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After Language Writing: in Defense of a Provisional Poetics University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2013-06-26 After Language Writing: In Defense of a Provisional Poetics Roberson, Michael Roberson, M. (2013). After Language Writing: In Defense of a Provisional Poetics (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/24737 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/768 doctoral thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY After Language Writing: In Defense of a Provisional Poetics by Michael Roberson A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH CALGARY, ALBERTA JUNE, 2013 © Michael Roberson 2013 Abstract This dissertation contextualizes North American “Post-Language” writing within a discourse about poetry and ethics—a discourse that I associate with explorations of ethical responsibility in poetic defenses. I posit a theory of “provisionality” in order to account for both the poetics and the ethics of the poetic defense. Provisionality consists of three aspects—the necessary, the conditional, and the anticipatory—aspects that characterize how apologists organize their defenses, and how poetry takes responsibility for the world, the audience, the poet, and the text. I contend that Post- Language writers represent the most recent defenders of poetry’s ethicality, grounding the abstract politics of Language writing in actual political stakes, like gender, race, and class. This dissertation consists of four chapters. Chapter one elaborates my theory of “provisionality,” providing a survey of poetic defenses. Inspired by M.H. Abrams’s four orientations of literary theory, I chart the history of defenses in four major modes and four transitional modes of poetic responsibility. Chapter two considers four Language writers, Ron Silliman, Bruce Andrews, Lyn Hejinian, and Charles Bernstein, all of whom engage in four provisional modes of poetic responsibility—modes that revise the four traditional modes of poetic responsibility. Explicating four poems by these writers, I demonstrate how these writers enact an ethical responsibility. Chapter three explores the concept of the “Post-Language,” examining the work of four American Post-Language poets, Mark Nowak, Rodrigo Toscano, Juliana Spahr, and Harryette Mullen. Aligning each writer with one of the provisional modes, I explicate poems by these writers in order to show how Post-Language writing grounds these modes in actual political stakes. Chapter four proposes a Canadian Post-Language ii phenomenon, and considers the work of four poets, Jeff Derksen, Rachel Zolf, Lisa Robertson, and Stephen Cain. Associating each writer with one of the provisional modes, I explicate poems by these writers in order to represent Post-Language writing as a North American sensibility. In my conclusion, I offer a Manifesto for an ongoing Poetics of Provisionality. iii Acknowledgements My interest in the relationship between poetry and ethics began during my time at the University of Maine as a Master’s student. While I do cite some of my professors from Orono in this dissertation, I would like to specifically acknowledge Ken Norris and Tony Brinkley for encouraging me to pursue my doctorate. I would also like to acknowledge Susan Rudy for being the first at the University of Calgary to provide me with the insights and contacts that helped ground this project. That said, I would not be at this point without various assistance from the Department of English and the Faculty of Grad Studies, both of which provided me with ongoing financial support, in the form of assistantships, grants, and scholarships. I would also like to acknowledge the administrative staff in the department—Anne Jaggard, Barb Howe, and Brigitte Clarke— for supporting me with their advice, reminders, and conversation. Of course, I would also like to thank my supervisory committee, Jon Kertzer, and Jeanne Perreault, along with my two external examiners, Stephen Collis and Jean-Jacques Poucel. Also, this dissertation would not be possible without my correspondence with Stephen Cain, Rodrigo Toscano, Mark Nowak, and Jeff Derksen. Inevitably, then, I would like to recognize the patience, encouragement and commitment of my supervisor, Christian Bök. His continual belief in me and my ideas provided me with clarity, and inspired my confidence at every step. On a more personal note, I would like to thank Suzan Still, Erin Wunker, and Drew McDowell for providing feedback on my writing and ideas, as well as showering me with genuine love and friendship. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Lisa. I credit her in my successes as a student, teacher, scholar, and person. I will never say enough about her patience, her support, her frustration, and her love. iv Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my mother Cheryl Frank, and to my father David Roberson. v Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ iv Dedication ......................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ vi INTRODUCTION 9/11 and the Ethics of Poetry ......................................................................................1 Turning to the Ethical ...................................................................................................9 Defining the Provisional ............................................................................................14 Chapter Overview ......................................................................................................15 CHAPTER 1: THEORIZING THE PROVISIONAL: A HISTORY OF POETIC DEFENSES Prologue: In Defense of the Provisional .................................................................25 Four Accounts of Poetic Defenses: An Assessment ..............................................33 Plato’s Attack and the Inauguration of Poetic Defenses .......................................43 Aristotle’s Poetics and the Mimetic Responsibility of Poetry ...............................46 Boccaccios’s Genealogy and the Medieval Transition .............................................48 Sidney’s Defence and the Pragmatic Responsibility of Poetry ..............................52 Dryden’s “Apology” and the Augustan Transition ...............................................55 Shelley’s “Defense” and the Expressive Responsibility of Poetry .......................59 Arnold’s “Preface” and the Victorian Transition ...................................................61 Tate’s “To Whom is the Poet Responsible” and the Objective Responsibility of Poetry .........................................................65 Pinsky’s “Responsibilities” and the Contemporary Transition ...........................68 Conclusion: The Crisis of Poetry and the Provisional Turn ................................71 CHAPTER 2: LANGUAGE WRITING AND THE DEFENSIVE TRADITION Prologue: Charles Bernstein’s “A Defence of Poetry” ..........................................74 Chapter in Brief ...........................................................................................................81 A Provisional History of Language Writing ...........................................................85 Four Provisional Modes of Poetic Responsibility ..................................................90 The Mimetic Mode in Language Writing ................................................................91 The Pragmatic Mode in Language Writing .............................................................96 The Expressive Mode in Language Writing .........................................................101 The Objective Mode in Language Writing ............................................................106 Four Language Poems and the Ethics of Provisionality Provisional Realism in Ron Silliman’s “Blue” .................................................112 Provisional Activism in Bruce Andrews’s "Confidence Trick" .....................117 Provisional Lyricism in Lyn Hejinian’s “Province” .......................................121 Provisional Formalism in Charles Bernstein’s “Playing with a Full Deck” 125 Conclusion .................................................................................................................129 vi CHAPTER 3: THEORIZING A POST-LANGUAGE POETICS: THE AMERICAN CONTEXT Prologue: Juliana Spahr’s “Circle Out”: An American Post-Language Defense of Poetry ..................................................132 Chapter in Brief .........................................................................................................143 A History of American Post-Language Writing ...................................................145 Foundations of Post-Language Writing: Steve
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