The Wallace Stevens Case: Law and the Practice of Poetry

167 Pages·1991·2.967 MB·English

by  Thomas Grey

THE WALLACE STEVENS CASE

The
W A L L A CE S T E V E NS C A SE
Law and the Practice
of Poetry
rN
Thomas C. Grey
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England 1991
Copyright © 1991 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 32 ι
This book is printed on acid-free paper, and its binding materials
have been chosen for strength and durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Grey, Thomas C.
The Wallace Stevens case: law and the practice of poetry / Thomas C. Grey,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-674-94577-8
ι. Stevens, Wallace, 1879-1955—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Stevens, Wallace.
1879-1955—Knowledge—Law. 3. Law and literature—United States. I. Title.
PS3537.T4753Z654 1991
811'.52—dc20
90-47968
CIP
Page 149 constitutes an extension of the copyright page.
For Barbara

Acknowledgments
Like anyone who writes about Wallace Stevens, I owe special
thanks to the superb group of critics his poetry has attracted over
the years, of whom Harold Bloom and Helen Vendler are only the
most remarkable of many. I have tried to give credit wherever I
knew I had been helped by a commentator's insights, but this far
understates my debt.
Stanford Law School, its faculty and students, its library, staff,
and administration, supplied the basic intellectual and material
environment to sustain me throughout this foray across disciplin-
ary lines, and also gave helpful financial support through the
Claire and Michael Brown Estate; thanks to Dean Paul Brest, and
to many others at the law school. A decade or so back, the Stan-
ford Faculty Interpretation Seminar started me thinking about
connections between law and literature; thanks to its organizers,
and all its participants. Then a year in the stimulating atmo-
sphere of the Stanford Humanities Center helped me focus those
thoughts; thanks to past and present directors Ian Watt and Bliss
Camochan, and to the staff and Fellows. Finally, in the late stages
of work on this manuscript, the Stanford Biography Seminar lent
me its collective resources for a fruitful session; thanks to all, and
special thanks to Pamela Herr, who suggested the subtitle.
At Harvard University Press, I must thank Michael Aronson
for his energetic supervision of the project, and Maria Ascher for
her careful editing of the manuscript.
I am grateful to many other fellow workers and friends. Marian
Holys did good work on the manuscript. Jay Fowler and Carolyn
Karr provided valuable research assistance. Patricia Parker gave
me essential encouragement to go forward on the basis of an early
sketch of the project, as did Diane Middlebrook, who also sup-
plied an important piece of advice. David Luban and Helen Ven-
dler provided valuable suggestions after reading parts of the man-
uscript. Others read the whole manuscript at one stage or
another, and responded with morale-boosts and constructive crit-
icisms: Alison Anderson, Madeleine Kahn, Susan Mann, Frank
Michelman, Richard Posner, Robert Rabin, Richard Rorty, Rob-
ert Weisberg, and Steven Winter. Lawrence Joseph and Margaret
Jane Radin not only read the whole manuscript, and were un-
stinting in their help and advice, but also gave the constant and
sustaining encouragement of fellow law professorial Stevensians.
Over many hours taken from work on her own book, Barbara
Babcock touched nearly every line of this one with her ruthlessly
loving editorial pencil. Beyond that, her person is in every word
of it: an example, a comfort, a delight.
Contents
Introduction ι
I. An Occupation, an Exercise, a Work io
II. The Unpeopled World 22
III. Fat Cat, Ghostly Rabbit 35
IV. Steel against Intimation 52
V. A Change Not Quite Completed 68
VI. The Colors of the Mind 86
Conclusion 103
Abbreviations 114
Notes 115
Credits 149
Index 151