Invisible Terrain: John Ashbery and the Aesthetics of Nature

223 Pages·2017·1.04 MB·English

by  Stephen Joseph Ross

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Invisible Terrain
John Ashbery and the Aesthetics of Nature
STEPHEN J. ROSS
1
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3
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For Jane
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Acknowledgments
My first thanks go to John Ashbery and David Kermani for graciously
hosting me in their home and patiently answering my many questions.
I am also grateful to my two anonymous readers for their deft and
challenging comments on my manuscript. Special thanks also go to my
Ph.D.examiners,ProfessorJamesLongenbachandProfessorJeriJohnson.
At Oxford, I was privileged to work with Ron Bush, a rigorous editor
andpeerlessmentorwhomIamnowhonoredtocallafriend(and,when
theweathercooperates,tennispartner).Ioweahugedebtofgratitudeto
Patrick Hayes, my college advisor at St. John’s for five years, who sup-
portedmeinsomanywaysasafledglingteacherandscholar.Abigthank
you to all of my students at St. John’s and at other Oxford colleges for
teachingmesomuch—specialthanksareduetoRowlandBagnall,Adelais
Mills, Luke Maxted, and Bevil Luck, brilliant young writers all, for their
very generous recommendations. I’m grateful to the staff at St. John’s
who facilitated my stay at the college and to the English Faculty which
provided key administrative and financial aid. The Clarendon Fund
Scholarship allowed me to begin my graduate work and the Rothermere
AmericanInstitutehelpedmecompleteit.SpecialthankstoNigelBowles
and the RAI staff for hosting such a congenial space for Americanist
scholarship.TheHoughtonLibraryatHarvardUniversityprovidedessen-
tialaccesstothearchiveofJohnAshberypapers.Veryspecialthanksalso
go to Dr.Tara Stubbs,who voluntarilyread this bookwhen it was still a
thesis and led me through a mock-viva, and who has helped me with so
muchelsebesides.
I was very fortunate to work with a brilliant and inspiring group of
colleaguesanddearfriendsatOxford:AlysMoody;TimSmith-Laing;Ed
Sugden; Alexandra Manglis; Susan Barbour; April Pierce; Alex Niven;
Angus Brown; Jenny Oliver; Mike Smith; Rachel Abramowitz; Tom
Cutterham; Jon Day; Charlotta Salmi; Matt Kerr; Hannah Field; Chris
Maughan;JudytaFrodyma;JonGharraie;MichelleWiten;BeckyRoach;
StephanieYorke;DavidSoud;AaronHanlon;OrenGoldschmidt;David
Shackleton; Piers Pennington; Katie Murphy; Amy Cutler; Alex Bubb;
Sally Bayley; Oli Hazzard; Vid Ravinthiran; Scarlett Baron; John
Maloney; Paul Sweeten; Matt Sperling; Sarah Bennett; Mike Molan;
Ed Gibbons; Alex Barker; Iason Gabriel.
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viii Acknowledgments
As a Teaching Fellow at the University of Warwick, I could not have
asked for smarter and more engaged students or for a livelier and more
congenial community of friends and colleagues: Rochelle Sibley (a shey-
nemdank!);MykaTucker-Abramson;MichaelMeeuwis;LauraSchwartz;
Anna Hájková; Carina Hart; Joe Jackson; George Ttoouli; Jonathan
Skinner; Nick Lawrence; Stephen Shapiro; Jack McGowan; Joe Shafer;
Simon Turner; Rhys Williams; Emanuelle Santos; Christian Smith;
Gemma Goodman; Mark Storey; Christina Britzolakis; Madhumita
Lahiri;HeatherPilbin;PabloMukherjee;RossForman;GraemeMacdonald;
Emma Mason; Mike Niblett; Chris Campbell; and Dan Katz (but more
onhimlater).
Over the years, Ihave been immensely fortunate to cross paths with a
hostofpoetsandscholarswhosepresenceiseverywherefeltinthisthesis:
OmarBerrada;SarahRiggs;PeterGizzi;DavidHerd;RichCole;Marjorie
Perloff; Ernest Hilbert; James Byrne; Andrew Dubois; Olivier Brossard;
