Disjunctive Poetics: From Gertrude Stein and Louis Zukofsky to Susan Howe

by Peter Quartermain

Disjunctive Poetics examines some of the most interesting and experimental contemporary writers whose work forms a counterpoint to the mainstream writing of our time. Peter Quartermain suggests that the explosion of noncanonical modern writing is linked to the severe political, social, and economic dislocation of non-English-speaking immigrants who, bringing alternative culture with them as they passed through Ellis Island in their hundreds of thousands at the turn of the century, found themselves uprooted from their tradition and disassociated from their culture. The line of American poetry that runs from Gertrude Stein through Louis Zukofsky and the Objectivists to the Language Writers, Quartermain contends, is not the constructive but deconstructive aspect that emphasized the materiality and ambiguity of the linguistic medium and the arbitrariness and openess of the creative process.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 26, 1992

Reviews

[Peter Quartermain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I wrote it, and actually I still like it, but it's a bit out of date as well as somewhat sloppily written.

[Patch]

I thought this was just gonna be jargon I could use as white noise to avoid thinking, and it was, but it was also pretty interesting! especially the stuff on Gertrude stein, kind of put into words thoughts I had but couldnt articulate as well. lots of authors and poets I want to check out, especially Bunting. also i was never really that interested in Whitman but this makes me wanna read his stuff.

[Paolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Peter's book as an undergrad at UBC forever transformed how I read poetry, and continues to influence my proceedings in the art. Peter, along with his wife Meredith, run Nomados, one of my fave small presses in the cosmos. Check out their catalogue when you get the chance. Thank you, Peter!