I'm with Tim here. "Jump cuts"? What about what Swift was doing in The
Tale of A Tub in the early 1700s? What about all the amazing stuff
that happened post WW2?
It's nonsense - and desperately old-fashioned - to reduce vital and
fascinating and continuing influences and eruptions to two easily
remembered names. What about South American post colonial poetry, or
Arabic poetry, or, as Tim points out, European poetry, which is rather
more than a prelude to the spotlight falling on Mr Eliot and Mr Joyce
doing the storm scene in Act III, with everyone else just being the
denouement before civilisation fades away into the footlights and the
maids come on to clean up the stage. Or, perhaps, Mr Side comes in to
show everyone where they've gone wrong.
Anyway, as Tim also said, hardly worth arguing. Just got mildly
irritated there. As you were.
xA
It's nonsense to reduce everything to the genius theory of history.
On Sun, Apr 25, 2010 at 11:28 PM, Tim Allen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Jeff,
>
> But my point, which I hope came through in other posts, was that it wasn't
> them who kicked open the door.
> And I don't agree that certain innovations since have been marginal by
> comparison, but I don't really think it is worth arguing about.
>
> Cheers
>
> Tim A.
> On 25 Apr 2010, at 13:09, Jeffrey Side wrote:
>
>> Tim, I agree it never ended there. My main point was that nothing since
>> has been as acute in changing the way we write poetry. Any innovation that
>> came later has always been regarded as marginal in comparison. It’s hard to
>> re-invent the wheel, so to speak. Eliot, Joyce, Stein et al. kicked open a
>> door, others are now walking through it. For me, it is the opening of the
>> door that is of more significance.
>>
>>
>> Original Message:
>>
>> I don't agree with Jeffrey either, which makes a nice change. I think,
>> considering all the evidence, it is a huge claim to make. I love the
>> Waste Land. I love Finnegans Wake, both were immense innovations
>> within the context of high modernism, but it never ended there as Bob
>> points out below. What those works did achieve though was iconic
>> status, which is very understandable, but I think Jeffrey is confusing
>> that iconic status with something else.
>
--
Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
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