Ian Heames; Alex Howard; Joshua Corey; Charles Bernstein; Jay Parini;
BenLerner;andMarkFord.Iwouldalsoliketothankthe(former)staffof
Brick: A Literary Journal: Nadia Szilvassy; Laurie Graham; Tara Quinn;
andStefLenk.
A massive hug for the Lovatt and Borlase families: Tamsin, Marc,
Cooks, Bups, William, Katie, and Pip, my first and best English friends.
So many delicious meals and good times to remember. Thinking of our
orchard!
Verybigthanks—andahugedebtofgratitude—areduetoBirgitden
Outerforbeingtheconfidanteofmyconfidante!
There are many dear friends I have had to live apart from, or be in
intermittent contact with, over the years who have been constantly
in my thoughts: Stuart Jeckel; Hunter Simpson; Andrew Shah; Glenn
Kern; Alisa Eanes; Zane “van” Beckwith; Katie McLean; Natasha
McCurley;Simon Rose; Travis Smith; BrianTaylor;Zack Cheshire; Vera
Fabian; Gordon Jenkins; Hannah Prentice-Dunn; Alan Kinlaw; Toby
Giachetti; Alexis Seccombe; Robin Smith; Nate McCosbe; Sarah Pickle;
LucaSemprini;ShruthiDhoopati.KevinBrown;MayaGoldenberg;Angel
Chen;CarolynLionais.
AaronBelz,myfavoritelivingpoetafterJohnAshbery,wasaconsummate
menschtoJaneandmeduringthefinalmonthsofourstayinNorthCarolina
inthesummerof2016.Wewillalwaysrememberourtimeat“SantaMaria”
as the halcyon days, and are eagerly plotting our return to Hillsborough.
Thanks as well to Araceli Cruz and to Eli, Natalie, and Amelia Belz for
sharingyourhomewithusduringthosespecialmonthsoftransition.
ZoharAtkinsandArielResnikoff,akhim,barelytolerated,livingonthe
margin in our technological society: “And for what, except for you, do
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Acknowledgments ix
I feel love? / Do I press the extremest book of the wisest man / Close to
me,hiddeninmedayandnight?”
Thankyoutomywonderfulin-laws—Jack,Jean,Jena,Jill,Keith,and
Alec—for so warmly welcoming me into the family and supporting my
academic aspirations over all these years. It’s been an absolute pleasure
hostingyouatourvariousfar-flunghomesintheUKandNorthAmerica.
I could not have made it here without you. I send these thanks also in
lovingmemoryofJane’sbelovedauntNora,whomIwassoluckytomeet
andwhoisdearlymissed.
My family has lovingly and unconditionally encouraged me always.
Here’stomyaunts,uncles,andcousins:Marcy,Brian,Sandy,andLetty;
Ellis, Bryan, and Joanna; Peter, Sonia, and Chloe; Jim and Tiepa. My
dearest grandparents, Honey and Bumps, Grandma Helen and Papoo
(Z”L), are always near me. To my parents, Robyn and Doug: you are
behind every letter of this book. I love you, and hope I’ve made you
proud.Andtomybrother,Jacob: “Hey,Bubi!”
At UNC Chapel Hill, Larry Goldberg and David Ross were my first
andbestmentors.Thankyou,David,forinstillinginmethepleasuresof
custom and ceremony in poetry, teaching, scholarship, and, above all,
cooking. Thank you, Larry, for our ongoing tea-fueled conversation
and the fleeting glimpses of “what is” which they have afforded. To
both of you, I say with Yeats: “Think where man’s glory most begins
and ends,/ And say my glorywas I hadsuch friends.” I giveaffectionate
thanksaswelltoLi-lingHsiaoandFei-feiRoss,and,inlovingmemory,to
RaquelPrado-TotaroGoldberg.
DanKatz,whosecounsel,kvetching,andkvellingcomesecondonlyto
my mother’sinquality andpersistence, taughtme whatit means tobea
professional, a mentor, and a friend. Thank you for keeping me afloat
duringoneofthehardestyearsofmylife.
JohnSteen,with“thisfeelingofexultation”:myfirstfriendatcollege,
myfirstfriendinpoetry.Maythereneverbeaworldforusexcepttheone
wesingand,singing,make.
And, finally, Jane, to whom this book is dedicated, along with every-
thingelse.Riversandmountainsoflove.