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American Originality: Essays on Poetry
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE
A luminous collection of essays from Louise Glück, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and one of our most original and influential poets
Five decades after her debut poetry collection, Firstborn , Louise Glück is a towering figure in American letters. Written with the same probing, analytic control that has long distinguished her poetry, American Originality is Glück’s second book of essays―her first, Proofs and Theories , won the 1993 PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction. Glück’s moving and disabusing lyricism is on full display in this decisive new collection.
From its opening pages, American Originality forces readers to consider contemporary poetry and its demigods in radical, unconsoling, and ultimately very productive ways. Determined to wrest ample, often contradictory meaning from our current literary discourse, Glück comprehends and destabilizes notions of “narcissism” and “genius” that are unique to the American literary climate. This includes erudite analyses of the poets who have interested her throughout her own career, such as Rilke, Pinsky, Chiasson, and Dobyns, and introductions to the first books of poets like Dana Levin, Peter Streckfus, Spencer Reece, and Richard Siken. Forceful, revealing, challenging, and instructive, American Originality is a seminal critical achievement.
A luminous collection of essays from Louise Glück, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and one of our most original and influential poets
Five decades after her debut poetry collection, Firstborn , Louise Glück is a towering figure in American letters. Written with the same probing, analytic control that has long distinguished her poetry, American Originality is Glück’s second book of essays―her first, Proofs and Theories , won the 1993 PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction. Glück’s moving and disabusing lyricism is on full display in this decisive new collection.
From its opening pages, American Originality forces readers to consider contemporary poetry and its demigods in radical, unconsoling, and ultimately very productive ways. Determined to wrest ample, often contradictory meaning from our current literary discourse, Glück comprehends and destabilizes notions of “narcissism” and “genius” that are unique to the American literary climate. This includes erudite analyses of the poets who have interested her throughout her own career, such as Rilke, Pinsky, Chiasson, and Dobyns, and introductions to the first books of poets like Dana Levin, Peter Streckfus, Spencer Reece, and Richard Siken. Forceful, revealing, challenging, and instructive, American Originality is a seminal critical achievement.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published March 14, 2017
153 people are currently reading
1666 people want to read
About the author
Louise Glück
96 books2,166 followersAmerican poet Louise Elisabeth Glück served as poet laureate of the United States from 2003 to 2004.
Parents of Hungarian Jewish heritage reared her on Long Island. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and later Columbia University.
She was the author of twelve books of poetry, including: A Village Life (2009); Averno (2006), which was a finalist for The National Book Award; The Seven Ages (2001); Vita Nova (1999), which was awarded The New Yorker's Book Award in Poetry; Meadowlands (1996); The Wild Iris (1992), which received the Pulitzer Prize and the William Carlos Williams Award of the Poetry Society of America; Ararat (1990), which received the Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry from the Library of Congress. She also published a collection of essays, Proofs and Theories: Essays on Poetry (1994), which won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction.
In 2001, Yale University awarded Louise Glück its Bollingen Prize in Poetry, given biennially for a poet's lifetime achievement in his or her art. Her other honors include the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry, the Sara Teasdale Memorial Prize (Wellesley, 1986), the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1993 for her collection, The Wild Iris . Glück is the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award ( Triumph of Achilles ), the Academy of American Poet's Prize ( Firstborn ), as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Anniversary Medal (2000), and fellowships from the Guggenheim, Rockefeller foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts.
In 2020, Glück was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal."
Glück also worked as a senior lecturer in English at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, served as a member of the faculty of the University of Iowa and taught at Goddard College in Vermont. She lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and teached as the Rosencranz writer in residence at Yale University and in the creative writing program of Boston University.
Parents of Hungarian Jewish heritage reared her on Long Island. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and later Columbia University.
She was the author of twelve books of poetry, including: A Village Life (2009); Averno (2006), which was a finalist for The National Book Award; The Seven Ages (2001); Vita Nova (1999), which was awarded The New Yorker's Book Award in Poetry; Meadowlands (1996); The Wild Iris (1992), which received the Pulitzer Prize and the William Carlos Williams Award of the Poetry Society of America; Ararat (1990), which received the Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry from the Library of Congress. She also published a collection of essays, Proofs and Theories: Essays on Poetry (1994), which won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction.
In 2001, Yale University awarded Louise Glück its Bollingen Prize in Poetry, given biennially for a poet's lifetime achievement in his or her art. Her other honors include the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry, the Sara Teasdale Memorial Prize (Wellesley, 1986), the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1993 for her collection, The Wild Iris . Glück is the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award ( Triumph of Achilles ), the Academy of American Poet's Prize ( Firstborn ), as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Anniversary Medal (2000), and fellowships from the Guggenheim, Rockefeller foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts.
In 2020, Glück was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal."
Glück also worked as a senior lecturer in English at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, served as a member of the faculty of the University of Iowa and taught at Goddard College in Vermont. She lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and teached as the Rosencranz writer in residence at Yale University and in the creative writing program of Boston University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
October 16, 2017
Glück's essays on poems are not new as expected, but collected from old publications, chiefly The Threepenny Review. I also expected, like Matthew Zapruder's Why Poetry, these would be of interest not only to readers of poetry, but writers of poetry. Turns out, not so much.
One entire section, for instance, consists of introductions Glück wrote to poetry contest winner's books in contests she served as judge. Ten of them. In a book of 20 essays. I don't know why these were less compelling to me, but they were.
If, once you're into the essay, you find the excerpts of the poet's work are of little interest, what's a reader to do? Trudge on? Skim? Lou, lou, skip to the next essay's lou?
You see the problem. Hats off to Glück, however, for her introduction to this section. She claims she took a pass on reading pre-screened entrants' works only and read ALL OF THEM because she thought it was only right. Wow. That's character. Ten-star character. Louise, I salute you!
Finally, I admit that the diction and the vocabulary were, at times, like something my academic professors would assign. Assiduous. Challenging. Head-scratching. Just when I thought I was ready for any big-boy book thrown at me, too.
Sigh. Back to my poetry primers, I guess....
