Books

Henry James is nature.

In re-reading Turn Of The Screw and Other Short Stories this past week, I have come to realize that no matter how ridiculous it may sound, the above statement is wholly true. My previous experience with Mr.James had come in the form of several short stories, mainly reading Daisy Miller:A Study eight times for five different classes. With each reading, I came to like Henry James less, as his prose to me seemed to resemble a mirror that fogged with condensation. The image I saw was always initially striking, but quickly became clouded in a haze of unnecessary detail and flowery language.

Upon delving into this small volume again last week, I made a promise to myself that I would not only finish each and every story, but that I would also forge several connections between Mr. James and the topics I am covering in my coursework. Imagine my surprise when everything in Washington Square somehow related back to the natural world. In what might be one of the most cosmopolitan transatlantic short stories of the 1800's, yet I was somehow able to tie James's sense of clouded human motive into a more primal tradition of patriarchal dominance in nature. It struck me about halfway through the story, in the middle of somesuch thought, exactly how much this quarter's Environment and Literature has course redefined my methods of reading the novel. Rather than seeking to solely focus on the human motives in a work, I have expanded my eye to the outer edges of the text, seeking any implicit or explicit connection between the characters and a larger presence outside their insulated thoughts. This connection seems to be flowing through most books- Henry James's romanticized Europe, Faulkner's skeletal trees, Thomas Pynchon's frosted visions of Italy in V. all indirectly expose an atuhorial connection to the natural world. Whether these moments are intentional is another matter altogether. That is what makes Eco-Criticism so fascinating. There is ambiguity, but within this ambiguity is a piece of the human consciousness that has evaded any sort of literary definition for countless generations. Critics working in within the Eco school are striving to lend shape to this abstract concept of nature, in everyone from Shakespeare to Delillo, from Milton to Amiri Baraka. Nature is relevant in almost every work, and it is about time for us to note it.

Entropy

Entropy- a short story built on alcohol, a scientific theory and random combinations of East Coast philosophising and a dying bird. To be clear, and for the sake of full disclosure, Thomas Pynchon is one of my favorite American authors working today. There is very little about the elusive Mr. Pynchon that I do not like, or at least find endearing on a literary level. With that being said, I think those who do not proclaim to enjoy his densely manipulative texts have a valid reason for feeling ill at ease when seeing Entropy's plot do black flips and jumping jacks across the page in strangely beguiling patterns. Pynchon was once quoted as saying "Every weirdo in the world is on my wavelength". Many people reading this work for the first time could probably come to that conclusion without reading a single biographical note about it's author. Yet, the question always arises when I am reading Pynchon in a group setting- Where does weird end and genuis begin? Seeing the dubious looks of my classmates made me wonder, as I described the plot of the novel in a concise fifteen line summary. Regardless of one's reaction to Pynchon's narrative tornado, it is undeniable that he has a sickening knack for pulling hundreds of disparate topics into a coherent, although rarely embraced, literary form. The end result may not always be pretty to read, but it is clever and more than a little self-aware, ready to pump you full of facts and leave you breathlessly wondering what the hell just happened. Pychon is a man with an infinite amount of intellectual trivia and the ability to spill it on the page using sentences that both contradict and support one another. Today was one of the best group discussions I have ever had about a novel, and there were many interesting points I has failed to consider in any of the previous five readings of this text. The party is entropy, the characters are entropy, the narrative is entropy, moving forward until it can sustain itself on new ideas no longer. Brilliant.

Poetry and Politics

The discussion was raised in class on Thursday, as it usually is at some point in an American Lit course-"Should poetry be political?"

There are two ways to answer such a question. Giving my opinion is one way, but there is also another way, which is less easily defined, but more legitimate in the eyes of most readers. This second method is founded upon a lineage of poets writing for change, whose voices were acknowledged in all corners of society. These poets, who have sustained a proven historical impact, i.e. poets who are taught in schools decades, or in some cases, centuries after their active period of writing, are hard to argue against, even if you are a poetic figurehead like Billy Collins or Rita Dove. If you break social and societal barriers with your poems, then there is a truly unique, and often undefinable force at work within them. Whether you view this force in a positive or negative way depends largely on your political stance and investment in literature as an agent for change.

It is my belief that all poets are inherently political, as each is writing in a language that has been acquired across generations of violence and unrest. For instance, I am an American poet writing in English. In it's most primary form, English came to the British Isles with multiple Germanic tribes sometime around 5 AD. The language previously spoken in this string of islands was a version of the Celtic, possibly with a Britannic dialect. Through savage violence, the English Speaking tribes displaced the Celtic speaking natives, forcing their language and beliefs upon the land. The new way of writing and speaking was introduced violently, leaving the population no choice but to conform.

