Product Description

One of the greatest living poets in English here explores the work of six writers he often finds himself reading “in order to get started” when writing. Among those whom Ashbery reads at such times are John Clare, Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Raymond Roussel, John Wheelwright, Laura Riding, and David Schubert. Less familiar than some, under Ashbery’s scrutiny these poets emerge as the powerful but private and somewhat wild voices whose eccentricity has kept them from the mainstream--and whose vision merits Ashbery’s efforts, and our own, to read them well.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1785939 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 176 pages

From Library Journal
This engaging set of essays by Ashbery, the much-celebrated American poet, was originally a set of lectures at Harvard. The essays are not hermetic. They explore andAwith great easeAreveal the lives and work of six writers: John Clare, Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Raymond Roussel, John Wheelwright, Laura Riding, and David Schubert. The first three essays gently begin binding together an abundance of motives for writing, from poetic visions and intoxications to theatrical dreams. History and geography are shown to be important but not everything. Poverty, madness, and sex are integral but not over-emphasized. Where others have deconstructed and codified, Ashbery is intimate and revealing, be the subject England, Romanticism, Brooklyn, Marxism, Nashville, or Modernism. In each essay, he attempts to grasp and convey the strange originality of each writer's work, providing a "user-friendly" set of illuminating commentaries about the legacy and dignity of writing and the nature of truth and poetry. For all academic and larger public libraries.AScott Hightower, Fordham Univ., New York
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"John Ashbery is arguably one of the two or three greatest living American poets. -- Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World

"Recklessness... is the salient feature that connects the six little-known and disparate writers that Ashbery chose to discuss. -- Mark Ford, New Republic

"[Ashbery] untangles their lives from their work, their obscurity from their talent and their importance to us from their obscurity. -- Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times Book Review

"[This is Ashbery] at his most accessible. Each of the six poets [he] discusses...is one of his favorites. -- Taylor Antrim, New York Times Book Review

Review
John Ashbery is arguably one of the two or three greatest living American poets...
--Michael Dirda (Washington Post Book World 20001112)

[Ashbery] untangles their lives from their work, their obscurity from their talent and their importance to us from their obscurity.
--Susan Salter Reynolds (Los Angeles Times Book Review 20010101)

[This is Ashbery] at his most accessible. Each of the six poets [he] discusses...is one of his favorites...
--Taylor Antrim (New York Times Book Review )

Recklessness... is the salient feature that connects the six little-known and disparate writers that Ashbery chose to discuss...
--Mark Ford (New Republic )

Customer Reviews

Unusual perspective on poetry
Instead of offering predictable comments on well-known poets, John Ashbery has chosen to explain his preference for seemingly eccentric figures like John Clare and Raymond Roussel. While Ashbery is a difficult poet, his prose is reader-friendly; this book, then, provides insight into Ashbery's own unique poetic sensibility, as well as into the poets and writers he has chosen.

This book provokes thought about issues of literary value. Why does Ashbery find supposedly "minor" figures more inspiring of his own writing? Are his arguments for the value of these figures ultimately convincing? Do marginality and eccentricity have an intrinsic value for him? Before reading this book I did know something about Laura Riding, Raymond Roussel, and John Clare; the other writers came as revelations to me. I am not convinced that every figure treated is of equal interest, but I am fascinated by Ashbery's own responses to these practically unknown "cult authors."

a doorway
Every once in a while, I come across a book that opens up new doors for me. They introduce to me to areas of life that I otherwise might never have encountered. Other Traditions by John Ashbery is just such a book.

I have always had a love for, but limited knowledge of, Poetry. It was Edward Hirsch's great book How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry that first introduced me to Ashbery's work. He is, in my opinion, one of the greatest living poets. Therefore, I jumped at the opportunity to read Other Traditions.

Other Traditions is the book form of a series of lectures given by Ashbery on other poets. Ashbery writes about six of the lesser-known artists who have had an impact on his own life and work. All of them are fascinating. They are:

-John Clare, a master at describing nature who spent the last 27 years of his life in an Asylum.

-Thomas Lovell Beddoes, a rather death obsessed author (he ended up taking his own life) whose greatest poetry consists of fragments that must often be culled from the pages of his lengthy dramas.

-Raymond Roussel, a French author whose magnum opus is actually a book-length sentence.

-John Wheelwright, a politically engaged genius whose ultra-dense poetry even Ashbery has a hard time describing or comprehending.

-Laura Riding, a poet of great talent and intellect who chose to forsake poetry (check out the copyright page).

-David Schubert, an obscure poet who Ashbery feels is one of the greatest of the Twentieth Century.

The two that I was most pleasantly surprised by are Clare and Riding.

Clare has become (since I picked up a couple of his books) one of my favorite poets. He is a master at describing rural life. I know of no one quite like him. Ashbery's true greatness as a critic comes out when he depicts Clare as "making his rounds."

Riding, on the other hand, represents the extreme version of every author's desire for the public to read their work in a precise way--the way the author intends it to be read. Her intense combativeness and sensitivity to criticism is as endearing as it is humorous.

Other Traditions has given me a key to a whole new world of books. For that I am most grateful.

I give this book my full recommendation.

Gem of Oddities
This book is much smaller than I thought it would be, but this only enhances its gem-like charm; from its rich cover to its finely homespun interior. I thought at first I had heard it all before from Ashbery, in his short Schubert and Roussel essays, and in comments dropped in Reported Sightings; but even when covering the same ground he subtly brings forth new worlds. It's refreshing to hear him talk of these beloved poets, like a tour through the comfortable rooms of his mind, which of course also offers countless insights into Ashbery's own career of poetic journeys. I recommend this book to both literary scavengers of the past and arcane poets of the future, but especially to the intriguing combination of both living a dream right now.