Thus Spake the Corpse : An Exquisite Corpse Reader 1988-1998 : Volume 1, Poetry & Essays - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1574231006 ISBN 13: 9781574231007

Publisher: Black Sparrow Press, 1999

Synopsis

Andrei Codrescu's infamous anti-literary magazine Exquisite Corpse became a prime site of engaged dialogue in the stormy decade of its existence. Taking its name from Surrealism, the Corpse became the home of rebellion, passion, polemic, black humor, sedition, and all points between the front lines and back alleys of contemporary culture. In this text, Codrescu and Rosenthal resurrect the best essays and poems from Carl Rakosi, James Purdy, Joel Oppenheimer, Robert Creeley, Tom Clark and other members of America's vibrant and eclectic avant-garde.

About this title

Reviews

The feisty, informal journal Exquisite Corpse gathered a remarkably loyal bohemian following over its 15 years of existence, ceasing paper publication in 1998. (It's now a frequently updated Web site). Founder, poet and NPR commentator Codrescu and co-conspirator Rosenthal offer up a large inventory of their favorite essays, diatribes, letters, responses and poems from the Corpse's last decade. Thus Spake opens with 142 pages of essays on political and literary topics: writers assail predictable targets (Ronald Reagan, Puritans, Wendell Berry), or else meditate on androgyny, sex before Clinton or poetic activism after Ginsberg. Along with the sometimes-ranting essays, the editors do well to include the often more reasonable letters of response. Objectivist poet Carl Rakosi reflects on the heyday of American Communism as he answers Eliot Weinberger's program-piece; Murat Nemet-Nejat, Clayton Eshleman and Ben Friedlander engage in vigorous debate about Edmond Jab?s. The Corpse was well-feared among poets for its "Body Bag" section, comprising the editors' comments on submissions they had rejected. Thirty pages here reprint the Body Bag's famously sarcastic, sometimes elevated, remarks. The volume's weakest part is the poetry itself, 200 pages clogged with talky mediocrity. Strong work does turn up from Anselm Hollo, Hayden Carruth, Edmund Berrigan and Alice Notley (separately and in collaboration), and from the late Jim Gustafson and Elio Schneeman. But much of the rest of the verse here is neither sexy nor accomplished, a slapdash, too-generous roundup of popular styles from post-Beat to pre-slam eras. But the many diehard Corpse fans may not mind; thrill-seekers might even like it. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Black Sparrow Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1574231006
• ISBN 13: 9781574231007
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 417
• Editor: Codrescu Andrei, Rosenthal Laura