On Fri, 24 Oct 1997 [log in to unmask] wrote:
> As for not quoting from poems... There is an argument that to do so
> would be beside the point. If we take Ron Silliman`s essay on
> Bernstein, "Controlling Interests", which states that the "function
> of [the] writing...[is]to make the reader aware of the role of projection
> as a response to form in the constitution of the reader as a
> subject" and explains that the "function" functions by the language
> of the poem acting "as a barrier to reality", then perhaps by seeking
> to short-circuit the possibility of projection thru impenetrable
> ellipses &c. the poem ( and, by extension, the poetry) becomes an adjunct
> or illustration to a sort of Althusserian polemic which could get on just
> as well without it.
- hmm... I've heard this argument in various guises and remain to be
convinced. As theory it's so aereated as to be flimsy, and vulnerable to a
straight johnsonian "I refute it THUS" approach. Like Ken, I hope we can
keep serving a slice of poetry with our theory, pie with our gravy,
without which it's just a load of sauce.
RC
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