Poetry

A Rage to Order by Rachelle K. Lerner

A Rage to Order

Rachelle K. Lerner

Rights: World
For more info, contact Michael Kehoe at mkehoe@umich.edu

A volatile mix of showman, raconteur, and secular monk, Kenneth Rexroth is today widely regarded as the founder of the San Francisco Renaissance, the arts movement of the 1940s and 50s that made the city the hub of American avant-garde poetry. But Rexroth was many other things as well. But it was as a poet that Rexroth made his greatest mark. He was artistically bold and eclectic, exploring modernism, mysticism, politics, and philosophy, as well as influences ranging from Ancient Greek lyric poetry to Asian forms such as the haiku. His breadth of knowledge and prominence in many literary communities made him a vital resource for New Directions publisher James Laughlin, who built his company's identity largely around Rexroth's recommendations, such as Gary Snyder, Dylan Thomas, William Everson, and Denise Levertov.

But Rexroth's constant making and unmaking of himself veered toward a tragic course of self-destructiveness, and despite his immense body of work as a poet, editor, and translator, and his central importance to the avant-garde movements that followed after him—particularly the Beats—he had, for several decades, largely disappeared from the literary record. However, a new generation of poets has now begun rediscovering Rexroth's critical legacy.

Rachelle Lerner received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Toronto. From 1995-99 she was the editor of the literary magazine, Descant and editor of a Descant special issue American Poetry in Focus (1998). Currently she is senior editor and writer for the Ontario Ministries of Education, and of Training, Colleges and Universities.

Spring 2009
450 Pages