Attack of the Difficult Poems: Essays and Inventions
by Charles Bernstein
University of Chicago Press, 2011 eISBN: 978-0-226-04475-0 | Paper: 978-0-226-04477-4 | Cloth: 978-0-226-04476-7 Library of Congress Classification PN1042.B475 2011 Dewey Decimal Classification 808.1
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Charles Bernstein is our postmodern jester of American poesy, equal part surveyor of democratic vistas and scholar of avant-garde sensibilities. In a career spanning thirty-five years and forty books, he has challenged and provoked us with writing that is decidedly unafraid of the tensions between ordinary and poetic language, and between everyday life and its adversaries. Attack of the Difficult Poems, his latest collection of essays, gathers some of his most memorably irreverent work while addressing seriously and comprehensively the state of contemporary humanities, the teaching of unconventional forms, fresh approaches to translation, the history of language media, and the connections between poetry and visual art.
Applying an array of essayistic styles, Attack of the Difficult Poems ardently engages with the promise of its title. Bernstein introduces his key theme of the difficulty of poems and defends, often in comedic ways, not just difficult poetry but poetry itself. Bernstein never loses his ingenious ability to argue or his consummate attention to detail. Along the way, he offers a wide-ranging critique of literature’s place in the academy, taking on the vexed role of innovation and approaching it from the perspective of both teacher and practitioner.
From blues artists to Tin Pan Alley song lyricists to Second Wave modernist poets, The Attack of the Difficult Poems sounds both a battle cry and a lament for the task of the language maker and the fate of invention.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Charles Bernstein is the Donald T. Regan Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as coeditor of both the Electronic Poetry Center and PennSound. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and recipient of Guggenheim and NEA grants. Among his many publications are three books also published by the University of Chicago Press: Girly Man, With Strings, and My Way: Speeches and Poems.
REVIEWS
“A superb poet and great inventor of poetry, Charles Bernstein dazzlingly invents the essay for poetry: professing in a gorilla suit and white tuxedo.”
— George Lakoff
“This is a smart and invigorating book that triumphantly demonstrates Charles Bernstein’s goals and values. Those who want satire, those who want earnest discussion, those who want information, those who want to get a sense of personality, those who want theory, those who want entertainment, even those who wish to be confirmed in their beliefs and those who wish to nurse their resentments, will all find something here.”
— Daisy Fried
“I regret to inform you that Charles Bernstein’s Attack of the Difficult Poems is highly unsuitable (not suitable) for National Poetry Month. Not suitable for acceptance by the publications of the Modern Language Association or its affiliate, the Annual Convention. Not suitable for readers under the age of five. Not suitable for endorsement by the ParisReview. Not suitable for your average television sitcom. Not suitable for tenure. Not suitable for free distribution. Not suitable for variations in the ontological condition. Not suitable for readers of generic poetry. Not suitable for the MFA. For everyone else: priceless.”
— Tan Lin
"Bernstein, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a remarkably prolific author, essayist and critic, not only defends difficult poems in this collection of essays, but also poetry in general, both as a reader and as a practitioner. In prose that is unconventional and often very funny, he comments as well on the state of the humanities, teaching, translation, the history of language media and the connections between poetry and visual art."
— Globe and Mail
"Charles Bernstein's new book has arrived from Chicago University Press, at my London address, enveloped in several stiff boxes like some kind of rare document. This book, Attack of the Difficult Poems, is a must-have, must-read, for every practicing poet in Britain and Ireland. They should buy their copies online today. This may involve wasting money. But it will be worth it."
— Todd Swift, Malarkey Pills
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Professing Poetics
The Difficult Poem
A Blow Is Like an Instrument: The Poetic Imaginary and Curricular Practices
Against National Poetry Month as Such
Invention Follies
Creative Wreading & Aesthetic Judgment
Wreading, Writing, Wresponding
Anything Goes
Our Americas: New Worlds Still in Progress
The Practice of Poetics
II. The Art of Immemorability
Every Which Way but Loose
The Art of Immemorability
Making Audio Visible: Poetry’s Coming Digital Presence
The Bound Listener
Hearing Voices
Objectivist Blues: Scoring Speech in Second Wave Modernist Poetry and Lyrics
III. The Fate of the Aesthetic
McGann Agonist
Poetry and/or the Sacred
The Art and Practice of the Ordinary
Electronic Pies in the Poetry Skies
Poetry Plastique: A Verbal Explosion in the Art Factory (with Jay Sanders)
Speed the Movie or Speed the Brand Name or Aren’t You the Kind That Tells
Breaking the Translation Curtain: The Homophonic Sublime
Fraud’s Phantoms: A Brief Yet Unreliable Account of Fighting Fraud with Fraud
Fulcrum Interview
Radical Jewish Culture / Secular Jewish Practice
Poetry Scene Investigation: A Conversation with Marjorie Perloff
Is Art Criticism Fifty Years Behind Poetry?
Poetry Bailout Will Restore Confidence of Readers
IV. Recantorium
Recantorium (a bachelor machine, after Duchamp after Kafka)
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who has a disability that prevents you
from using this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the disability coordinator at your school fill out this form.
