The Public World/Syntactically Impermanence

Leslie Scalapino

ISBN 10: 081956379X / ISBN 13: 9780819563798

Published by Wesleyan University Press / University Press of New England, Hanover, NH and London, 1999

About this Item

Paperback variant. 8vo. Wrappers. [vi], 154pp. Cover photograph by Petah Coyne, and with back cover quotations by Charles Bernstein, Pierre Joris, and Paul Rabinow. A 'brilliant consideration of the strategies of poetry, and the similarities between early Zen thought and some American avant-garde writings that counter the "language of determinateness," or conventions of perception'. This copy has been signed by the author ('Leslie') and inscribed to Tom (Raworth) in the year of publication.

Seller Inventory # 007107

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Public World/Syntactically Impermanence
• Publisher: Wesleyan University Press / University Press of New England, Hanover, NH and London
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 081956379X
• ISBN 13: 9780819563798
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good Plus
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Language Poets

About this title

Synopsis

A new collection of essays and poetry from the poet Library Journal called "one of the most unique and powerful writers at the forefront of American literature."

The Public World / Syntactically Impermanence is a brilliant consideration of the strategies of poetry, and the similarities between early Zen thought and some American avant-garde writings that counter the "language of determinateness," or conventions of perception. The theme of the essays is poetic language which critiques itself, recognizing its own conceptual formations of private and social, the form or syntax of the language being "syntactically impermanence."

Whether writing reflexively on her own poetry or looking closely at the writing of her peers, Leslie Scalapino makes us aware of the split between commentary (discourse and interpretation) and interior experience. The "poetry" in the collection is both commentary and interior experience at once. She argues that poetry is perhaps most deeply political when it is an expression that is not recognized or readily comprehensible as discourse.

About the Author

LESLIE SCALAPINO is author of numerous books of poetry, essays, ad plays, as well as the novel Defoe (Sun and Moon,1994). Among her books of poetry are way (1988), that they were at the beach-aeolotropic series (1985) and Considering how exaggerated music is (1982), all published with North Point Press. Wesleyan has published her most recent books: New Time (1999) and The Front Matter, Dead Souls (1996).