Poetry Criticism

Fables of Representation by Paul Hoover

Further Requirements by Philip Larkin

On James Tate edited by Brian Henry

Fables of Representation: Essays

Paul Hoover

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

From the acclaimed author of Winter (Mirror) and Rehearsal in Black, Fables of Representation is a powerful collection of essays on the state of contemporary poetry, free from the stultifying theoretical jargon of recent literary history.

With its title essay, "Fables of Representation," one of the most cogent studies ever written of the New York School of poets (a group that includes the influential poet John Ashbery), this book is required reading for anyone who seeks to understand the poetry and culture of the postmodern period.

Author Paul Hoover's wide-ranging subjects include African-American interdisciplinary studies; the position of poetry in the electronic age; the notion of doubleness in the work of Harryette Mullen and others; the lyricism of the New York School poets; and the role of reality in American poetry. Hoover also introduces two provocative essays sure to generate attention and discussion: "The Postmodern Era: A Final Exam" and "The New Millennium: Fifty Statements on Literature and Culture."

Paul Hoover is the editor of the anthology Postmodern American Poetry and author of nine poetry collections, including Totem and Shadow: New and Selected Poems and Viridian. His poetry has appeared in American Poetry Review, The New Republic, and The Paris Review, among others. He is Poet-in-Residence at Columbia College, Chicago.

March 2004
192 pages

Further Requirements: Interviews, Broadcasts, Statements and Book Reviews, 1952-85

Philip Larkin

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

Further Requirements follows Larkin's Required Writing in gathering interviews, broadcasts, statements, and reviews that collectively offer a surprising portrait of Larkin: mordant, modest, intolerant, and generous—but always himself.

Philip Larkin (1922-85) was a prolific and honored British poet, editor, fiction writer, and reviewer. His books of poetry include High Windows, The Whitsun Weddings, and The Less Deceived.

April 2004
400 pages

On James Tate

Brian Henry, Editor

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

As winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Tanning Prize, the William Carlos Williams Award, and the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award, among others, James Tate by any measure is one of the country's most important contemporary poets. Yet his work has received inadequate critical attention, perhaps because his poetry doesn't lend itself to easy summary or explication.

With new contributions by Mark Ford, Kevin Hart, John Kinsella, Katherine Lederer, David Lehman, Marjorie Perloff, Bin Ramke, and Andrew Zawacki, On James Tate aims to correct that perception and help readers approach this often-misconstrued poet with increased understanding and insight.

Brian Henry is Associate Professor of English at the University of Georgia and editor of Verse.

April 2004
188 pages