Marjorie perloff is concerned with how we read, dow writes. Marjorie perloff, author of the futurist moment and unoriginal genius alastair brotchie has achieved something very rare. The hatred of poetry by ben lerner farrar, straus and giroux, 86pp. The talk adapted from the opening chapter of her forthcoming book of the same title will examine the practices of allusion and quotation in modern poetry. That myth is explicitly targeted by recreativity maven marjorie perloff in her book unoriginal genius, which recasts writing as moving. Marjorie perloffs unoriginal genius by kenneth poetry foundation. Project muse poetry in the age of digital reproduction. Unoriginal genius perloff, marjorie chicago, 2011 core. An updated notion of genius would have to center around ones mastery of information and. Its contents page boasts chapters ranging from walter benjamin to yoko tawada and kenneth goldsmith, and its more than forty figures and color plates seem calculated to seduce the reader.
For three hours on monday, she met with 21 undergraduates in the socalled writers house fellows seminar. The prominent literary critic marjorie perloff has recently begun using the term unoriginal genius to describe this tendency emerging in literature. Perloffmarjorie chapter7 unoriginal genius kennethgoldsmith free download as pdf file. Marjorie perloffs unoriginal genius, and charles bernsteins attack genius and attack of the difficult poems, asking the question, how can poetry be original in the. Marjorie perloffs keynote for the conceptual poetry conference in tucson set forth a clear agenda. Unoriginal genius concludes with a discussion of kenneth goldsmiths conceptualist book traffic a seemingly pure transcript of one holiday weekends worth of radio traffic reports.
A keen strategist, perloff s reading of concretism as playing a part in the arriere. Marjorie perloff is the author of several works of literary criticism, including poetics in a new key. Poetry by other means in the new century university of chicago press. Perloff to receive humanities medal news usc dornsife. Marjorie perloffs unoriginal genius by kenneth poetry.
She demonstrates why lauded, modern poets many of whom have questioned the values of both the original and the creative might prefer instead to cheat on their assignments by handing in poems that steal words and remix lines, verbatim, from the databases. Her first three books dealt with individual poetsyeats, robert lowell, and frank ohara. Looking for unoriginal genius marjorie perloff paperback softback. Poetry by other means in the new century 9780226660622. On the unoriginal genius of marjorie perloff jacket2. For over a decade marjorie perloff has been carefully approaching the concrete poetry movement from different angles and in unoriginal genius she finally tackles its central role in the postwar literary scene. Interviews and essays university of chicago press, 2014, unoriginal genius.
Poetry by other means in the new century 2012 that the paradigmatic work of the unoriginal genius is walter benjamins arcades project which inspired the concept of. The recipient of a guggenheim fellowship and an elected. In these instances and many others, perloff reveals poetry. Perloff s project is to explore the relationship between novelty. From the inception of my career, perloff said, i have tried to think through the history of modernism, as it was taught when i was a student, and introduce some important revisions. Sorry, we are unable to provide the full text but you may find it at the following locations. Marjorie perloff what is the place of individual genius in a global world of hyperinformation a world in which, as walter benjamin predicted more than seventy years ago, everyone is potentially an author. She is the author of many books on twentieth and twentyfirstcentury poetry and poetics, including, most recently, twentyfirst century modernism, unoriginal genius. What is the place of individual genius in a global world of hyperinformation a world in. A reader familiar with perloff s criticism will know that she is a scholar entirely conversant with the romantic tradition and its modernist recensions. Perloffs project is to explore the relationship between novelty and repetition or, in her own terms, to.
Perloffmarjorie chapter7 unoriginal genius kennethgoldsmith. In giving us the first detailed account of jarrys life, he shares a lot of discoveries and. Unoriginal genius is a term coined by literary critic marjorie perloff and referenced by artist and poet kenneth goldsmith at the beginning of his book uncreative writing 2011. Perloff drew extensively from the poets unpublished manuscripts poems, journals, essays and letters, as well as his published works. Unoriginal genius showcases, yet again, why marjorie perloff is the most respected expositor for the avantgarde in poetry. I had my very first mla experience in seattle in 2011, nearly a decade ago. Poet among painters, by marjorie perloff well, when else will you find this possibility to get this publication frank. Her wittgensteins ladder has just been translated into spanish and is soon coming out in french. An anthology of conceptual writing 2011, considers in unoriginal genius.
Comparative literature studies, volume 50, number 4. Basing her investigation in the established modernisms of eliot, pound and benjamin, marjorie. The possibilities for poetry in this new century, just considering new technology alone, seem almost unlimited. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content. Literary critic marjorie perloff has recently begun using the term unoriginal genius to describe this tendency emerging in literature. In these instances and many others, perloff shows us poetry by other means of great ingenuity, wit, and complexity. She is professor emerita of english and comparative literature at stanford university. Poetry by other means in the new century, marjorie perloff is published by university of chicago press. Marjorie perloff born september 28, 1931 is a poetry scholar and critic in the united states. Poetry by other means in the new century university of chicago press, 2010, and the sound of poetry the poetry of sound university of chicago press, 2009. In this way it ran parallel to the greenbergian nonillusionistic picture plane, as applied to the flatness of the page. Marjorie perloff is professor emerita of english humanities at stanford university and florence scott professor emerita of english at the university of southern california. One important aspect of concrete poetry was the reconciliation between the flatness of the page and the implied dynamic and often sequential movement of the language used.