Attack of the Difficult Poems: Essays and Inventions
by Charles Bernstein
University of Chicago Press, 2011 eISBN: 978-0-226-04475-0 Paper: 978-0-226-04477-4 Cloth: 978-0-226-04476-7
Charles Bernstein is our postmodern jester of American poesy, equal part surveyor of democratic vistas and scholar of avant-garde sensibilities. In a career spanning thirty-five years and forty books, he has challenged and provoked us with writing that is decidedly unafraid of the tensions between ordinary and poetic language, and between everyday life and its adversaries. Attack of the Difficult Poems, his latest collection of essays, gathers some of his most memorably irreverent work while addressing seriously and comprehensively the state of contemporary humanities, the teaching of unconventional forms, fresh approaches to translation, the history of language media, and the connections between poetry and visual art.
Applying an array of essayistic styles, Attack of the Difficult Poems ardently engages with the promise of its title. Bernstein introduces his key theme of the difficulty of poems and defends, often in comedic ways, not just difficult poetry but poetry itself. Bernstein never loses his ingenious ability to argue or his consummate attention to detail. Along the way, he offers a wide-ranging critique of literature’s place in the academy, taking on the vexed role of innovation and approaching it from the perspective of both teacher and practitioner.
From blues artists to Tin Pan Alley song lyricists to Second Wave modernist poets, The Attack of the Difficult Poems sounds both a battle cry and a lament for the task of the language maker and the fate of invention.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Charles Bernstein is the Donald T. Regan Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as coeditor of both the Electronic Poetry Center and PennSound. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and recipient of Guggenheim and NEA grants. Among his many publications are three books also published by the University of Chicago Press: Girly Man, With Strings, and My Way: Speeches and Poems.
REVIEWS
“A superb poet and great inventor of poetry, Charles Bernstein dazzlingly invents the essay for poetry: professing in a gorilla suit and white tuxedo.”
— George Lakoff
“This is a smart and invigorating book that triumphantly demonstrates Charles Bernstein’s goals and values. Those who want satire, those who want earnest discussion, those who want information, those who want to get a sense of personality, those who want theory, those who want entertainment, even those who wish to be confirmed in their beliefs and those who wish to nurse their resentments, will all find something here.”
— Daisy Fried
“I regret to inform you that Charles Bernstein’s Attack of the Difficult Poems is highly unsuitable (not suitable) for National Poetry Month. Not suitable for acceptance by the publications of the Modern Language Association or its affiliate, the Annual Convention. Not suitable for readers under the age of five. Not suitable for endorsement by the ParisReview. Not suitable for your average television sitcom. Not suitable for tenure. Not suitable for free distribution. Not suitable for variations in the ontological condition. Not suitable for readers of generic poetry. Not suitable for the MFA. For everyone else: priceless.”
— Tan Lin
"Bernstein, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a remarkably prolific author, essayist and critic, not only defends difficult poems in this collection of essays, but also poetry in general, both as a reader and as a practitioner. In prose that is unconventional and often very funny, he comments as well on the state of the humanities, teaching, translation, the history of language media and the connections between poetry and visual art."
— Globe and Mail
"Charles Bernstein's new book has arrived from Chicago University Press, at my London address, enveloped in several stiff boxes like some kind of rare document. This book, Attack of the Difficult Poems, is a must-have, must-read, for every practicing poet in Britain and Ireland. They should buy their copies online today. This may involve wasting money. But it will be worth it."
— Todd Swift, Malarkey Pills
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Professing Poetics
The Difficult Poem
A Blow Is Like an Instrument: The Poetic Imaginary and Curricular Practices
Against National Poetry Month as Such
Invention Follies
Creative Wreading & Aesthetic Judgment
Wreading, Writing, Wresponding
Anything Goes
Our Americas: New Worlds Still in Progress
The Practice of Poetics
II. The Art of Immemorability
Every Which Way but Loose
The Art of Immemorability
Making Audio Visible: Poetry’s Coming Digital Presence
The Bound Listener
Hearing Voices
Objectivist Blues: Scoring Speech in Second Wave Modernist Poetry and Lyrics
III. The Fate of the Aesthetic
McGann Agonist
Poetry and/or the Sacred
The Art and Practice of the Ordinary
Electronic Pies in the Poetry Skies
Poetry Plastique: A Verbal Explosion in the Art Factory (with Jay Sanders)
Speed the Movie or Speed the Brand Name or Aren’t You the Kind That Tells
Breaking the Translation Curtain: The Homophonic Sublime
Fraud’s Phantoms: A Brief Yet Unreliable Account of Fighting Fraud with Fraud
Fulcrum Interview
Radical Jewish Culture / Secular Jewish Practice
Poetry Scene Investigation: A Conversation with Marjorie Perloff
Is Art Criticism Fifty Years Behind Poetry?
Poetry Bailout Will Restore Confidence of Readers
IV. Recantorium
Recantorium (a bachelor machine, after Duchamp after Kafka)
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who has a disability that prevents you
from using this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the disability coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE