University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2009 Louis Zukofsky: sources of US modernism Timothy Morgan Cahill University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Cahill, Timothy Morgan, Louis Zukofsky: sources of US modernism, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, School of Journalism and Creative Writing, Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, 2009. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/3424 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact Manager Repository Services: [email protected]. Title Sheet Louis Zukofsky: Sources of US Modernism A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree Doctor of Philosophy from UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG by Timothy Morgan Cahill, Bachelor of Creative Arts (Honours, 1st Class) Faculty of Creative Arts, School of Journalism and Creative Writing 2009 CERTIFICATION I, Timothy Morgan Cahill, declare that this thesis, submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualification at any other academic institution. Timothy Morgan Cahill 25 March 2009 CONTENTS ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION: A NOTE ON METHODOLOGY ............................................... 4 CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON LOUIS ZUKOFSKY .......................................... 8 i. ....................................................................................................................................................................... 8 ii. .................................................................................................................................................................... 13 iii. ................................................................................................................................................................... 29 iv. ................................................................................................................................................................... 42 LOUIS ZUKOFSKY: AMERICAN, MARXIST AND MODERNIST ...................... 47 i. ..................................................................................................................................................................... 47 ii. .................................................................................................................................................................... 55 iii. ................................................................................................................................................................... 68 CONFIGURING ZUKOFSKY’S EARLY HUMANIST MARXISM ........................ 85 i. ..................................................................................................................................................................... 85 ii. .................................................................................................................................................................. 102 iii. ................................................................................................................................................................. 113 THE SPINOZA/MARX CONNECTION IN CONTEXT ....................................... 126 i. ................................................................................................................................................................... 126 ii. .................................................................................................................................................................. 130 iii. ................................................................................................................................................................. 152 iv. ................................................................................................................................................................. 160 A NEW MODEL FOR READING ZUKOFSKY: DEVELOPMENT .................... 166 i. ................................................................................................................................................................... 166 ii. .................................................................................................................................................................. 177 iii. ................................................................................................................................................................. 193 A NEW MODEL FOR READING ZUKOFSKY: APPLICATION ....................... 200 i. ................................................................................................................................................................... 200 ii. .................................................................................................................................................................. 220 iii. ................................................................................................................................................................. 225 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 262 WORKS CITED ................................................................................................ 269 Abstract This thesis examines the poetry and critical writings of the US Modernist poet, Louis Zukofsky (1904-1978), focussing on his conflation of the ideas of Spinoza and Marx in his poetic practise. It surveys Zukofsky’s poetic and critical writings, but pays specific attention to the long poem, “A”, that spanned the majority of Zukofsky’s writing life. The contention of this thesis is that “A” develops a Marxist politics that derives from his reading of Marx through the critical lens of Spinoza. This thesis differs significantly from the current critical discourse surrounding Zukofsky’s work, which argues that while he is evidently and even dogmatically a Marxist in his early works, he is distinctly different in his later works. The consensus view is that Zukofsky began his writing life trying to develop a political, Marxist mode, but this was later replaced by a mode derived from Spinoza that was concerned with ethics, and not politics. Further, these two distinct philosophical paradigms are considered to correspond to two different poetic modes: the Modernist and Postmodern. It is widely believed that accompanying the turn away from politics and towards ethics as the foundation for his poetic practise, Zukofsky’s work increasingly displays characteristically Postmodern techniques: the lack of an authoritative lyrical subject; a widely connotative approach to meaning-making; privileging the subject of the reader. Again, this is closely identified with the progression of “A”. This thesis attempts to challenge these critical assumptions: rather than allow for distinctions between ‘early’ and ‘late’, Marxist and Spinozist, political and ethical, 1 Modernist and Postmodern works, as though Zukofsky lived two lives as a poet, it proposes a model for conceiving his life’s work as a progression towards developing a scientific and subject-less Marxist discourse that was derived from conflating Spinoza and Marx. The work of political philosopher, Louis Althusser, is utilised in support of this approach: the example of Althusser illustrates a radical Marxist reading of Spinoza, and a Spinozan reading of Marx. This is particularly helpful because it defines an appropriate vocabulary and model by which to read Zukofsky’s work. This thesis contends that Althusser and Zukofsky offer similar understandings of Spinoza and Marx. It also argues that Zukofsky’s poetry is always politically Marxist, and poetically Modernist and scientific. The implication of a critical vocabulary that does not require the application of Postmodern theories to explain the poetry is as follows: rather than deferring to Postmodern ideas, it is possible to understand phenomena such as a residual lyrical ‘I’, and Zukofsky’s seeming infinitude of language, in relation to Spinoza and Marx alone. This represents a demonstrable shift from the existing critical discourse surrounding his writing. 2 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the role of my academic supervisor, Dr John Hawke (Monash University, Faculty of Arts), without whom I would never have found Zukofsky, and my associate supervisor, Alan Wearne (University of Wollongong, Faculty of Creative Arts). I would also like to acknowledge the academic support of John Scott and Dr Peter Williams over the years of my study. I have occasion to acknowledge Pierre Joris, Mark Scroggins and Fred from Agenda magazine for helping me to acquire out-of-print texts. I would like to thank my close contemporaries Gareth Jenkins, Christine Howe and Colin Dray, for sharing this experience with me. I would like to thank my friend Dr Ezequiel Rulli. I would also like to thank my dear friend, Benjamin Frater. To my parents, Pam and Rowan, my brother Damien, my sister Erin and her beautiful daughters Lola and Maeve, you are