The Language Letters

Selected 1970s Correspondence of Bruce Andrews, Charles Bernstein, and Ron Silliman

Edited by Matthew HoferMichael Golston

$75.00	Hardcover	978-0-8263-6065-6	June 2019
$75.00	E-book	978-0-8263-6066-3	June 2019

$75.00
Hardcover
978-0-8263-6065-6
June 2019

$75.00
E-book
978-0-8263-6066-3
June 2019

Details

Overview

Bruce Andrews and Charles Bernstein released the first issue of the poetics newsletter L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E in 1978, launching language-centered writing. The Language Letters reveals Language poetry in its nascent stage, with letters written by Andrews, Bernstein, Ron Silliman, and others in intense and intimate conversation regarding poetry and poetics; the contemporary poetry and arts scenes; publication venues, journals, and magazines; and issues of community, camaraderie, and friendship. The editors have included two critical introductions, two interviews with Bernstein and Andrews, and appendices that include a previously unpublished essay on Larry Eigner by Robert Grenier and short biographies of the major authors. Written between 1970 and 1978, these letters detail the development of the concepts and styles that came to define one of the most influential movements in post-1960s writing. Scholars, writers, and students of poetry will find this collection essential to understanding this important period of literary history.

Subjects: Literary Criticism

Contributor Bios

Matthew Hofer is an associate professor of English at the University of New Mexico. He is the editor of The Shoshoneans: The People of the Basin-Plateau, Expanded Edition (UNM Press).

Michael Golston is a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. He is the author of Poetic Machinations: Allegory, Surrealism, and Postmodern Poetic Form.

Acclaim

“These are long, passionate, verbally alive letters, imbued at every point with the sense that something interesting was happening.”—Bob Perelman, American Literary History

“From what appears to be an enormous archive of material, the editors Matthew Hofer and Michael Golston have made an informed selection focused on the formation of a shared sense of poetics and on the urge to establish a common infrastructure and critical forum for this geographically scattered and poetically fairly diverse, although demographically strikingly uniform, community.”—Solveig Daugaard, Textual Cultures

“This collection makes a compelling argument for reassessing the poetics of language poetry as emerging from an epistolary base. Accordingly, it reframes the various essays and reviews that appeared in the notorious L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E newsletter as extensions of epistolary form, postal formats, and intimately personal correspondences. The implications for the history of late twentieth-century poetry are provocative and revelatory.”—Craig Dworkin, editor of The Consequence of Innovation: 21st Century Poetics

Contents

Acknowledgments
Note on the Text
Preface: L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Notification Flyer
Introduction. “More Public.”
Matthew Hofer
Introduction. “Correspondence beyond the Letter.”
Michael Golston

The Language Letters
1. Robert Grenier to Ron Silliman, 12/1/70
2. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, n.d.
3. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 12/6/71
4. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 12/10/71
5. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 12/26/71
6. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 1/17/72
7. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 2/3/72
8. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 2/10/72
9. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 3/12/72
10. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 3/21/72
11. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 3/27/72
12. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 4/29/72
13. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, n.d.
14. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 8/17/72
15. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, “1/2X/73”
16. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 6/7/73
17. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 6/12/73
18. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 8/7/73
19. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 12/1/73
20. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 12/16/73
21. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 3/11/74
22. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 5/2/74
23. Steve McCaffery to Bruce Andrews, “fall ’75”
24. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 9/10/75
25. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 10/12/75
26. Charles Bernstein to Ron Silliman, 1/28/76
27. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 3/16/76
28. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 4/23/76
29. Ron Silliman to Charles Bernstein, 7/26/76
30. Charles Bernstein to Ron Silliman, 8/15/76
31. Ron Silliman to Charles Bernstein, 9/3/76
32. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 9/13/76
33. Steve McCaffery to Charles Bernstein, 9/14/76
34. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 11/6/76
35. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 11/10/76
36. Charles Bernstein to Bruce Andrews, 11/15/76
37. Steve McCaffery to Bruce Andrews, 11/23/76
38. Lyn Hejinian to Charles Bernstein, 12/16/76
39. Charles Bernstein to Ron Silliman, 2/14/77
40. Ron Silliman to Charles Bernstein and Bruce Andrews, 2/17/77
41. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 2/26/77
42. Charles Bernstein to Ron Silliman and Bruce Andrews, 3/4/77
43. Ron Silliman to Carole Korzeniowsky, 3/8/77
44. Ron Silliman to Charles Bernstein and Bruce Andrews, 3/28/77
45. Charles Bernstein to Ron Silliman, 5/19/77
46. Charles Bernstein to Steve McCaffery, “early June ’77”
47. Charles Bernstein to Ron Silliman, 6/8/77
48. Lyn Hejinian to Ron Silliman, 6/16/77
49. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 7/16/77
50. Charles Bernstein to Barrett Watten, 7/17/77
51. Bruce Andrews to Lyn Hejinian, 7/29/77
52. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 8/2/77
53. Charles Bernstein to Bruce Andrews, 8/25/77
54. Charles Bernstein to Lyn Hejinian, 8/26/77
55. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 8/29/77
56. Ron Silliman to Charles Bernstein, 8/31/77
57. Lyn Hejinian to Charles Bernstein, 8/31/77
58. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 9/4/77
59. Bruce Andrews to Lyn Hejinian, 10/9/77
60. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 10/10/77
61. Ron Silliman to Charles Bernstein, 10/22/77
62. Ron Silliman to Charles Bernstein, 10/28/77
63. Charles Bernstein to Ron Silliman, 11/1/77
64. Charles Bernstein to Jackson Mac Low, 11/13/77
65. Lyn Hejinian to Charles Bernstein, 12/9/77
66. Ron Silliman to Charles Bernstein, 2/18/78
67. P. Inman to Charles Bernstein, 6/22/78
68. Bruce Andrews to Ron Silliman, 8/4-5/78
69. Ron Silliman to Bruce Andrews, 2/3/78
70. Lapsed Subscription Notification

Appendix One. Robert Grenier/Bruce Andrews Letters and “Three Possibilities -- for Larry Eigner” (Unpublished Essay)
Appendix Two. The Pacifica Interview: Susan Howe with Bruce Andrews and Charles Bernstein
Appendix Three. Contemporary Interview: Michael Golston and Matthew Hofer with Bruce Andrews and Charles Bernstein
Appendix Four. Mailing Labels for Original ~250 Subscribers
Appendix Five. Language Distributing Service Flyer
Glossary of Major Authors of Letters
Glossary of Cited Magazines, Journals, Presses, and Projects
Index

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