From The Boston Review
The movement called language (or L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E) writing is over, Perelman writes. But what was it? Was it ever one thing? Perelman, himself a participant, sets out to "unravel . . . ideas of language writing as a uniform practice," describing and distinguishing the writerly strategies of Grenier, Silliman, Hejinian, Bernstein, Andrews, Howe, Armantrout and others. His brisk, near-jargonless prose does justice to individual styles in a way less limber exegetes never have, and he can quarrel with established critics without demanding that his readers take sides. Framing the prose are Perelman's own verse preface, his whimsical verse-epilogue, and a superb imaginary conversation between Barthes and Frank O'Hara. One doesn't have to like all language writers to benefit from Perelman's analyses of some, or to learn from his explanations of how, and why, they wrote certain of their sometimes-baffling books. Copyright © 1996, Boston Review. All rights reserved.


Review
[An] excellent critical study of language writing and its place in literary history. . . . Perelman delivers a Rosetta Stone which will be invaluable to those seeking a clearer understanding of the movement's origins, theories, and goals.


Book Description
Language writing, the most controversial avant-garde movement in contemporary American poetry, appeals strongly to writers and readers interested in the politics of postmodernism and in iconoclastic poetic form. Drawing on materials from popular culture, avoiding the standard stylistic indications of poetic lyricism, and using nonsequential sentences are some of the ways in which language writers make poetry a more open and participatory process for the readers. Reading this kind of writing, however, may not come easily in a culture where poetry is treated as property of a special class. It is this barrier that Bob Perelman seeks to break down in this fascinating and comprehensive account of the language writing movement. A leading language writer himself, Perelman offers insights into the history of the movement and discusses the political and theoretical implications of the writing. He provides detailed readings of work by Lyn Hejinian, Ron Silliman, and Charles Bernstein, among many others, and compares it to a wide range of other contemporary and modern American poetry. A variety of issues are addressed in the following chapters: "The Marginalization of Poetry," "Language Writing and Literary History," "Here and Now on Paper," "Parataxis and Narrative: The New Sentence in Theory and Practice," "Write the Power," "Building a More Powerful Vocabulary: Bruce Andrews and the World (Trade Center)," "This Page Is My Page, This Page Is Your Page: Gender and Mapping," "An Alphabet of Literary Criticism," and "A False Account of Talking with Frank O'Hara and Roland Barthes in Philadelphia."


Inside Flap Copy

"Bob Perelman, both as a poet and an extremely intelligent and witty analyst of the language writing movement, writes as someone genuinely hoping to explain his subject to readers who are not already converts."--Roger Gilbert

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Language writing, the most controversial avant-garde movement in contemporary American poetry, appeals strongly to writers and theorists interested in the politics of postmodernism and in iconoclastic poetic form. Drawing on materials from popular culture, avoiding the standard stylistic indications of poetic lyricism, and using nonsequential sentences are some of the ways in which language writers make poetry a more open and participatory process for the readers. Reading this kind of writing, however, may not come easily in a culture where poetry is treated as property of a special class. It is this barrier that Bob Perelman seeks to break down in this fascinating and comprehensive account of the language-writing movement. A leading language writer himself, Perelman offers insights into the history of the movement and discusses the political and theoretical implications of the writing - including postmodern fragmentation, the poetics of avant-garde formations, the politics of multicultural poetics, and gender and the avant-garde. He provides detailed readings of work by Lyn Hejinian, Ron Silliman, and Charles Bernstein, among many others, and compares it to a wide range of other contemporary and modern American poetry.

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