Synopses & Reviews
The experimental genius of American artists-interpreted by one of our most dependably brilliant critics.
Richard Poirier suggests, in the title of his new book, that the United States has been uncommonly hospitable to literary and artistic experimentation, to innovation and daring. Just as the nation likes to imagine itself as always in a state of becoming and renewal, some of its greatest writers seem willing to accept a measure of neglect during their lifetimes while remaining confident of posthumous triumph. With analytical daring and shrewd literary delicacy, Poirier advances these themes in essays ranging from Emerson and Whitman to "those avowed imperialists of the novelistic imagination Herman Melville, Henry James, and Norman Mailer," along with kindred twentieth-century figures such as T. S. Eliot and Frank O'Hara, Gertrude Stein and Marianne Moore.
Poirier's explorations of the American scene are not limited to poets and novelists. His moving account of the American ballets of George Balanchine, of Bette Midler in performance, of the reclusive Arthur Inman-whose immense diary offers incomparable glimpses into daily life during World War II-and his challenging refutations of some persistent myths of American "manhood" and of America itself, by outside observers like Jean Baudrillard or Martin Amis, will bring readers to a new appreciation of the most interesting (and difficult) features of American culture.
Synopsis
As the title suggests, Poirier (distinguished professor emeritus, Rutgers University) believes that the US has been uncommonly hospitable to literary and artistic experimentation. With analytical daring and shrewd literary delicacy, he advances this theme in biographical and literary studies of Emerson, Whitman, Melville, Mailer, and other American writers. He also gives accounts of the significance of several artists and performers, and discusses myths of America by outside observers.
About the Author
Richard Poirier is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University, chairman of the board of The Library of America, founding editor of
Raritan Quarterly, and the author of many books on American and twentieth-century literature.
Table of Contents
Marianne Moore: accurate gusto -- Elusive Whitman -- Reaching Frank O'Hara -- Balanchine in America -- The hidden T.S. Eliot -- Allusive pop: Bette Midler in concert -- Erasing America -- Baudrillard's America deserta -- Martin Amis's inferno -- Peter Conrad's confusions -- Vidal's American empire -- The case of Arthur Inman -- Is there an American manhood? -- Gertrude Stein: "Manly Agitations" -- "Are they my poor?": Emerson's Steinian question -- In cold ink: Truman Capote -- Mailer's strangest book -- In praise of vagueness: Henry and William James -- Melville's vanity of failure -- Whitman: the end game.