Uncertain Poetries

by Michael Heller

Salt Publishing, Paperback. Brand new.condition. Uncertain Poetries by Michael Heller. These essays concern the uncertain nature of 20th Century poetry. Dealing with such major figures as Pound, Stevens, Moore, Oppen, Duncan, Niedecker, Lorca, Rilke and Mallarme and of poets in more contemporary modernist and post modernist lineages, they examine how these poets articulate, virtually in the same breath, both affirmation and doubt concerning poetry, history and knowledge.

Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Michael Heller has published more than twenty-five volumes of poetry, essays, and memoir. His recent works include the poetry collection This Constellation Is a Name: Collected Poems 1965–2010, Dianoia, and Beckmann Variations and Other Poems, a work in prose and poetry. He is the recipient of numerous prizes, including awards from the Poetry Society of America, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Fund for Poetry. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Kevin Fitzpatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Even now poetic men (e.g. Emerson, Lipiner) still seek the limits of knowledge, indeed preferably of skepticism, in order to break ree of the spell of logic. They want uncertainty, because then the magician, intimations, and the great sentiments become possible again." Friedrich Nietzsche

Thus Michael Heller, poet, essayist, and critic, utilizes an epigram from the great nihilist philosopher of the 19th century (and precursor to the 20th) to start his wonderful collection of essays entitled "Uncertain Poetries." This is a genius-level action on the part of the purveyor of these pieces for it is the idee' fixe of indeterminacy that acts as a surveying angel over all these varied pieces of criticism and hagiography. The book itself is divided into four discrete sections, each dealing with some aspect of the topography of the modern and post-modern poetry and poetics of the 20th century. So we gain insight, in these pieces, into the worlds/visions/words of Pound, Moore, Niedecker, Ignatow, Mallarme', and Bronk, who each, in their unique and inimitable manners, tackled the challenge of creating meaning in a poetic world where the sign has been cleaved from its union with the signifier. Reading these pieces requires patience and acquaintance with the critical world of 20th century literary criticism (it is not for the faint-hearted or the diction challenged), but the reward one gains is clear, unsullied insight into the subject at hand, a subject which is essential to those who till in the garden of literature. Perhaps the essays reach their climax near the end of the collection where Mr. Heller allows a glimpse into his own personal journey/struggle/'agon' with the muses, revealing a past where he too was 'uncertain' in his views. Yet, in the end, upon completion of the book, one is left with a great sense of satisfaction for one has gained clarity concerning the opaque world of words/poetry. This is no mean feat, and one is left in silent recognition of the genius of the author and the generosity of his gift.