Kenneth wrote:"Who remembers critics?"
How about T.S. Eliot? I think basically it's the memory of
Eliot's critical presence, and the re-evaluation of poetry
that occurred as a result, the restoration of Donne and Herbert,
goodbye to Swinburne, etc. that underlies much of the emphasis
upon criticism and reviewing. These could be separated
of course, a review is perhaps more ephemeral than
an essay of criticism. And I'm being short-handed here,
for Pound too, to whom perhaps can be traced not only
the critical re-evaluation of past works in modernism but
also the emphasis upon translation. Though these presences
are somewhat fitful. Helen Vendler, for instance, here,
as a critic, influenced a re-evaluation of Stevens with
a sort of continuing influence in the reading of his poetic
heirs, Ashbery, Jorie Graham etc. Aren't these people
critics? and reviewers of particular works? and there
are others, since each poetic movement has brought
not only its practictioners but its critics and reviewers (and
often the same people).
Best,
Rebecca
Rebecca Seiferle
www.thedrunkenboat.com
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