Lyric poetry and modern politics : Russia, Poland, and the West / Clare Cavanagh.

Author/creator Cavanagh, Clare
Format Book
Publication InfoNew Haven, [Conn.] : Yale University Press, ©2009.
Descriptionxi, 332 pages ; 24 cm
Subjects
Lyric poetry--History and criticism.
Russian poetry--20th century. --History and criticism.
Polish poetry--20th century. --History and criticism.
Politics and literature--History. --20th century.
Politics in literature.

Contents Introduction: acknowledged legislation -- Courting disaster: Blok and Yeats -- Whitman, Mayakovsky, and the body politic -- The death of the book à la russe: the Acmeists under Stalin -- Akhmatova and the forms of responsibility: the Poem without a Hero -- Avant-guarde again, or the posthumous Polish adventures of Vladimir Mayakovsky -- Bringing up the rear: the histories of Wisława Szymborska -- Counterrevolution in poetic language: Poland's Generation of '68 -- The unacknowledged legislator's dream: Czesław Miłosz and Anglo-American poetry -- Afterword: martyrs, survivors, and success stories, or the postcommunist prophet.
Abstract Lyric Poetry and Modern Politics explores the intersection of poetry, national life, and national identity in Poland and Russia from 1917 to the present. As a corrective to recent trends in criticism, acclaimed translator and critic Clare Cavanagh demonstrates how the practice of the personal lyric in totalitarian states such as Russia and Poland did not represent an escapist tendency; rather it reverberated as a bold political statement and at times a dangerous act. Cavanagh also provides a comparative study of modern poetry from the perspective of the eastern and western sides of the iron curtain. Among the poets discussed are Blok, Mayakovsky, Akhmatova, Yeats, Whitman, Frost, Szymborska, Zagajewski, and Miłosz; close readings of individual poems are included, some translated for the first time. Cavanagh examines these poets and their work as a challenge to Western postmodernist theories, thus offering new perspectives on twentieth-century lyric poetry.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (p. 277-315) and index.
Awards noteNational Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism, 2010.
LCCN 2009023902
ISBN9780300152968 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN0300152965 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner General Stacks PN1356 .C35 2009 ✔ Available Place Hold