One entire section, for instance, consists of introductions Glück wrote to poetry contest winner's books in contests she served as judge. Ten of them. In a book of 20 essays. I don't know why these were less compelling to me, but they were.
If, once you're into the essay, you find the excerpts of the poet's work are of little interest, what's a reader to do? Trudge on? Skim? Lou, lou, skip to the next essay's lou?
You see the problem. Hats off to Glück, however, for her introduction to this section. She claims she took a pass on reading pre-screened entrants' works only and read ALL OF THEM because she thought it was only right. Wow. That's character. Ten-star character. Louise, I salute you!
Finally, I admit that the diction and the vocabulary were, at times, like something my academic professors would assign. Assiduous. Challenging. Head-scratching. Just when I thought I was ready for any big-boy book thrown at me, too.
Sigh. Back to my poetry primers, I guess....
November 21, 2018
I have yet to read Louise Gluck's poetry, but I will be ordering her collection. Her essays and criticism in 'American Originality' are informed by great intelligence, sensitivity, and insight.
I found the first section of essays on contemporary poetry very confusing-the essays perhaps more abstruse than much of what passes for contemporary poetry these days. Section two was more accessible and I was becoming used to her high but abstract erudition.
Section three was the highlight for me: the introductions Gluck wrote for ten prize winning books of poetry she chose as judge. Gluck is an exceptionally generous, articulate, and creative reviewer, praising and analyzing the poems with a high level of insight and knowledge. It would be wonderful to be a young poet and have her choose and praise your first book.
Does anyone else enjoy reading reviews of books of poetry without having read the books beforehand or even other works by the poet? I love it-such reviews are often filled with interesting descriptions of literary theory, philosophy, psychology, art, and poetics. I sometimes think I like reading about poetry more than reading the poetry itself.
In section four Gluck gets more personal and the book concludes with an essay espousing the virtues of happiness and well-being to the poetic life. I tend to agree with her.
It was a pleasure to read 'American Originality' and I will have to go back and read her first collection of essays 'Proofs and Theories' sometime too.
I found the first section of essays on contemporary poetry very confusing-the essays perhaps more abstruse than much of what passes for contemporary poetry these days. Section two was more accessible and I was becoming used to her high but abstract erudition.
Section three was the highlight for me: the introductions Gluck wrote for ten prize winning books of poetry she chose as judge. Gluck is an exceptionally generous, articulate, and creative reviewer, praising and analyzing the poems with a high level of insight and knowledge. It would be wonderful to be a young poet and have her choose and praise your first book.
Does anyone else enjoy reading reviews of books of poetry without having read the books beforehand or even other works by the poet? I love it-such reviews are often filled with interesting descriptions of literary theory, philosophy, psychology, art, and poetics. I sometimes think I like reading about poetry more than reading the poetry itself.
In section four Gluck gets more personal and the book concludes with an essay espousing the virtues of happiness and well-being to the poetic life. I tend to agree with her.
It was a pleasure to read 'American Originality' and I will have to go back and read her first collection of essays 'Proofs and Theories' sometime too.
June 5, 2022
RATING: 3 STARS
American Originality was published in 2016, but a many of the essays are from late 90s and early 2000s. As Louise Gluck is a new to me author as of last year, I had not seen any of these. There is a section of introductions that Gluck has done for other poets's collections. I found some essays a bit more interesting than others. This sort of depends on what you are interested in about poetry. There is some assumption that you are at least intermediate in poetry. There were three essays that stood out for me. (Of course now I can't remember the names of them).
American Originality was published in 2016, but a many of the essays are from late 90s and early 2000s. As Louise Gluck is a new to me author as of last year, I had not seen any of these. There is a section of introductions that Gluck has done for other poets's collections. I found some essays a bit more interesting than others. This sort of depends on what you are interested in about poetry. There is some assumption that you are at least intermediate in poetry. There were three essays that stood out for me. (Of course now I can't remember the names of them).
Read
November 13, 2021Lähdin lukemaan Esseitä amerikkalaisuuden ytimestä uteliaan innostuneena, mutta erityisesti teoksen ensimmäiset esseet, joissa Glück käsittelee mm. Thomas Mannin Buddenbrookeja sekä runoilijoista esim.. Stephen Dobynsiä ja Robert Pinskyä olivat melkoista tarpomista, enkä saanut näistä teksteistä irti oikein mitään silloinkaan, kun vaikutti siltä, että Glück oli periaatteessa hienojen havaintojen äärellä.
Pohdin, että kenties Glück yksinkertaisesti kuuluu kirjoittajiin, jonka tarkastelutapa ei vaan avaudu minulle. Tämä tuli minulle yllätyksenä, sillä pidin paljon Glückin runokokoelmasta Uskollinen ja hyveellinen yö (Enostone, 2020). Nyt kun Glückin esseiden lukemisesta on kulunut jo muutamia päiviä olen alkanut tulla yhä enemmän siihen tulokseen, että teoksen nimi Esseitä amerikkalaisuuden ytimestä oli luonut odotushorisontin, johon itse teos ei vastannut. Odotin analyysiä amerikkalaisuudesta ja sitä en tästä teoksesta oikein löytänyt. Teos sisältää kiinnostavia ajatuksia, mutta niistä ei muodostu laajempia kokonaisuuksia, vaan ne jäävät enemmän irrallisen tuntuisiksi huomioiksi.
"Nykyrunous sietää pääasiassa kahdentyyppisiä epätäydellisiä lauseita: keskeytettyjä lauseita tai lauseita joissa on välillä tyhjiä tiloja."
"[k]uinka suuri määrä epätarkkuutta tai pois jättämistä tai ei-viittaamista on jännittävää? Ja milloin näistä virityksistä tulee ongelmallisia tai, mikä vielä pahempaa, maneereja?"
Suurimman sivumäärän teoksessa vievät Glückin uusien amerikkalaisten nykyrunoilijoiden teoksia käsittelevät tekstit, jotka olivat minulle teoksen parasta antia ja joiden myötä kävin paikoin korkeuksissakin. Glück vaikuttaa olevan runojen lukijana haltioituvaa tyyppiä ja hänen innostuksensa on ilahduttavaa ja tarttuvaakin.