Citing critic marjorie perloff s term unoriginal genius to describe a new breed of writer spurred by technology, and a jonathan lethem essay on plagiarism in harpers, kenneth goldsmith examines the changing state of creativity in this excerpt from his book uncreative writing. Marjorie perloff is the author of over books on twentieth and twentyfirst century poetry and poetics, as well as on intermedia and. Poetry by other means in the new century by marjorie perloff. Nov 08, 2012 marjorie perloff visited the kelly writers house in philadelphia for most of four days this week as a kelly writers house fellow. In unoriginal genius, perloff claims that the language of citation is the logical form of writing in an age of literally mobile or transferable text 4, 17. In unoriginal genius, marjorie perloff argues that zcitationality, with its dialectic of removal and graft, disjunction and conjunction, its interpenetration of origin and destruction, is central to twentyfirst century poetics. As the university of chicago press approached its publication date for unoriginal genius, it asked me to write a promotional comment for the. Current issues are now on the chicago journals website. When alfred jarry died in 1907 at the age of thirtyfour, he was a legendary figure in parisbut this had more to do with his bohemian lifestyle and scandalous behavior than his literary achievements. Get your kindle here, or download a free kindle reading app. In unoriginal genius marjorie perloff explores a new development in contemporary poetry.
This longawaited biography of alfred jarry reconstructs a life both ubuesque and pataphysical. Traffic is the second volume of kenneth goldsmiths trilogy. Perloff was born gabriele mintz into a secularized jewish family in. She is the author of many books, including, most recently, poetics in a new key and unoriginal genius, also published by the university of chicago press. A tweetathon to save the story, unoriginal genius, and more. When alfred jarry died in 1907 at the age of thirtyfour, he was a legendary figure in paris but this. Unoriginal genius marjorie perloff paperback softback. I wasnt on the market, i wasnt presenting, i really didnt have any urgent reason to be there. Recovering avantgarde in the contemporary poetics on perloff by yubraj aryal. Unoriginal genius showcases, yet again, why marjorie perloff is the most. Marjorie perloff teaches courses and writes on twentieth and now twentyfirst century poetry and poetics, both angloamerican and from a comparatist perspective, as well as on intermedia and the visual arts. Mixed allusions, like mixed metaphors and unoriginal ideas, are often what one wants. She discusses the processes of choice, framing, and reconfiguration in the work of brazilian concretism and oulipo, charles bernsteins opera libretto shadowtime, and susan howes documentary lyric sequence the midnight.
Marjorie perloff, to whom craig dworkin and goldsmith have dedicated against expression. Apr 27, 2012 in unoriginal genius marjorie perloff explores a new development in contemporary poetry. While perloff s chapter on brazilian concrete poetry is fascinating, it feels strangely out of place within the overall conceptual curve of unoriginal genius. Scott professor of english emerita at the university of southern california. Perloff provides a comprehensive and comprehensible survey of appropriation, citation and quotation as literary practices. I burned with the hard gemlike flame of the moth for that star of unoriginal genius. Marjorie perloff is professor of english emerita at stanford university and the florence r.
What is the place of individual genius in a global world of hyper. Her idea is that, because of changes brought on by technology and the internet, our notion of the genius a romantic, isolated figureis outdated. Her idea is that, because of changes brought on by technology and the internet, our notion of genius a romantic isolated figure is outdated. A conversation with marjorie perloff at the kelly writers house, april 26, 2011 as part of the kelly writers house fellows program. Though some of her inclusions seem more intuitive than required, unoriginal genius is a muchneeded frame for a very important contemporary literary conversation. Unoriginal genius and attack of the difficult poems, asking the question, how can poetry be original in the twentyfirst century. Unoriginal genius poetry by other means in the new century.
She demonstrates why lauded, modern poets many of whom have questioned the values of both the original and the creative might prefer instead to cheat on their assignments by handing in poems that steal words and remix lines, verbatim, from the. For more than three decades, marjorie perloff and charles bernstein have been our foremost champions of poetic invention. Poetry by other means in the new century, american literature on deepdyve, the largest online rental service for scholarly research with thousands of academic publications available at your fingertips. She is the author of many books, including, most recently, poetics in a new key and unoriginal genius, also published by. Visit musicmagpie for great deals and super savings with free delivery today. Marjorie perloff traces a poetics of unoriginal genius from its paradigmatic work, benjamins encyclopedic arcades project, a book largely made up of citations. The sound of poetrythe poetry of sound, edited by marjorie perloff and craig dworkin and containing twentytwo essays has just been published by the university of chicago press. Paradoxically, she argues, this unoriginal poetry is more accessible and, in a sense, personal than the hermetic poetry of the 1980s and 90s. Unoriginal genius concludes with a discussion of kenneth goldsmiths conceptualist book traffica seemingly pure radio transcript of one holiday weekends worth of traffic reports. According to perloff and goldsmith, the romantic notion of genius is outdated. And yet she believes that the hyperlink i included to her publishers website is an unacceptable and insufficient form of citation.
A reader familiar with perloffs criticism will know that she is a scholar entirely conversant with the romantic tradition and its modernist recensions. Perloff was born gabriele mintz into a secularized jewish family in vienna. The annexation of austria by nazi germany exacerbated viennese antisemitism, and so the family emigrated in 1938, when she was sixandahalf, going first to zurich and then to the united states, settling in riverdale, new york. The pdf format can deliver beautifully typeset poems as gorgeous as anything thats been done in print and for a fraction of the cost. Marjorie perloffs unoriginal genius, and charles bernsteins attack of the difficult poems. Marjorie perloff s most recent book is unoriginal genius. Modern philology sets the standard for literary scholarship, history, and criticis.
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