Blues & Roots Rue & Bluets; A Garland for the Southern Appalachians

Williams, Jonathan

ISBN 10: 082230614X / ISBN 13: 9780822306146

Published by Duke University Press, Durham, NC, 1985

About this Item

The format is approximately 7.125 inches by 10.25 inches. Unpaginated (approximately 110 pages). Signed by the author on the title page. Publisher's compliments card laid in. The dust jacket has some edge wear and chips and soiling. Introduction by Herbert Leibowitz. Jonathan Williams (1929 2008), photographer, poet, and publisher, was founder of the Jargon Society Press. Jargon was long associated with the Black Mountain Poets. The press has published work by Charles Olson, Paul Metcalf, Lorine Niedecker, Lou Harrison, Mina Loy, Joel Oppenheimer, Ronald Johnson, James Broughton, Alfred Starr Hamilton and many other works by the American and British avant-garde. Since Williams' death, The Jargon Society has continued publication through the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center. His many works include Blues & Roots Rue & Bluets, An Ear in Bartram's Tree: Selected Poems, 1957 1967; Quote,Unquote; A Palpable Elysium: Portraits of Genius and Solitude; The Magpie s Bagpipe: Selected Essays; and Jubilant Thicket: New and Selected Poems as well as the collection Portrait Photographs. Williams was a living link between the experimental poets of Modernism's "second wave" and the unknown vernacular artists of Appalachia. The literary critic Hugh Kenner described Williams as the "truffle hound of American poetry." Williams was also a longtime contributing editor of the photography journal Aperture. Williams enjoyed publishing writers and artists that were considered "underdogs," often encouraging collaboration between them. Jonathan Williams s poetry has been described as brilliant, sensuous, lyrical, quirky, suave, vital, joyful, sardonic, melodious, passionate, alive, pyrotechnic. This new, much enlarged edition of Blues and Roots displays all of the above. Williams has tramped the Appalachian Trail for decades, botanizing, jotting down specimens of authentic American speech, graffiti, superstitions, and nostrums always curious, alert, and affectionately attentive. Blues and Roots focuses on the linguistic horizon of Appalachia in lyrics of wonder and light, of wit and comic incongruity, in found poems of the speech of his mountain neighbors. Publishers Weekly said of the earlier edition, "One of the most beautiful and evocative tributes to the Appalachians and its people yet published." Blues and Roots is a fine celebration; Wiliams is a joyful ringmaster. The Jargon Society is an independent press founded by the American poet Jonathan Williams. Jargon is one of the oldest and most prestigious small presses in the United States and has published seminal works of the American literary avant-garde, including books by Charles Olson, Louis Zukofsky, Paul Metcalf, James Broughton, and Williams himself, as well as sui generis books of folk art such as White Trash Cooking. Though most of Jargon's writers are either cult figures or genuine obscurities, the books themselves are often intricately designed deluxe editions. Guy Davenport described the Jargon Society as "a paradoxical fusion of fine printing and samizdat diffusion." [Expanded Second Edition from the 1971 first edition from a different publisher]. Second Printing [stated].

Seller Inventory # 89127

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Blues & Roots Rue & Bluets; A Garland for the Southern Appalachians
• Publisher: Duke University Press, Durham, NC
• Publication Date: 1985
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 082230614X
• ISBN 13: 9780822306146
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

Jonathan Williams’s poetry has been described as brilliant, sensuous, lyrical, quirky, suave, vital, joyful, sardonic, melodious, passionate, alive, pyrotechnic. This new, much enlarged edition of Blues and Roots displays all of the above. Williams has tramped the Appalachian Trail for decades, botanizing, jotting down specimens of authentic American speech, graffiti, superstitions, and nostrums—always curious, alert, and affectionately attentive. Blues and Roots focuses on the linguistic horizon of Appalachia in lyrics of wonder and light, of wit and comic incongruity, in found poems of the speech of his mountain neighbors. Publishers Weekly said of the earlier edition, “One of the most beautiful and evocative tributes to the Appalachians and its people yet published.” Blues and Roots is a fine celebration; Wiliams is a joyful ringmaster.

About the Author

Jonathan Williams (1929–2008), photographer, poet, and publisher, was founder of the Jargon Society Press. His many works include An Ear in Bartram's Tree: Selected Poems, 1957–1967; Quote,Unquote; A Palpable Elysium: Portraits of Genius and Solitude; The Magpie’s Bagpipe: Selected Essays; and Jubilant Thicket: New and Selected Poems as well as the collection Portrait Photographs.