Making something happen American political poetry between the world wars PDF
Preview Making something happen American political poetry between the world wars
M A K I N G S O M E T H I N G H A P P E N AlanTrachtenberg, editor Editorial Advisory Board Michele Bogart Karen Halttunen Mae Henderson Eric Lott Miles Orvell Jeffrey Stewart making A M E R I C A N P O L I T I C A L P O E T R Y something B E T W E E N T H E W O R L D W A R S happen M I C H A E L T H U R S T O N ChapelHill&London © TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress Allrightsreserved ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica SetinMonotypeBemboandPublicityGothictypes byTsengInformationSystems,Inc. Thepaperinthisbookmeetstheguidelinesfor permanenceanddurabilityoftheCommitteeon ProductionGuidelinesforBookLongevityofthe CouncilonLibraryResources. SelectionsfromEdwinRolfe,CollectedPoems, editedbyCaryNelsonandJeffersonHendricks (Urbana:UniversityofIllinoisPress,), ©BoardofTrusteesoftheUniversityofIllinois, andMurielRukeyser,U.S.(NewYork:Covici andFriede,),©MurielRukeyser,havebeen reprintedwithpermission. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Thurston,Michael,– Makingsomethinghappen:Americanpoliticalpoetry betweentheworldwars/MichaelThurston. p.cm.—(CulturalstudiesoftheUnitedStates) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ---(alk.paper)— ---(pbk.:alk.paper) .Americanpoetry—thcentury—Historyand criticism. .Politicsandliterature—UnitedStates— History—thcentury. .Politicalpoetry,American —Historyandcriticism. .WorldWar,–— Influence. .WorldWar,–—Causes. I.Title. II.Series. . '.—dc C O N T E N T S Acknowledgments, vii Introduction: Making Something Happen, Tradition and the Political Poet: Edwin Rolfe, All Together, Black and White: Langston Hughes, Getting the Goofs to Listen: Ezra Pound, Extending the Document: Muriel Rukeyser, Conclusion: The Age Demanded, Notes, Works Cited, Index, I L L U S T R A T I O N S Lia Nickson’s illustration for Partof Edwin Rolfe’s First Love and Other Poems, Lia Nickson’s illustration for Part of Edwin Rolfe’s First Love and Other Poems, Lia Nickson’s illustration for Part of Edwin Rolfe’s First Love and Other Poems, Lia Nickson’s illustration for Part of Edwin Rolfe’s First Love and Other Poems, Front page of Contempo, December,, including Langston Hughes’s ‘‘Christ in Alabama’’ and Dell Ingram’s illustration, PrentissTaylor’s illustration for Langston Hughes’s ‘‘Christ in Alabama’’ in Hughes’sScottsboro Limited, A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S Sections of this book were presented in at theTwentieth Cen- tury Literature Conference, the Midwest Modern Language Asso- ciationConference,andtheModernLanguageAssociationConven- tion.PartofChapterwasfirstpublishedas‘‘‘AllTogether,Blackand White’:LangstonHughesonScottsboro,’’CollegeLiterature(Octo- ber):–.AsectionofChapterappearedas‘‘Documentary Modernism as Popular Front Poetic: Muriel Rukeyser’s Book of the Dead,’’ModernLanguageQuarterly(March):–. I have been fortunate to work at two institutions that provided moneyandtimewithoutwhichIcouldnothavefinishedthisproject. TheUniversityofIllinoisgrantedmeaPaulineGraggFellowshipand a University Fellowship. Yale University awarded me a Morse Fel- lowship.TheWhitneyHumanitiesCenterfundedmyresearchwith two A.Whitney Griswold Junior Faculty Research Grants. In addi- tion,theVeteransoftheAbrahamLincolnBrigadeawardedaversion ofChaptertheGeorgeWattPrize,whichhelpedmeintheresearch and revision of that chapter. Forall of this assistance, I am grateful. I also thank Patricia C. Willis, curator of the American Literature Collection at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,Yale University,andthestaffsoftheBeineckeRareBookandManuscript Library, the University of Illinois Rare Book Room, the Mortimer Rare Book Room at Smith College, and the Manuscript Collection attheLibraryofCongress. I would like to thank Cary Nelson, Michael Bérubé, Janet Lyon, andEmilyWattsfortheirguidanceandadviceonmydoctoralthesis attheUniversityofIllinois.CaryNelsonhascontinuedtobeavalued mentor,adviser,example,resource,andreader,andIremainindebted to him. Elizabeth Davies, John D’Errico, Amy Farmer, Eric Gard- ner,RobertMcRuer,andRobertNowatzkireadearlydraftsof indi- vidualchaptersandprovidedhelpfulsuggestionsaswellasgreatdin- ners. For their challenging and productive discussions of all or part ofthemanuscript,IthankNigelAlderman,LangdonHammer,Tyrus Miller,JimSmethurst,JamesSullivan,themembersofYale’sAmeri- canistColloquium,andmystudentsincoursesonmodernAmerican poetryatIllinoisandYale.Amongthelattergroup,Iamespeciallyin- debtedtoSonyaPosmentierandStephenWeissfortheirinsightsand tough questions. Foras long as I have known him, Barry Faulk has beenanindefatigablereaderandsoundingboard,aswellasafriend whose example illustrates all the good things Aristotlewrote about friendship. Thanks, Barry. For their very useful recommendations forrevisions,IamindebtedtoAlanTrachtenberg,WalterKalaidjian, CarlaKaplan,andananonymousreaderfortheUniversityof North Carolina Press. And I thank Sian Hunter and Paula Wald for shep- herdingthisbookthroughthepublicationprocess. Foraidandcomfort,distractionandalmostinfinitepatiencewith mydistractedness,Ithankmyfamilies(immediate,extended,andin- law),especiallyLisa,Abby,Katie,andMegan,towhomIdedicatethis bookwithallmylove. [viii] Acknowledgments Making Something Happen
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