on their aesthetics and practices as poets, and how the tradition of the avant - garde informs their identities as Jews. Fragmented identities, irony, skepticism, a sense of self as 'other' or 'outsider', distrust of the literal, and belief in a tradition that questions rather than answers - these are some of the qualities these poets see as common to themselves, the poetry they make, and the tradition they work within.

Illustrations:

6 illustrations

Publication:

Imprint:

The University of Alabama Press

Returns:

Returnable

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