The Poet’s Novel provides a unique entrance to the prose and poetry of many remarkable modern and contemporary poets including: Etel Adnan, Renee Gladman, Langston Hughes, Kevin Killian, Alice Notley, Leslie Scalapino, Jack Spicer, and Jean Toomer, whose approaches to the novel defy conventions of plot, character, setting and action. The contributors, all poets in their own right like, Brian Blanchfield, Brandon Brown, Mónica de la Torre, Cedar Sigo, and C.D. Wright bring a variety of insights, approaches, and writing styles to the subject with creative and often surprising results.
At last! This is one of those books that seemed like a great idea when I heard it mentioned at AWP and I learned a lot about poet novels (including my own writing), but I put it down once and for too long which made the last third feel like a slog. Probably a better reference book than a read-through.