Granted, the above example may be an oversimplification, yet when thinking about the dominance and cross pollination of languages within any society, it is hard not to read or write EVERYTHING in a slightly political context. If we really want to think about languages and their political undertones, we need go no further than a novel written by an author in a post colonial country, a place where a dominant language has changed every aspect of the way a people read, think and write. Or, we could look at the counter culture's use of slang in the American 60's and 70's, a phenomenon born out of anti-war movements, sit-ins, and the growing drug culture. Language changes with the times. In many cases, these times share the symptoms of a turbulent political climate. Sometimes words protect a people from an oppressive government, other times they protect that government's military from it's people. The tide goes both ways, but no two waves ever look or sound exactly the same.


My opinion is just that-one man's idea about a subject. Yet, I am using language to put these ideas out there, to share information, to symbolically open myself up to the world. What I say is different from what one of my seventy year old professors would say. Language has changed drastically in a few decades, and will continue to change, just like politics. I have a political slant, as do you, and it has changed with the passing of birthdays. No one is really as "apathetic" as they might wish to believe, especially when it comes to choices impacting their lives. Those choices are changing everyday, whether we are for them, or against them. It's the way we live, day to day, thought to thought.


Many poets have become famous on political grounds,-Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, Gregory Corso, Niki Giovanni,Robert Lowell, the list goes on and on. Of these same poets, many have been publicly reprimanded for using poetry to air their political grievances. There seems to be levels of social acceptability within the ranks of modern political poetry. Amiri Baraka, for instance, was removed as Poet Laureate of New Jersey for "Somebody Blew up America," while we read some of Shakespeare's sonnets aimed at the throne and laud them for being audacious. Although a disparate comparison, it still drives me crazy that these levels exist. In twenty years will "Somebody blew up America" be read as reverently as "Howl?" In five hundred, will it be acclaimed for as a poetic snapshot of a pivotal moment in American history? It is hard to guess. Maybe Baraka's race and vitriol will cast him into obscurity within two decades, causing someone like Denise Levertov to rise and assume his place. Perhaps this poem will be seen as a point in which America had to change, as it coincides with Obama's election. The future is infinite, but will always be political, until the sun burns out. This is such an interesting subject. I am all written out, and have to go to work now. Bye.

Plath/Sexton/Baraka

So, Osama Bin Laden is dead. Millions of different opinions collide in the air over large and small cities alike, people shudder in either joy or disgust, and our nation is divided once again.Regardless of one's political or ethical stance surrounding the melee, one thing is certain- the tumultuous events of the past weekend have created an ideal backdrop for examining liberation poetics, or what I have come to think of as poetry for those marginalized, disenfranchised, and just plain enraged by mainstream cultural values*.

I will attempt to chronicle my experiences first with Sylvia Plath, a poet I enjoy greatly, and am equally pained by, and feel pain for. I discovered the work of Sylvia Plath by accident, while perusing my 8th grade teachers "personal" bookshelf. Graciously, she allowed me to borrow the book, and in turn, blew my mind. Although I understood little of what Plath was saying or why she was saying it, the gut level pain and alienation were undeniable, even to a slightly apathetic 8th grader. I needed to know more about her, and fast.
In High School, through reading Her Husband, an outstanding Plath/Hughes biography by Diane Middlebrook Wood (read it...seriously) I discovered Wood's Anne Sexton biography, and after reading that, purchased The Awful Rowing Toward God. If an author could win the Pulitzer Prize on the basis of a chill inducing poem or Book title, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath would've been consistent contenders. I always thought Sexton somewhat subordinate to Plath, Lowell and at times, Snodgrass, even after reading the book in it's entirety. It wasn't until a few years ago that I really started to absorb and appreciate Sexton's gift for crafting blindingly gorgeous imagery that makes your heart happy and terrified at the same time..like the summer sun being coated in ice. Now, I count Sexton amongst my favorite poets ever, Confessional or otherwise.
As for Amiri Baraka...wow. The most angry and arguably, most fluid poet of this bunch has always given me positive chills, even in his most cringe inducing moments. Somebody Blew Up America owned my mind when it was first read aloud. The ensuing controversy, in my opinion, only served to strengthen Baraka's most recent poetic efforts, as it seemed he needed a shot in the arm. The way New Jersey's Governor handled the entire situation serves as a direct illustration of the perceived oppressive force Baraka has been battling for close to thirty years. Be it with the Beats, The Black Panthers, or the Black Mountain Poets, Baraka can blend in and lash out with the best writers of his, or any generation.

Also of note: Baraka's daughter was murdered in the early 2000's in Newark. I always wondered if this horrific event occurring in his mythic hometown had any impact on his later poetry. Poor guy.

*I realize that Plath and Sexton are not conventionally labeled Poets of Liberation, but their contrasting representations of gender dynamics cause me to think of them as two of the original Feminist poets in America, besides Rich.