Description:
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.
Review Quotes:
"Some of the key issues for Jewish writers in the 20th century are those of identity and self-representation. 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. 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 are some of the qualities these poets see as common to themselves, the poetry they make, and the tradition they work within."--Shofar