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Stevens and the Interpersonal
Contributor(s): Halliday, Mark (Author)
ISBN: 0691605246     ISBN-13: 9780691605241
Publisher: Princeton University Press
OUR PRICE:   $33.25  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: July 2014
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Poetry | American - General
- Literary Criticism | American - General
Dewey: 811.52
Physical Information: 0.44" H x 6.14" W x 9.21" (0.65 lbs) 206 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

With Wallace Stevens emerging as a father figure for American poetry of the late twentieth century, Mark Halliday argues that it is time for this poet of ideas to undergo an ethical critique. In this bold, accessible reconsideration of Stevens' work, he insists on the importance of interpersonal relations in any account of human life in the modern world. Although Stevens outwardly denies aspects of life that center on such relations as those between friends, lovers, family members, and political constituents, Halliday uncovers in his poetry an anxious awareness of the importance of these relations. Here we see the difficulties Stevens made for himself in wanting to offer a thoroughly satisfying version of secular spiritual health in the modern world without facing up to the moral and psychological implications of his own interpersonal needs, problems, and responsibilities. The final chapter reveals, however, an unusually encouraging avuncular attitude toward the reader of the poetry, which may be felt to redeem Stevens from the alienation observed earlier. Halliday develops his views by way of comparisons between Stevens and other poets, especially Thomas Hardy, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and John Ashbery.

Originally published in 1991.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.