English 203

Other Readings and Media

"Coolidge, C.: The Crystal Text; Mackey, N.: Whatsaid Serif; Mayer, B.: Midwinter Day; Robertson, L.: The Weather; Scalapino, L.: Zither & Autobiography; Silliman, R.: Tjanting; Watten, B.: Progress/Under Erasure; Course reader



Recommended Readings: Alexander, W.: Exobiology as Goddess; ; Ashbery, J.: Girls on the Run; Spahr, J.: This Connection of Everyone with Lungs "

Description

"It is often said that the fragmentation and disjuncture characteristic of postmodern poetry is a reflection (or symptom) of contemporary life--a speedy life of multiple distractions, constant interruptions, unconnected events. How then do we account for the recent proliferation of long poems by contemporary experimental writers?



In this seminar we will examine an array of recent book-length poems so as to query the nature of the epic (and historical) and the extended lyric (or metaphysical) poem in our time. Attention will be paid to contextual frame, textual structure, compositional procedure, etc., as well as to questions regarding the nature of the ""project"" that each of the works represents. "