A Social Biography of Contemporary Innovative Poetry Communities: The Gift, the Wager, and Poethics (Modern and Contemporary Poetry and Poetics)

This book offers a new reading of Marcell Mauss’ and Lewis Hyde’s theories of poetry as gift, exploring poetry exchanges within 20 th and 21 st century communities of poets, publishers, audiences and readers operating along a gift economy. The text considers trans-Atlantic case studies across fields of performance and ecopoetics, small press publishing and poetry institutions, with focus on Joan Retallack, Bob Holman, Anne Waldman, Bob Cobbing, and feminist performance. Elizabeth-Jane Burnett focuses on innovative poetry that resists commodification, drawing on ethnography to show parallels with gift giving tribal societies; she also considers the ethical, philosophical and psychological motivations for such exchanges with particular reference to poethics. This book will appeal to researchers in modern poetry, poetry teachers, advanced students of modern literature, and those with an interest in poetry. Annotation This text offers a new reading of Marcell Mauss' and Lewis Hyde's theories of poetry as gift, exploring poetry exchanges within 20th and 21st century communities of poets, publishers, audiences and readers operating along a gift economy. The text considers trans-Atlantic case studies across fields of performance and ecopoetics, small press publishing and poetry institutions, with focus on Joan Retallack, Bob Holman, Anne Waldman, Bob Cobbing, and feminist performance. Elizabeth-Jane Burnett focuses on innovative poetry that resists commodification, drawing on ethnography to show parallels with gift giving tribal societies; she also considers the ethical, philosophical and psychological motivations for such exchanges with particular reference to poethics Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Gifts (Elizabeth-Jane Burnett)....Pages 1-21 Wagers (Elizabeth-Jane Burnett)....Pages 23-44 Rapport as Return: Bob Holman, Spoken Word and Bowery Poetry (Elizabeth-Jane Burnett)....Pages 45-69 Becoming a Bridge: The Poet’s Bodhisattva Vow: Anne Waldman and Naropa (Elizabeth-Jane Burnett)....Pages 71-97 A Circuit of Energies: Bob Cobbing, Sound Poetry and Writers Forum (Elizabeth-Jane Burnett)....Pages 99-129 Gendered Gifts: Feminist Performance Practice (Elizabeth-Jane Burnett)....Pages 131-162 Difficult Gifts: Ecopoethics and the Task of Environmentalism (Elizabeth-Jane Burnett)....Pages 163-199 Conclusion (Elizabeth-Jane Burnett)....Pages 201-211 Back Matter ....Pages 213-217