| 
|
|
Other Traditions
 |
Browse |
 |
|
|
by John Ashbery
Harvard University Press
Due/Published
September 2001, 176 pages,
paper
ISBN
067400664X
New in paper (F01) Ashbery explores the work of six writers he often finds himself reading Òin order to get startedÓ when writing. Among those whom Ashbery reads at such times are John Clare, Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Raymond Roussel, John Wheelwright, Laura Riding, and David Schubert. Under AshberyÕs scrutiny these poets emerge as the powerful but private and somewhat wild voices whose eccentricity has kept them from the mainstream--and whose vision merits Ashbery's efforts, and our own, to read them well. Series: Charles Eliot Norton Lectures "John Ashbery is arguably one of the two or three greatest living American poets...To spend a few hours in [his] company, even on the page, is a civilized entertainment not to be missed...Ashbery discusses six minor poets who have influenced and energized his work...All these poets were, to say the least, a trifle unbalanced, but each at his or her best created a distinctive verse music, a heard melody that haunts even when the actual meaning of the words remains elusive. Ashbery fans will recognize this feeling."--Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World "Whether it is due to bad luck on the poet's part or simply a lack of merit, the strength of minor poetry, Ashbery would say, lies precisely in its imperfection. [His] Norton Lectures attempt to solve that puzzle, namely, the degree to which originality is the product of a peculiar kind of inability...Other Traditions is an entertaining and shrewd little book. To begin with, the life stories of the six poets he discusses are all amazing. Ashbery is an accomplished raconteur and the lectures are full of delightful anecdotes...The lectures also provide abundant hints about Ashbery's own method. As he readily admits, poets when writing about other poets frequently write about themselves."--Charles Simic, New York Review of Books |
|
| |
Review
The opportunity to be the speaker for Harvard’s illustrious Charles Eliot Norton lectures might go to many people’s heads. John Ashberry, however, admits that he is not a scholar and cannot add much to the critical literature on major poets. Nor, again by his own admission, is he particularly good at explaining his own poetry, leaving his readers a bit frustrated. Thus, Ashberry decides to look at some of the poets who have influenced him and the ones he “reads habitually in order to get started; a poetic jump-start for time when the batteries have run down.” In each lecture, Ashberry discusses the work of an individual poet, who, as you might have guessed from the title, are a bit more on the obscure side of the poetry spectrum. He writes about the “peasant poet” of the nineteenth century, John Clare; the playwright and poet Thomas Lovell Beddoes; the French writer Raymond Roussel; the forgotten but intriguing twentieth century American, John Wheelwright; Laura Riding, who once wrote Ashberry an angry letter when he cited her as an influence in an earlier essay; and David Schubert, perhaps the most obscure poet in the group, but one that Ashberry cites as a bigger influence on his writing than such heavy-weights as Eliot or Pound. Ashberry’s discussion of these poets brings in events from their lives that were often as eccentric as the poets' works. When discussing the poetry itself, Ashberry offers readings that emphasize and explore the originality of the various poets and what particularly peaked his interest. Ashberry has a keen eye for what shines in these poet’s works and along the way, and perhaps indirectly, he gives us greater insight into his own work. For a look at some of Ashberry's recent collections of poetry For Selected Titles in Related Subjects: |
|