Omaksi suosikikseni nousi Richard Siken kokoelmallaan Rusentuminen.
Pohdin, että kenties Glück yksinkertaisesti kuuluu kirjoittajiin, jonka tarkastelutapa ei vaan avaudu minulle. Tämä tuli minulle yllätyksenä, sillä pidin paljon Glückin runokokoelmasta Uskollinen ja hyveellinen yö (Enostone, 2020). Nyt kun Glückin esseiden lukemisesta on kulunut jo muutamia päiviä olen alkanut tulla yhä enemmän siihen tulokseen, että teoksen nimi Esseitä amerikkalaisuuden ytimestä oli luonut odotushorisontin, johon itse teos ei vastannut. Odotin analyysiä amerikkalaisuudesta ja sitä en tästä teoksesta oikein löytänyt. Teos sisältää kiinnostavia ajatuksia, mutta niistä ei muodostu laajempia kokonaisuuksia, vaan ne jäävät enemmän irrallisen tuntuisiksi huomioiksi.
"Nykyrunous sietää pääasiassa kahdentyyppisiä epätäydellisiä lauseita: keskeytettyjä lauseita tai lauseita joissa on välillä tyhjiä tiloja."
"[k]uinka suuri määrä epätarkkuutta tai pois jättämistä tai ei-viittaamista on jännittävää? Ja milloin näistä virityksistä tulee ongelmallisia tai, mikä vielä pahempaa, maneereja?"
Suurimman sivumäärän teoksessa vievät Glückin uusien amerikkalaisten nykyrunoilijoiden teoksia käsittelevät tekstit, jotka olivat minulle teoksen parasta antia ja joiden myötä kävin paikoin korkeuksissakin. Glück vaikuttaa olevan runojen lukijana haltioituvaa tyyppiä ja hänen innostuksensa on ilahduttavaa ja tarttuvaakin.
Omaksi suosikikseni nousi Richard Siken kokoelmallaan Rusentuminen.
November 23, 2021
Odotukset eivät kirjojen suhteen aina toteudu. Tiesin, että tässä Louise Glückin esseekokoelmassa on nippu esseitä ja sitten joukko runokirjojen esittelyjä. Ajattelin, että ohitellaan ne runoesittelyt ja nautitaan esseistä. Kävikin toisin.
Esseet nimittäin jättivät minut täysin kylmäksi. Bo Petterssonin alkusanoista taitaa käydä ilmi syy: "Tässä – kuten muissakin esseissä – on ilmeistä, että Glück lähinnä puhuttelee runouden harrastajia, sillä useimmat kokoelman tekstit on julkaistu kirjailijoiden ja kirjallisuudenharrastajien suosimassa aikakauslehdessä The Threepenny Review". Näitä ei siis ole koskaan minulle kirjoitettukaan, joten ehkä en pahastu, etteivät nämä tekstit minua puhutelleet millään tapaa.
Nimi ehkä johti harhaan. Ajattelin, että Glück olisi puhunut amerikkalaisuudesta. Puhuuhan hän, mutta hyvin rajatusta näkökulmasta, ja jotenkin kirjan kieli on niin koukeroista, ettei siitä jää minun käsiini juuri mitään. Jos on kiinnostunut amerikkalaisesta nykyrunoudesta ja vakavasti otettava runouden harrastaja, tästä kokoelmasta saanee irti merkittävästi enemmän.
Mutta ne runokirjojen esittelyt! Niissäkin Glück on minulle vähän liian korkeakirjallisella tasolla, mutta niistä hehkuu kuitenkin sellainen innostus ja intohimo, että se väkisinkin tarttuu. Nämä amerikkalaisrunoilijat lienevät tämän jälkeen jokseenkin yhtä vieraita kuin aikaisemminkin, mutta pidin silti tästä katsauksesta ja sen seurauksena olen nyt päättänyt, että annan runoudelle enemmän tilaa – jospa vaikka luen yhden runokokoelman kuussa ja katson, mihin se minut johtaa.
Esseet nimittäin jättivät minut täysin kylmäksi. Bo Petterssonin alkusanoista taitaa käydä ilmi syy: "Tässä – kuten muissakin esseissä – on ilmeistä, että Glück lähinnä puhuttelee runouden harrastajia, sillä useimmat kokoelman tekstit on julkaistu kirjailijoiden ja kirjallisuudenharrastajien suosimassa aikakauslehdessä The Threepenny Review". Näitä ei siis ole koskaan minulle kirjoitettukaan, joten ehkä en pahastu, etteivät nämä tekstit minua puhutelleet millään tapaa.
Nimi ehkä johti harhaan. Ajattelin, että Glück olisi puhunut amerikkalaisuudesta. Puhuuhan hän, mutta hyvin rajatusta näkökulmasta, ja jotenkin kirjan kieli on niin koukeroista, ettei siitä jää minun käsiini juuri mitään. Jos on kiinnostunut amerikkalaisesta nykyrunoudesta ja vakavasti otettava runouden harrastaja, tästä kokoelmasta saanee irti merkittävästi enemmän.
Mutta ne runokirjojen esittelyt! Niissäkin Glück on minulle vähän liian korkeakirjallisella tasolla, mutta niistä hehkuu kuitenkin sellainen innostus ja intohimo, että se väkisinkin tarttuu. Nämä amerikkalaisrunoilijat lienevät tämän jälkeen jokseenkin yhtä vieraita kuin aikaisemminkin, mutta pidin silti tästä katsauksesta ja sen seurauksena olen nyt päättänyt, että annan runoudelle enemmän tilaa – jospa vaikka luen yhden runokokoelman kuussa ja katson, mihin se minut johtaa.
