Poetry After the Invention of América: Don’t Light the Flower (Modern and Contemporary Poetry and Poetics)

This collection of essays traces the emergence of the Western poem from the standpoint of its collision with "American" otherness, particularly, the Latin American tradition. Unlike works extending Western conceptions of writing or searching for an alleged American ethnopoetics, this book approaches literature as a Western invention and, in turn, seeks out correspondences between traditions Front Matter....Pages i-xxi Indigenous Litter-ature....Pages 1-7 Drinking on the Pre-mises: The K’ulta “Poem”....Pages 9-11 Language, Poetry, Money....Pages 13-14 Crossbreed: Examining the Braid of Fiction....Pages 15-18 Aged War....Pages 19-23 Overborders....Pages 25-33 A Fatherless Poem?....Pages 35-43 Umiri—Misturaski....Pages 45-50 Flower of Extermination....Pages 51-72 And/or to Live to Tell It....Pages 73-74 Kissed Into: The Shared Today of Mapuche Letters ....Pages 75-79 On Amerindian Language and (Contemporary) Poetry: Writingsouth....Pages 81-89 The Unheard-of in Poetry | Today....Pages 91-105 How Can We Fail to Respond?....Pages 107-115 Nobody in Chilean Poetry....Pages 117-125 Sticking Your Foot in It....Pages 127-132 Flat-Out: A Call for Pampa Poetry....Pages 133-138 The Occasionals....Pages 139-140 Postface....Pages 141-142 Back Matter....Pages 143-178 Cover 1 Title -1 Copyright -1 Contents -1 Acknowledgments -1 Preface by Erín Moure and Forrest Gander -1 Foreword by Alberto Moreiras -1 1 Indigenous Litter-ature 23 2 Drinking on the Pre- mises: The K’ulta “Poem” 30 3 Language, Poetry, Money 33 4 Crossbreed: Examining the Braid of Fiction 35 5 Aged War 39 6 Overborders 44 7 A Fatherless Poem? 53 8 Umiri—Misturaski 62 9 Flower of Extermination 68 10 And/or to Live to Tell It 90 11 Kissed Into: The Shared Today of Mapuche Letters 92 12 On Amerindian Language and (Contemporary) Poetry: Writingsouth 97 13 The Unheard- of in Poetry | Today 106 14 How Can We Fail to Respond? 121 15 Nobody in Chilean Poetry 130 16 Sticking Your Foot in It 139 17 Flat-Out: A Call for Pampa Poetry 145 18 The Occasionals 151 Postface 153 Notes 155 Selected Bibliography 179 Index 185 "These essays trace the Western poem as it confronts indigenous alterity in Latin America. Rather than extend Western conceptions of writing in search of an alleged Amerindian ethno-literature, Ajens approaches literature as a Western invention. This book discusses a wide range of indigenous American, Hispanic, and European texts, with a focus on language, authorship, genre, and translation"--Provided by publisher