Poetry at Stake

By breaking down the ideological barrier segregating art objects from commodities, Noland's book will foster reconceptualization of the relationship between 'high' art and more popular forms of cultural expression and activity. It will help to decompose a current conservative critical doctrine, that the objects 'cultural studies' examines are somehow intrinsically inferior, subliterary, whereas only 'traditional' literary criticism deals appropriately with first-rank works. -- Richard Terdiman, University of California, Santa Cruz Every chapter in this book is at once richly informative from a cultural and historical point of view and the purveyor of close textual readings that are as convincing as they are exciting. The book's trajectory is marked by meticulous research, acute readings of texts, and cogent argument. -- Mary Lydon, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Taking seriously Guillaume Apollinaire's wager that twentieth-century poets would one day 'mechanize' poetry as modern industry has mechanized the world, this title explores poetic attempts to redefine the relationship between subjective expression and mechanical reproduction, high art and the world of things.Taking seriously Guillaume Apollinaire's wager that twentieth-century poets would one day "mechanize" poetry as modern industry has mechanized the world, Carrie Noland explores poetic attempts to redefine the relationship between subjective expression and mechanical reproduction, high art and the world of things. Noland builds upon close readings to construct a tradition of diverse lyricists--from Arthur Rimbaud, Blaise Cendrars, and Rene Char to contemporary performance artists Laurie Anderson and Patti Smith--allied in their concern with the nature of subjectivity in an age of mechanical reproduction.