Peter: Yes, I think Deguy's take on analogy would sit well with Watten's
views, at least as I read them (at certain points in the essay the
technological developments of Fordism--esp. the assembly line--are
considered in relation to Stein's mid-career works...)--one of Watten's
points being that a "poetics of possibility" (ie. w/ emphasis on idiolect,
formal disruption, non-standard language use, &c.) imagines itself "as apart
from the world that constitutes it"--and that this "difference as such" (as
Deguy might have it, as opposed to resemblance within a field of
difference)--can only be valued against an incorrectly formulated idea of "a
dehistoricized norm against
which nonstandard cultural responses are organized". The larger point for
Watten seems to be that "a return to formalism [at least as demonstrated by
certain of the N.Y. writers associated with Language] turns out to conceal a
disavowed identity politics". Watten cites examples of his own practice as
a poet (_Progress_ and _Under Erasure_) which he regards as works which
attempt to push analogies to social form. I would think of the works of
certain younger writers--Juliana Spahr and Jeff Derksen, for
example--similarly. BW's working on two critical books at the moment,
apparently. I do hope there's more poetry in the future--_Frame_, for me,
was thrilling. (_Bad History_ to be pub. soon.)
I agree too about PV--90 pages into _Open Sky_--still just the one idea so
far, interesting tho it may be...
Miles
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