The Castle of Indolence: On Poetry, Poets, and Poetasters

by Thomas M. Disch

A collection of essays about poetry which provides reviews of a range of American and English poets, including Kenneth Koch, Jon Ashbery, and Ogden Nash, and offers criticism of the processes that inspired their work

Genres: Poetry, Criticism, Nonfiction, Essays

229 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Thomas Michael Disch was an American science fiction writer and poet. He won the Hugo Award for Best Related Book—previously called "Best Non-Fiction Book"—in 1999. He had two other Hugo nominations and nine Nebula Award nominations to his credit, plus one win of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, a Rhysling Award, and two Seiun Awards, among others.

His writing includes substantial periodical work, such as regular book and theater reviews for The Nation, The Weekly Standard, Harper's, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Times Literary Supplement, and Entertainment Weekly.

As a fiction writer and a poet, Disch felt typecast by his science fiction roots. "I have a class theory of literature. I come from the wrong neighborhood to sell to The New Yorker. No matter how good I am as an artist, they always can smell where I come from".

Following an extended period of depression after the death in 2005 of his life-partner, Charles Naylor, Disch stopped writing almost entirely, except for poetry and blog entries, although he did produce two novellas. Disch fatally shot himself on July 4, 2008, in his Manhatten (NYC) apartment.

Naylor and Disch are buried alongside each other at Saint Johns Episcopal Church Columbarium, Dubuque, Iowa. His last book, The Word of God, which was written shortly before Naylor died, was published a few days before Disch's death.

Reviews

[M. D. Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this about three times over the past couple of years. As with many poetry critiques, Disch is best when he dislikes something. He is funny but never mean-spirited. Disch recently died. I miss him already.

[Candy Wood]

According to Thomas M. Disch, “every critic is obligated to give his or her aversions at least a regular airing, if not equal time with the enthusiasms, for to do otherwise is to take part in a conspiracy of silence.” His own criticism, in pieces mostly published earlier and collected in 1995, lives up to the cover photo of a bald, bearded man with tattooed forearms and a scowly smile, suggesting toughness and sardonic humor. He disparages creative writing programs and sneers at the in-group character of awards and blurbs, making it even more fun that his front cover prominently displays both “Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award” and a blurb by Harold Bloom. In the last essay, he offers some examples of aggrieved responses from some of his victims, and repeats that “any expression of delight or enthusiasm is under suspicion of being one more big hug in that special-education classroom where poets minister to each other’s need for self-esteem.” No big hugs here, but an entertaining mind at work. Or play, as one of John Hollander’s poems suggests (Disch approves of Hollander, too).

[Tobias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pointed me in the direction of some promising-looking writing. And while certain bits haven't aged well (hey, look, jabs at "political correctness" from the mid-90s; sigh), there are a lot of smart observations about form and genre here.

[Eli Bishop · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Disch's writing on pretty much any subject. My enjoyment of this volume of his critical writing on poetry was slightly hindered by a few things: 1. I've read almost none of the work he's discussing— although that's also a good thing, because now I have a reading list. 2. It's very much a "here's a collection of reviews I wrote" kind of thing, with no particular structure or through-line as there is in, for instance, The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of. That means that some potentially interesting ideas, such as his take on writing workshops, are both repeated and under-explained. (In the case of the workshop thing, most of the repetitions are just drive-by sneers, but when he gets around to clarifying it's a little more nuanced: he thinks that even if workshops don't produce good poets, they're still worth doing because practicing any kind of writing and editing is good for people.) 3. I don't so much mind his occasional lapse into personal put-downs, but there's something disingenuous about it when, at the end, he claims not to understand why people took them as put-downs. (It reminded me of when I first became aware of Disch: his hilariously dismissive afterword to Philip K. Dick's The Penultimate Truth, which somehow managed to read like an appreciation and a hatchet job at the same time.)

Anyway, regardless of what you think about those things, this is totally worth reading just for the respectful but playful joy that comes through whenever he's writing about something he really liked.

[Daniel Klawitter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Particularly clever when he is mocking the growth of the poetry workshop industry in academia, Disch is also a very fair and helpful critic when it comes to his poetry reviews. I stumbled across several poets I was not familiar with that I will now buy thanks to Disch's book. Disch is perceptive, funny and insightful without any undue cruelty...he writes not in order to score points or pump up his own ego, but truly cares that a poetry review be "good" even if it must be negative in terms of literary judgement. Lots of good stuff in here too about the poetic process and the differences (often humorous) between poets and novelists in terms of both public perception and artistic reward.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frankly speaking, I haven't read a fair number of the poets discussed in this collection, but Disch's prose is so good it's enjoyable to read anything he has to say. His introductory essay attacking MFA programs is particularly fun, and I say that as a graduate of one.