January 15, 2018
Louise Gluck remains one of the most potent minds in literature, and this collection of essays further cements that status. She pulls apart the threads that contemporary poetry is sewn with with an eye that is careful, cutting, but generous. Gluck does a wonderful job in this collection of showing that the context of poetry being written--country, culture, science, familial realities--is just as important as the content of the poem itself. One essay in particualr, "Ersatz Thought," is remarkable in what it achieves, which is a thoughtful argument against the void, the unknowable being invoked in poetry as a way of seeming profound without actually reaching some kind of profound insight. Gluck has taken things that could only be said in poetry and translated them back to us in essay form. Should be required reading for anyone interested in or learning about poetry.
July 31, 2021
Honestly, I don't read much poetry. I don't feel like I 'get' poetry (should I even admit this). But I really want to enjoy it. Truly.
I found this collection of essays very instructive into what makes poetry poetry. I really appreciate the middle section with the introductions Glück wrote for the APR/Honickman First Book Prize was particularly useful for me. Reading how she reads a book of poems was a guide for me.
I also loved the last essay. In it, Glück insists that happiness is essential to the creation of art. She goes against the trope of despair as the sole root of creation, a sentiment I share.
I found this collection of essays very instructive into what makes poetry poetry. I really appreciate the middle section with the introductions Glück wrote for the APR/Honickman First Book Prize was particularly useful for me. Reading how she reads a book of poems was a guide for me.
I also loved the last essay. In it, Glück insists that happiness is essential to the creation of art. She goes against the trope of despair as the sole root of creation, a sentiment I share.
July 30, 2024
There were some very delicious meditations on poetry and art and life, as well as some harder-to-get-through essays that seemed to drag on. Overall, I preferred the second half to the first. I really appreciate Glück’s dedication to her craft; particularly, I was impressed by her choice to read every single submission to the contest she was judging (and horrified that doing so wasn’t the standard, even though I know that would be a high volume). Her perspective definitely has me excited to read more of her work, as well as the works of some of the poets she reviewed.
I’d recommend this to those that like poetry and poetry critiques.
I’d recommend this to those that like poetry and poetry critiques.
September 13, 2023
Insightful essays by (and into) Luise Gluck.
"My preference for the not-perfectly-coherent makes it particularly troubling to observe the degree to which lacunae and the improbable transitions of non sequitur have come to seem less thrilling than they used to seem. And I am somewhat more alert to the fact that, in practice, we tend to infuse these gaps with a vast range of feelings not actually suggested but rather not ruled out. Such diffuseness of response is at odds with what I want of art: helplessness, the sense of the poem as inescapable trajectory" (p.29).
"My preference for the not-perfectly-coherent makes it particularly troubling to observe the degree to which lacunae and the improbable transitions of non sequitur have come to seem less thrilling than they used to seem. And I am somewhat more alert to the fact that, in practice, we tend to infuse these gaps with a vast range of feelings not actually suggested but rather not ruled out. Such diffuseness of response is at odds with what I want of art: helplessness, the sense of the poem as inescapable trajectory" (p.29).
March 10, 2024
I enjoyed these essays. Gluck's criticism expanded my understanding and has given me a newfound appreciation for her own poetry. But some were too dense for my season in life. (I read most of them while nursing a 1 month baby and answering my 4 yr old's endless questions.)
It is divided into four sections the third being her introductions she wrote for poetry competitions. I found it difficult to read bookless, free-floating, introductions but it also perked my interest in three new (to me) poets: Jessica Fisher, Ken Chen, Katherine Larson - so in the end absolutely worth the read.
"Poetry survives because it haunts and it haunts because it is simultaneously utterly clear and deeply mysterious; because it cannot be entirely accounted for, it cannot be exhausted."
It is divided into four sections the third being her introductions she wrote for poetry competitions. I found it difficult to read bookless, free-floating, introductions but it also perked my interest in three new (to me) poets: Jessica Fisher, Ken Chen, Katherine Larson - so in the end absolutely worth the read.
"Poetry survives because it haunts and it haunts because it is simultaneously utterly clear and deeply mysterious; because it cannot be entirely accounted for, it cannot be exhausted."
December 6, 2017
About as dense as it gets, but Gluck's perspective on poetry and artistry are well-refined and from a seasoned expert.
The book fluctuates between her personal and very intellectual views on poetry as a practice and art form, to some of her reviews of other people's poetry from when she was a judge of several competitions/awards.
They are well written and include some truly fantastic poetry with useful explanations you are unlikely to see anywhere else.
The only thing stopping me from giving this more stars is that sometimes Glucks thoughts can be so abstract and dense that I have a hard time imagining anyone knows what she is getting at.
The book fluctuates between her personal and very intellectual views on poetry as a practice and art form, to some of her reviews of other people's poetry from when she was a judge of several competitions/awards.
They are well written and include some truly fantastic poetry with useful explanations you are unlikely to see anywhere else.
The only thing stopping me from giving this more stars is that sometimes Glucks thoughts can be so abstract and dense that I have a hard time imagining anyone knows what she is getting at.
February 9, 2023
Great book, tough read. Would probably be even better if so much of it hadn’t gone over my head
August 28, 2020
I wanted to say that this book started off really deep and hard to understand, but at the same time well-written and thoughtful. I wish that the ideas and what Louise was talking about at the beginning was written in a way that I could understand, because I believe that what she was saying is important and thoughtful. It went over my head. The parts that I could understand, it made me think deeply. Since the beginning of the book was written in such a manner that I struggled with, I wasn't really enjoying the book at first and even thought of not reading any more, but as I pushed through, the book's writing started to get more understandable to me and I started to really enjoy it a lot. This is kind of a hard book to review, because it is basically a person's thoughts on different poetry books as well as random sections on writing itself. Everyone feels differently and takes different things from books and for to judge other people's thoughts on books I haven't read doesn't feel right. But I did really enjoy reading Louise Glück's thoughts, she wrote about books in a way that was both beautiful and intellectual. Through her writing, I got a good overall glimpse at what each book was about and if I would enjoy them or not. She took a whole book and condensed it down. I especially enjoyed reading her thoughts on writing itself, there were a few topics in this book that I thought were well-written and made me think about writing. I wish there was more about writing, but for her to explore these well-known topics and to go deeper into them was enjoyable and thoughtful. Overall, a good read that I enjoyed and found more books to read.
