Counter-revolution of the Word

The Conservative Attack on Modern Poetry, 1945-1960

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Poetry History & Criticism
Cover of the book Counter-revolution of the Word by Alan Filreis, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Alan Filreis ISBN: 9781469606637
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: September 1, 2012
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Alan Filreis
ISBN: 9781469606637
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: September 1, 2012
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

During the Cold War an unlikely coalition of poets, editors, and politicians converged in an attempt to discredit--if not destroy--the American modernist avant-garde. Ideologically diverse yet willing to bespeak their hatred of modern poetry through the rhetoric of anticommunism, these "anticommunist antimodernists," as Alan Filreis dubs them, joined associations such as the League for Sanity in Poetry to decry the modernist "conspiracy" against form and language. In Counter-revolution of the Word Filreis narrates the story of this movement and assesses its effect on American poetry and poetics.

Although the antimodernists expressed their disapproval through ideological language, their hatred of experimental poetry was ultimately not political but aesthetic, Filreis argues. By analyzing correspondence, decoding pseudonyms, drawing new connections through the archives, and conducting interviews, Filreis shows that an informal network of antimodernists was effective in suppressing or distorting the postwar careers of many poets whose work had appeared regularly in the 1930s. Insofar as modernism had consorted with radicalism in the Red Decade, antimodernists in the 1950s worked to sever those connections, fantasized a formal and unpolitical pre-Depression High Modern moment, and assiduously sought to de-radicalize the remnant avant-garde. Filreis's analysis provides new insight into why experimental poetry has aroused such fear and alarm among American conservatives.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

During the Cold War an unlikely coalition of poets, editors, and politicians converged in an attempt to discredit--if not destroy--the American modernist avant-garde. Ideologically diverse yet willing to bespeak their hatred of modern poetry through the rhetoric of anticommunism, these "anticommunist antimodernists," as Alan Filreis dubs them, joined associations such as the League for Sanity in Poetry to decry the modernist "conspiracy" against form and language. In Counter-revolution of the Word Filreis narrates the story of this movement and assesses its effect on American poetry and poetics.

Although the antimodernists expressed their disapproval through ideological language, their hatred of experimental poetry was ultimately not political but aesthetic, Filreis argues. By analyzing correspondence, decoding pseudonyms, drawing new connections through the archives, and conducting interviews, Filreis shows that an informal network of antimodernists was effective in suppressing or distorting the postwar careers of many poets whose work had appeared regularly in the 1930s. Insofar as modernism had consorted with radicalism in the Red Decade, antimodernists in the 1950s worked to sever those connections, fantasized a formal and unpolitical pre-Depression High Modern moment, and assiduously sought to de-radicalize the remnant avant-garde. Filreis's analysis provides new insight into why experimental poetry has aroused such fear and alarm among American conservatives.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book Public Records and Archives in Classical Athens by Alan Filreis
Cover of the book Terror in the Heart of Freedom by Alan Filreis
Cover of the book The Month of Their Ripening by Alan Filreis
Cover of the book The Strength of a People by Alan Filreis
Cover of the book Women's Antiwar Diplomacy during the Vietnam War Era by Alan Filreis
Cover of the book The Place of Stone by Alan Filreis
Cover of the book Race and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century Atlanta by Alan Filreis
Cover of the book Coastal Carolina Cooking by Alan Filreis
Cover of the book The United States in Puerto Rico, 1898-1900 by Alan Filreis
Cover of the book Whiting Up by Alan Filreis
Cover of the book Gullah Home Cooking the Daufuskie Way by Alan Filreis
Cover of the book A Time of Bees by Alan Filreis
Cover of the book Ida B. Wells-Barnett and American Reform, 1880-1930 by Alan Filreis
Cover of the book The Worlds the Shawnees Made by Alan Filreis
Cover of the book White People Do Not Know How to Behave at Entertainments Designed for Ladies and Gentlemen of Colour by Alan Filreis
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy