Poetic Animals and Animal Souls

207 Pages·2003·17.35 MB·English

by  Randy Malamud (auth.)

PoETic ANIMALS AND ANIMAL SouLs

POETIC ANIMALS AND
ANIMAL SOULS
RANDY MALAMUD
*
POETIC ANIMALS AND ANIMAL SOULS
© Randy Malamud, 2003
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 2003 978-1-4039-6178-5
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First published 2003 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-73138-1 ISBN 978-1-137-06349-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-06349-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Malamud, Randy, 1962-
Poetic animals and animal souls/by Randy Malamud.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.).
1.American poetry-20th century-History and criticism.
2. Animals in literature. 3. English poetry-20th century-History
and criticism. 4. Moore, Marianne, 1887-1972-Views on animals.
S. Pacheco, Jose Emilio-Views on animals. 6. Human-animal
relationships in literature. I. Title.
PS310.A49 M3S 2003
811 '.509362dc-21 2002030830
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: March, 2003
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Transferred to Digital Printing 2009
For Benjamin Simonds-Malamud
(whose animal soul may be a bunny)

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments IX
Part I An Ecocritical Ethics of Reading
1. On Knowing (and Not Knowing) Animals 3
Part II Poetic Animals 49
2. Mesoamerican Spirituality and Animal Co-Essences 51
3. Jose Emilio Pacheco: "I saw a dying fish'' 77
4. Marianne Moore: "flies in amber" 93
5. Smith, Larkin, Snyder, Heaney, Rogers:
"we should be kind" 137
Notes 189
Works Cited 191
Index 197

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to acknowledge the advice and support of a group of colleagues,
fellow travelers in ecocriticism and anthrozoology whose work inspires
my own and whose insights I have always valued monumentally:
Ralph Acampora, Steve Baker, Charles Bergman, Erica Fudge, Cheryll
Glotfelty, Gary Gossen, Dale Jamieson, Rod Preece, Harriet Ritvo,
Marian Scholtmeijer, Julie Smith, Kenneth Shapiro, and Molly Westling.
Without Margaret Sayers Peden's masterful translation of Pacheco,
I could not have appreciated fully the power of his poetry.
At Georgia State, a cadre of wonderful administrators, colleagues, and
students have been-as always-immensely supportive of my work. I am
grateful to be able to work in such a rich intellectual climate. I thank
especially Ahmed Abdelal, Lauren Adamson, David Blumenfeld, Bob
Sattelmeyer, Matthew Roudane, Marta Hess, Tammy Cole, Heather
Russel, Greg George, and the English Department WIP (works-in
progress) group 2001-02, among many others. And I have appreciated
immensely Lisa Anderson's outstanding editorial contributions that have
improved every page of this book.
I have always written, ultimately, for my family, whose influences
permeate all my work: thanks to Daniel and Judith Malamud, and Lisa,
Paul, Owen, and Emma Apostol, for helping me to get to ... wherever
I have gotten to. Dorothy and Sol Disner and Jack and Jennie Malamud,
to whom I dedicated my first book, are always with me; Jacob Simonds
Malamud, to whom I dedicated my last book (in part so that I would
have to write another one for his brother) never ceases to amaze me.
Wendy Simonds's contribution to my work, and my life, is infinite and
virtually inexpressible ... but: thanks.
A version of chapter 2 appeared in Society & Animals 6.3 (October
1998), and a version of chapter 3 appeared in Comparative Literature
and Culture: A wwwtb ]ourna/2.2 Qune 2000).