December 4, 2021
Nobel-palkitun kirjailijan esseeteoksen vahvin osio käsittelee amerikkalaista nykyrunoutta, ja näiden esseiden kautta voi tutustua tutustua kiinnostaviin uusiin tekijöihin. Glück siteeraa runoja paljon; kääntäjä on tehnyt suuren työn eri runoilijoiden kanssa ilmeisesti vailla laajempaa runojen suomentamisen kokemusta. Runokritiikkiä kirjoittavan näkökulmasta analyyttiset kirjallisuusesseet antavat paljon. Toki Glückin runouskäsityksestä voi olla montaa mieltä, ja hänen jotkin kantansa esimerkiksi muodon ja ajattelun suhteen tuntuvat hyvin jyrkiltä. Esseeproosana teksti kokoelmassa on varsin toteavaa, toki myös täsmällistä ja huoliteltua. Alku- ja loppuosion laajempia ilmiöitä käsittelevät esseet eivät jättäneet niin vahvaa jälkeä, vaikka niissä oli mietityttäviä yksittäisiä kohtia – erityisesti “Kostosta” menee tehokkaasti asiaan ja kokemuksen ytimeen. Käsitellyistä runoilijoista erityisesti Jay Hoplerin tekstit iskivät, ja aloin jopa miettiä hänen The Green Squall -teoksensa hankkimista.
“Ainutlaatuisuutta etsitään nälkiintyneen kiihkolla; ylistyksen kirkkaimmat viirit viritetään toivottamaan se tervetulleeksi. Mutta uniikki toivotetaan tervetulleeksi kuitenkin tietyissä rajoissa, lähes mitä tahansa muodollista kekseliäisyyttä arvostetaan enemmän kuin omintakeisesti toimivaa mieltä.” (s. 19)
“Miten innostavaa onkaan löytää tänä jaarittelevana aikana kiteytyksissään nerokas runoilija.” (s. 121)
“Ainutlaatuisuutta etsitään nälkiintyneen kiihkolla; ylistyksen kirkkaimmat viirit viritetään toivottamaan se tervetulleeksi. Mutta uniikki toivotetaan tervetulleeksi kuitenkin tietyissä rajoissa, lähes mitä tahansa muodollista kekseliäisyyttä arvostetaan enemmän kuin omintakeisesti toimivaa mieltä.” (s. 19)
“Miten innostavaa onkaan löytää tänä jaarittelevana aikana kiteytyksissään nerokas runoilija.” (s. 121)
January 22, 2024
The title essay alone, the first in this collection, is worth the price of the book, but the rest mostly disappoints. For all her powers of perception and her incredible capacity to synthesize complex ideas into plain language and crystal-clear prose, Glück is not an essayist. The issues she is interested in - what is specific about contemporary American poetry, how does the experience of suffering shape one’s writing - are too large to be dealt with in a few pages. As a result, Glück’s essays, though some are quite moving, and occasionally convincing, also feel searching, impressionistic, incomplete. As a reviewer (since much of the book comprises not essays but introductions to books of poetry), Glück is enthusiastic, even oddly hyperbolic (she does not hesitate to call Dan Chiasson “a poet of dazzling intellectual resources and unmatched sophistication”), but she often lacks (or refuses to employ) a critical perspective, so that her encomia end up eliciting periodic “if you say so” shrugs. Most recognizable in Glück’s voice is that of the teacher, flattering the good students and propping them up as examples against the kind of inauthentic, imprecise and purely stylistic poetry she spent her teaching career combating. I will gladly return to Glück’s poetry, where her inexhaustible gifts reigned supreme, and leave these “essays” behind.
February 1, 2022
Erittäin Sivistävää Luettavaa. Miinusta suomennoksen ajoittaisesta kömpelyydestä, joka johtunee alkuteoksen melkoisen monimutkaisista lauserakenteista - kirjoittajan ajattelu on jotain muuta kuin jokapäiväinen "sitten se teki tätä ja ajatteli tätä". Kirjassa katsotaan syvälle yhdysvaltalaisen nykyrunouden sydämeen ja sieluun, ja koska en tunne tätä aihettta lainkaan, joka sivu tarjosi yllätyksiä. Kirjassa esitellään laaja kaarti amerikkalaisia nykyrunoilijoita, joista kenestäkään en ole koskaan kuullut, mutta mielenkiinto heräsi, vaikka on aivan selvää että esimerkkeinä toimivien runojen suomennoksiin ei oltu voitu panosta yhtä lailla kuin kokonaista runoteosta suomennettaessa.
Tähän kirjaan kannattaisi palata ajan ja noiden mainittujen runoilijoiden alkuperäisteosten kanssa.
Tähän kirjaan kannattaisi palata ajan ja noiden mainittujen runoilijoiden alkuperäisteosten kanssa.
February 9, 2022
Esseistä saa varmasti paljon enemmän irti, jos tuntee Glückin mainitsemia kirjailijoita, runoilijoita ja kulttuurillista kontekstia laajemmin. Pidin runsaasti siteeratuista runoista ja niihin liittyvästä pohdinnasta ja esseissä oli paljon yksittäisiä hienoja oivalluksia, mutta kokonaisuuteen kulttuurin tuntemukseni ei riittänyt.
November 28, 2025
Fundamentally changed my perspective and approach to writing poetry for the better. Her humble and searing insights into the interaction between the poet and their writing offer a wisdom and rationality to writing often obscured by one’s own feelings and sensitivities to their own work. Must read!
August 12, 2024
hab mich dank dieses buches wieder in poesie verliebt. (ICH WILL AUCH KUNST ERSCHAFFEN)
July 2, 2021
An amazing intelligence that of Louise Glück.
Great book.
Great book.
October 31, 2020
I will purchase this book, so that I may read and ponder.
June 13, 2017
Louise Glück has long influenced the way I write and read poetry. This collection of essays is a complex and challenging look at the work that has influenced her and the "new poets" who have caught her attention.
January 16, 2021
What a book! Richard Siken fans will want to know that he drew the cover illustration, which is lovely. All of the pieces are previously published works, which I wasn't aware of - I hadn't read most of them, though.
