David -
You might think again about the expression 'an expression of 50s culture'
in terms of the forces and interests that produce / select particular
writers / movements to 'typify' a period. Blake Morrison's useful book, The
Movement, shows the mechanisim by which this group of writers achived a
position of cultural dominance - and the exclusion and occlusion of other
kinds of writing.
Robert
> ----------
> From: David Bircumshaw[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Reply To: David Bircumshaw
> Sent: 05 October 1999 10:48
> To: Douglas Clark
> Cc: brit poets
> Subject: Re: postmodernism
>
> erm, yeah, but ...
>
> i'm not sure about the notion that anything was in direct reaction to the
> Movement, as far as i know the horrible M was an expression of 50's
> culture, not a driving force in itself. what we have now is pure and
> undiluted disintegration, which has the benefit of giving space to voices
> but is also a complete mess. whether there is a way forward, well, i
> dunno, opinions welcome on that.
>
> regards
>
> david
>
> Douglas Clark wrote:
>
> > Nate was saying that it is getting very quiet in here so I thought
> > I would say that I have just read Robert Sheppard's critical book
> > from Stride. It seems that postmodernism was a reaction to the
> > Movement in the sense that the postmodern poets in reaction wanted
> > to make their work near enough unintelligible to the ordinary reader.
> > And Robert Sheppard is quite satisfied that they have succeeded.
> > This ties in very well with a recent letter in the TLS from Vernon
> > Scannell where he talks about the postmodern critics of Symborska
> > being amazed that her work is easily understanable and wondering
> > what is wrong with her. I thought I would mention these things in
> > passing. There are six copies of Prynne's Poems in Bath WAterstones.
>
>
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