Fables of representation : essays

190 Pages·2004·0.587 MB·English

by  Hoover, Paul

PA U L
H O O V E R
Fables of
Representation
Essays
Fables of Representation
POETS ON POETRY
David Lehman, General Editor
Donald Hall, Founding Editor
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Paul Hoover
Fables of Representation
essays
Ann Arbor
Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2004
All rights reserved
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
(cid:1) Printed on acid-free paper
2007 2006 2005 2004 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise,
without the written permission of the publisher.
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hoover, Paul, 1946–
Fables of representation : essays / Paul Hoover.
p. cm. — (Poets on poetry)
ISBN 0-472-09856-X (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-472-06856-3 (pbk. :
alk. paper)
1. American poetry—20th century—History and criticism.
2. Poetry.
I. Title. II. Series.
PS323.5 .H58 2004
811(cid:1).509—dc22 2003015076
ISBN13 978-0-472-09856-9 (cloth)
ISBN13 978-0-472-06856-2 (paper)
ISBN13 978-0-472-02601-2 (electronic)
Acknowledgments
Thanks to David Lehman for his helpful editing, which resulted
in the writing of “Fables of Representation” and other important
manuscript changes. I am also grateful to Nathaniel Mackey for
his comments on “Pair of Figures for Eshu”; Dr. Samuel A. Floyd,
Jr., for inviting me to participate in the Interarts Studies Semi-
nars of the Center for Black Music Research; and David McCart-
ney, Archivist at University of Iowa Library, for locating the
Michael Palmer essay “Counter-poetics and Current Practice.”
My gratitude also to the editors of the publications in which
these essays appeared: Charles Henry Rowell and Paul Naylor
(Callaloo), Annie Finch and Kathrine Varnes (An Exaltation of
Forms), David Bonanno (American Poetry Review), Chad Faries
and Jayson Iwen (Cream City Review), Michel Delville and Chris-
tine Pagnoulle (The Mechanics of the Mirage), Bin Ramke (Denver
Quarterly), Neil Shepard (Green Mountains Review), Larry Kart
(Chicago Tribune),Anne Waldman (Nice to See You: Homage to Ted
Berrigan), Dr. Samuel A. Floyd, Jr. (Lenox Avenue), and Devin
Johnston (Chicago Review).
As always, I am indebted to Maxine Chernoff for her love and
support.

Contents
The New Millennium: Fifty Statements on Literature
and Culture 1
Murder and Closure: On the Impression of Reality
in American Poetry 4
Pair of Figures for Eshu: Doubling of Consciousness
in the Work of Kerry James Marshall and
Nathaniel Mackey 26
Stark Strangled Banjos: Linguistic Doubleness in the
Work of David Hammons, Harryette Mullen, and
Al Hibbler 56
The Postmodern Era: A Final Exam 73
Fables of Representation: Poetry of the
New York School 76
Upper Limit Music (Counted Verse) 128
The New Modernism 136
A Score for Undetermined Moments 145
The Poet in His Skin: Remembering Paul Carroll 163
Last Chicago Days: In Memory of Ted Berrigan 172
Journals of Addiction 175

The New Millennium
Fifty Statements on Literature and Culture
(Agree or Disagree)
1. The word “consumer” has replaced the word “citizen” in
most forms of discourse.
2. Traditional culture is the enemy of consumerism.
3. Media culture collaborates with consumerism to destroy
traditional beliefs.
4. Postmodern theory was created to confuse and intimidate
the average literate citizen.
5. Avant-gardes are a necessary aspect of late capitalism.
6. Poetry has the same connection to social class that it had
under aristocratic social orders.
7. The erotic allure of narrative lies in the courtship of au-
thor and reader, usually involving the courtly deference
of the former to the latter. The eroticism of nonnarrative
lies in the shared refusal of normal relations.
8. The mind can only conceive of uncertainty as a
certainty—in other words, as an image. But images are of
interest only when they communicate an uncertainty.
9. Poems are entirely factual.
10. The list, or series, is the major organizing principle of
writing.
11. The out-of-sequence series is the organizing principle of
most avant-garde writing.
12. The “new” in art is always imported from another culture.
13. Annihilation is the sincerest form of Battery.
From Chicago Review43, no. 4 (1997): 3–6.