I couldn't decide for a while whether to give it 4 or 5 stars, but in the end I'm going with 5, partially because I can't think of a solid reason for taking off a star, and partially because of the last essay. The first few essays genuinely changed how I'll read American poetry from now on. I don't know what else to say besides that. I have a whole different mindset about poetry in general - how can I rate it anything less than 5 stars? The 5 stars are less about the writing as about how much it changed me.
This is not an introduction to poetry by any means - Glück often refers to poets solely by their last names, prompting many a Google search for me, and she definitely assumes a certain level of familiarity with poetry. The prose gets dense in places, with adjectives and tangents and parts I had to reread a couple times, but it doesn't so much take away from the pieces as add a layer of meaning that I had to struggle through a bit.
There's an essay on Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family stuck in the middle, which did feel out of place (as that's a novel), but it was interesting.
The middle section is comprised of introductions to various poetry books that she has written (including Siken's Crush), which made me so happy. I genuinely love reading introductions to books, and reading a compilation of just introductions? So worthwhile, even though I hadn't read most of the books. You definitely don't have to read the books before or afterward - she includes excerpts and descriptions that bring you into the book, even though you don't have it in your hands. They function as both introductions to the books and reviews, and while some reviews of poetry feel like they're trying to tell me how to read/interpret it, these just opened me up to them. I want her to take apart every poetry book I love in such a way, lovingly but by no means gentle.
As I said before, the last essay tipped me over to a 5-star rating. Entitled "Fear of Happiness," it addresses the problem that many artists face: connecting their suffering to their art and the following fear of well-being. Especially for writers with mental illness, the short essay, akin to Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, tackles the almost addictive connections between an artist, their symptoms, and the catharsis of their art. I could almost feel the calm wash for me as I read it - yes, I can recover and still be a poet. I'll be okay.
Overall: a confusing, intriguing, mind-blowing collection that anyone who values poetry as much as I do should read.
I couldn't decide for a while whether to give it 4 or 5 stars, but in the end I'm going with 5, partially because I can't think of a solid reason for taking off a star, and partially because of the last essay. The first few essays genuinely changed how I'll read American poetry from now on. I don't know what else to say besides that. I have a whole different mindset about poetry in general - how can I rate it anything less than 5 stars? The 5 stars are less about the writing as about how much it changed me.
This is not an introduction to poetry by any means - Glück often refers to poets solely by their last names, prompting many a Google search for me, and she definitely assumes a certain level of familiarity with poetry. The prose gets dense in places, with adjectives and tangents and parts I had to reread a couple times, but it doesn't so much take away from the pieces as add a layer of meaning that I had to struggle through a bit.
There's an essay on Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family stuck in the middle, which did feel out of place (as that's a novel), but it was interesting.
The middle section is comprised of introductions to various poetry books that she has written (including Siken's Crush), which made me so happy. I genuinely love reading introductions to books, and reading a compilation of just introductions? So worthwhile, even though I hadn't read most of the books. You definitely don't have to read the books before or afterward - she includes excerpts and descriptions that bring you into the book, even though you don't have it in your hands. They function as both introductions to the books and reviews, and while some reviews of poetry feel like they're trying to tell me how to read/interpret it, these just opened me up to them. I want her to take apart every poetry book I love in such a way, lovingly but by no means gentle.
As I said before, the last essay tipped me over to a 5-star rating. Entitled "Fear of Happiness," it addresses the problem that many artists face: connecting their suffering to their art and the following fear of well-being. Especially for writers with mental illness, the short essay, akin to Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, tackles the almost addictive connections between an artist, their symptoms, and the catharsis of their art. I could almost feel the calm wash for me as I read it - yes, I can recover and still be a poet. I'll be okay.
Overall: a confusing, intriguing, mind-blowing collection that anyone who values poetry as much as I do should read.
July 19, 2023
Most essays in this book embrace both poetry and poetry’s audiences. Glück writes as an equal opportunity author, with strong sympathies for readers. In the opening eponymous chapter ‘American Originalty', for example, she makes a trenchant observation about
American audience’s readiness to be talked down to, to be excluded, to call great art that which it does not understand. As American poets increasingly position themselves against logic and observation, the American audience (often an audience of other writers) poignantly acquiesces.
That is, American audiences for poetry raise no objections even as a tide of inaccessible, opaque poetry continues to rise.
In some essays she ventures into the (social) psychology of artistic endeavors, such as about how unhappiness can work for poets:
Most artists, most writers certainly, are drawn to the creative act by its capacity to promote catharsis and, through catharsis, affirm a faltering sense of power.
Yet she concludes:
What unhappiness tends to perpetuate is an isolating and, usually, limiting fixation on the self; except in the very rarest cases, this is bound to be an aesthetic limitation.
Most satisfying and instructive for me were the ten essays on younger American poets whose books in the period 2004-2011 she judged for national poetry prizes. Here the prose pulled me along in its clarity and wit. For example:
By turns harrowing, comic, poignant, each in its own manner combines detached, elaborate refinements of scrutiny with an eerily skittish mobility of focus, so that the poems both see deeply and move nervously, like an animal in panic. It is an effect I have never quite seen before, half cocktail party, half passion play.
Yet some essays, notably ‘Ersatz Thought’, led me into thickets of abstractions. And ‘On Buddenbrooks’ struck me as accessible only for readers who’ve read that Thomas Mann book in some depth. Scattered throughout American Originality is an irritating gimmick: words broken into syllables: 'non ex is tent'; 'unprece dented'; 'pro cess'; 'plea sure'. What’s the point?
Yet despite those quirks and uneven mix of the accessible and inaccessible, I enjoyed these essays and learned from them. Through them I could imagine Glück as a teacher of poetry in quiet and contemplative seminar rooms.
American audience’s readiness to be talked down to, to be excluded, to call great art that which it does not understand. As American poets increasingly position themselves against logic and observation, the American audience (often an audience of other writers) poignantly acquiesces.
That is, American audiences for poetry raise no objections even as a tide of inaccessible, opaque poetry continues to rise.
In some essays she ventures into the (social) psychology of artistic endeavors, such as about how unhappiness can work for poets:
Most artists, most writers certainly, are drawn to the creative act by its capacity to promote catharsis and, through catharsis, affirm a faltering sense of power.
Yet she concludes:
What unhappiness tends to perpetuate is an isolating and, usually, limiting fixation on the self; except in the very rarest cases, this is bound to be an aesthetic limitation.
Most satisfying and instructive for me were the ten essays on younger American poets whose books in the period 2004-2011 she judged for national poetry prizes. Here the prose pulled me along in its clarity and wit. For example:
By turns harrowing, comic, poignant, each in its own manner combines detached, elaborate refinements of scrutiny with an eerily skittish mobility of focus, so that the poems both see deeply and move nervously, like an animal in panic. It is an effect I have never quite seen before, half cocktail party, half passion play.
Yet some essays, notably ‘Ersatz Thought’, led me into thickets of abstractions. And ‘On Buddenbrooks’ struck me as accessible only for readers who’ve read that Thomas Mann book in some depth. Scattered throughout American Originality is an irritating gimmick: words broken into syllables: 'non ex is tent'; 'unprece dented'; 'pro cess'; 'plea sure'. What’s the point?
Yet despite those quirks and uneven mix of the accessible and inaccessible, I enjoyed these essays and learned from them. Through them I could imagine Glück as a teacher of poetry in quiet and contemplative seminar rooms.
June 30, 2022
Written by the immensely erudite Nobel-prize winning poet Louise Gluck, "American Originality: Essays on Poetry" is, like its author oeuvre, a beguilingly complex and word-soaked creature who, when one encounters it, edifies and instructs in dollops of pure joy. Consisting of four discrete segments, the book is easily delineated between more general subject matter topics ("American Originality," "American Narcissism") and those sections written as introductions for Poetry competition winners that Ms. Gluck judged ("In the Surgical Theater/Dana Levin," "Green Squall/Jay Hopler"). It is in these last sections that Gluck exhibits her most admirable qualities: the use of descriptive language to praise and explicate poetry. One reads these 'reviews/endorsements' with the anticipation of a child on Christmas morning: and, yes, like often in real life, this reader/child was not disappointed by the gifts retrieved under the tree. For these reviews reveal Gluck's deep engagement with poetry in general (and new poets in particular) at the same time revealing her own command of the vernacular in service of analytical ends. Perfectly phrased, combined with acute analytical acumen, these pieces encourage deep engagement by the reader and pursuit of contemporary poets's new work. Finally, the last essay of this too brief volume, "Fear of Happiness," reveals Gluck at her most vulnerable, as she encounters the truth concerning herself in an analytical setting and the concomitant perceived threat to her creativity. Revealing her hard won wisdom, she embraces the epigrammatic response of her analysand, that "Life will provide enough sorrow" to fuel her poetry's creative well springs. It is this bare bones honesty, combined with deep knowledge and love of poetry, revealed in lucid, critically engaged prose, that makes this volume so indispensable. Ms. Gluck, a writer I had not encountered apart from her news clips, is a writer of deep profundity and wisdom; essential, erudite, engaged, her mind animates this book like a panther in a cage. Approach with care, but be prepared to be amazed and awestruck.
February 16, 2021
This is a difficult thing to review because it's not a gestalt in any sense of the word. It is a series of essays, taken from various places at different points in Glück's career, divided into four sections, which don't really have overarching themes (at least definitive and obvious ones (excepting the third)). Some of them aren't really even about poetry. (Some barely talk about the writing life.) That doesn't seem overly difficult, does it? Sounds like an awful book. Well, no, because I haven't introduced the difficulty, which is that the essays are brilliant. I use this word sparingly, and tend to polish it up before I gingerly, oh-so-delicately apply it to something; and her essays deserve the word, and certain ones in particular. I won't bother you with unities and summations here, because parsing her essays is your job, but American Originality, American Narcissism, Ersatz Thought (especially this one), and Fear of Happiness should all be firmly ensconced in the greater American essayist tradition. They are inciteful, caustic, humbling, and enlightening, and they give one the sense that literature, well, it goes rather deep (which of course it does). Glück may be a literary genius. Surely we know this from her Nobel Prize last year (this I say only slightly tongue-in-cheek), but her essays truly astounded me. I cannot give them high enough praise; her skill as analyst and stylist is on display page after page. One can pick this book up at random and find something delightful in each paragraph.
This might be very odd to say, but I find her essays better than her poetry, at least that which I've read. This is in part because I can tell she has a hyperanalytic mind, and something about the essay suits that mental faculty better than most poems (not to say that this is impossible. Look at Pope). Overall, perhaps don't buy the book, but definitely, definitely, definitely, you must find those essays.
This might be very odd to say, but I find her essays better than her poetry, at least that which I've read. This is in part because I can tell she has a hyperanalytic mind, and something about the essay suits that mental faculty better than most poems (not to say that this is impossible. Look at Pope). Overall, perhaps don't buy the book, but definitely, definitely, definitely, you must find those essays.
September 1, 2021
This is a sharp and generous collection of Glück’s writing about poetry, and it is an excellent supplement to reading her own poems. “American Originality” helped me to better understand Glück’s theories of poetry and art, which I think will greatly enrich my reading of her work moving forward. Included are 10 essays and 10 forewords to other poet’s collections, ranging in publication from 1990 to 2016. Most of the essays are drawn from The Threepenny Review, and most of the forewords from books she selected during her tenure as the judge of the Yale Younger Poets Prize.
Glück’s penetrating insight and precision of language are unrivaled. Her gaze is piercing, discerning. It is so impressive to experience on the page.
One of the major themes that intrigues me in this collection is Glück’s pushback against (while not named, what I interpreted to be) emerging conventions of spoken word and slam poetry. For example, the genre convention of gesturing to the incomplete, to the unnamed, to the void, to the abyss, to hinted implications but rarely to firm and clear thoughts. Glück’s critiques of these emerging forms (clearest and strongest in the essay “Ersatz Thought”) are persuasive on both theoretical and structural levels. It is good criticism — not merely a refusal of “I don’t care for this,” but an engagement of “these are the creative questions that these choices raise,” and “here are the limitations that this form encounters.” I really enjoyed Glück’s analysis, which challenged my existing views about certain poetic forms that have become even more mainstream since the essay’s original publication.
In sum: a really excellent, thrilling essay collection of poetic criticism. Felt like literary gymnastics in the best way. Only read this if you enjoy academic / theoretical work and poetry criticism, though! Definitely not a beach read.
Glück’s penetrating insight and precision of language are unrivaled. Her gaze is piercing, discerning. It is so impressive to experience on the page.
One of the major themes that intrigues me in this collection is Glück’s pushback against (while not named, what I interpreted to be) emerging conventions of spoken word and slam poetry. For example, the genre convention of gesturing to the incomplete, to the unnamed, to the void, to the abyss, to hinted implications but rarely to firm and clear thoughts. Glück’s critiques of these emerging forms (clearest and strongest in the essay “Ersatz Thought”) are persuasive on both theoretical and structural levels. It is good criticism — not merely a refusal of “I don’t care for this,” but an engagement of “these are the creative questions that these choices raise,” and “here are the limitations that this form encounters.” I really enjoyed Glück’s analysis, which challenged my existing views about certain poetic forms that have become even more mainstream since the essay’s original publication.
In sum: a really excellent, thrilling essay collection of poetic criticism. Felt like literary gymnastics in the best way. Only read this if you enjoy academic / theoretical work and poetry criticism, though! Definitely not a beach read.
January 14, 2020
The titular essay was provocative but too short. I felt I have enough context to understand her themes and grasp at her core ideas, but I fear those who spend less time reading contemporary poetry will find this essay and many others in this collection slightly spacey, filled with huge generalizations, and overly specific to Gluck's own internal world of taste and preference.
Too many times, Gluck will go on the record when praising a contemporary, but generalize and avoid pointing fingers when criticizing. Without specifics, her concerns about contemporary poetry are murky and lack the insight and clarity that she grants when she celebrates a poet she admires. In particular, her essay on Pinksy and Dobyns--a odd pairing, to be sure--was my favorite of the book. She focuses on how these poets use elements of narrative technique to subvert and expand the lyric form.
Too much of this book was given over to introductions Gluck wrote in her capacity as a contest judge of book manuscripts. One of the uglier things about poetry today is the way aspiring poets are charged $35 entry fees to have their manuscripts read by famous names, redistributing money from the poorest and least accomplished to the richest and most established. Some contests have been shown to be corrupt, with judges anointing winners without even reading the entries. All lack transparency and the rigor of true peer review. Like the MFA program, something here is deeply amiss. Gluck is implicated in this mess, and this book evinces a deep lack of awareness that the system is flawed.
Too many times, Gluck will go on the record when praising a contemporary, but generalize and avoid pointing fingers when criticizing. Without specifics, her concerns about contemporary poetry are murky and lack the insight and clarity that she grants when she celebrates a poet she admires. In particular, her essay on Pinksy and Dobyns--a odd pairing, to be sure--was my favorite of the book. She focuses on how these poets use elements of narrative technique to subvert and expand the lyric form.
Too much of this book was given over to introductions Gluck wrote in her capacity as a contest judge of book manuscripts. One of the uglier things about poetry today is the way aspiring poets are charged $35 entry fees to have their manuscripts read by famous names, redistributing money from the poorest and least accomplished to the richest and most established. Some contests have been shown to be corrupt, with judges anointing winners without even reading the entries. All lack transparency and the rigor of true peer review. Like the MFA program, something here is deeply amiss. Gluck is implicated in this mess, and this book evinces a deep lack of awareness that the system is flawed.
May 5, 2021
I think this collection of essays really reiterated the argument of "don't meet your role models." I enjoyed many of these essays, especially the first two ("American Originality" and "American Narcissism"). I also found a lot of thoughtful snippets throughout, notably in the final essay "On Happiness," which I had otherwise mixed feelings on because it was a bit dated and also universalizing in a way that I don't think holds up now, almost 30 years after it was written. Yet reading these essays did make me realize that how Gluck writes - about life, about literature - doesn't strike a chord with me. It feels somehow removed from reality, or maybe an example of a different school of thought that I just don't connect with. The introductions are probably the driest part of the collection, although some, like the one for Richard Siken's "Crush," were fantastic. That is probably where I most felt the distance from Gluck in the way she talks about poetry, what she praises and elevates and also HOW she talks about it. There is a strange sense of inaccessibility to her prose/criticism that I've never felt with her poetry, perhaps because the poet feels like they are lurking in the background, behind the words, whereas criticism centers her. There was still a deep sense of satisfaction I felt from reading these, as well as a kind of happiness that was elicited by some of her discussions on poetry, but there is a grey cloud of uncertainty that hovered over this book for me. Maybe the combination of poetry and a more academic/philosophical approach to it is just not for me.
December 5, 2020
I wasn't sure about this book when I started it, it just seemd like a compilation of essays from different sources without relevance to the title, & in a few respects perhaps it was. I was soon pleasantly surpised at how amazing it was. Loiuse's mind is in touch with the essence of poetry, anything she touches she dives into without restraint, exposes without any fear of exposing herself, or if she does feel such fear, does it anyway. part of the book is her introductions to a number of Yale Younger Poet prize winners, which she had responsiblity for for a number of years. Such introductions, of course, have the purpose of extolling the virtues of the books they introduce, yet with each introduction I was further impressed by the depth Louise went to determine that author's gift. It was obvious she'd read the work multiple times, and managed to pull yet more from each reading, sharing what that author was doing, and why it was worthy of the prize it had received. The word that comes to mind in this regard is "Loyalty" to that author, but I'm not sure why. She certainly dedicated herself to each introduction without reservation. Some of her essays did not appeal to me personally, yet I found I was able to learn something from them anyway, all of them showed the depth & breadth of her knowledge of poetry & her courage to expose herself in the process. I completely recommend this book to any poet, or anyone interested in poetry.
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