{"id":480,"date":"2011-12-10T11:44:25","date_gmt":"2011-12-10T03:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=480"},"modified":"2011-12-10T11:45:41","modified_gmt":"2011-12-10T03:45:41","slug":"anthologies-and-anthologies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=480","title":{"rendered":"Anthologies and Anthologies"},"content":{"rendered":"

By this point I expect most readers in the American poetry community have heard something of the Rita Dove<\/a>-edited Penguin Anthology of 20th<\/sup> Century American Poetry<\/a><\/em>. I\u2019ve made remarks about the need for a discussion on anthologies<\/a> of Chinese poetry in translation, but I wanted to make a point about anthologies of American poetry for American readers, which I think is pertinent to a discussion about anthologies of foreign language poetry, as well.<\/p>\n

The Dove \/ Penguin anthology has been getting it from all sides (and when you criticize Dove and Penguin, you can hit two birds with one stone). You may have read Helen Vendler<\/a>\u2019s rightwing criticism<\/a> of the anthology in the New York Review of Books<\/em> (as well as Dove\u2019s righteous riposte<\/a>), but the first I heard of it was Robert Archambeau\u2019s leftwing take<\/a> on all the anthology\u2019s sins of omission (to which Dove\u2019s husband Fred Viebahn gave lengthy replies in the comments)\u2014in part, at least, because of rival press HarperCollins\u2019s demand for high fees for Penguin to reprint its authors. This cannot account for all that Dove left out, however; Clayton Eshleman<\/a>, with whom I translated a collection <\/a>of Bei Dao<\/a> poems, wrote to me and several other writers and translators with a list, adapted from his 1990 essay “The Gospel According to Norton<\/a>,” of a systematic absence in the anthology\u2019s table of contents:<\/p>\n

Just to let all of you know what a travesty it is, here are some of the most significant people whose work does not appear in it: Zukofsky, Oppen, Reznikoff, Rakosi, Riding, Loy, Bronk, Blackburn, Ginsberg, Eigner, Dorn, Kerouac, Niedecker, Mac Low, Spicer, Plath,\u00a0Blaser, Bernstein, Schwerner, Lamantia, McClure, Whalen, Corman, Guest, Schuyler, Padgett, Towle, North, Rothenberg, Kelly, Eshleman, Antin, Lansing, Perelman, Armantrout, DuPlessis, Wieners, Tarn, Coolidge, Sobin, Sanders, Taggert, Bromige, Cortez, Fanny Howe, Susan Howe,\u00a0Keith Waldrop, Rosmarie Waldrop, Grahn, Kleinzahler, Waldman, Rexroth, Joron, Gander, Will Alexander, DiPrima, Notley, Equi.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After I responded about Vendler\u2019s review, he wrote back saying, \u201cThom Gunn and William Everson are also missing, as is Paul Violi. And Bukowski (who I do not care for at all, but he is certainly a much-read figure in 20th century poetry).\u201d Later, he wrote to add “Penn Warren, Hollo, Ceravolo, Lauterbach, Hoover, Berssenbrugge, Scalapino, Harryman, David Shapiro, and Brenda Hillman.”<\/p>\n

Part of the problem, I think, has to do with anthologizing in general, and our expectations as readers that what we consider good or important should also be considered good or important enough to be disseminated through anthologies. I think this is both right and wrong. I have no problem with Rita Dove or anyone coming up with a list of poets she thinks will stand the clich\u00e9d test of time, but once that comes out with the word Anthology<\/em> on the cover\u2014and under the imprimatur of Penguin, which has the institutional pull to put its books in classrooms\u2014then questions of responsibility are in order.<\/p>\n

And this is where, I think, the tension over who\u2019s included and who\u2019s excluded\u2014if that\u2019s the right word for it\u2014comes from: will my view and ethics of poetry be taught, or will someone else\u2019s view and ethics of poetry be taught? Vendler wants a limited, and limiting, view of American poetry (\u201cNo century in the evolution of poetry in English ever had 175 poets worth reading, so why are we being asked to sample so many poets of little or no lasting value?\u201d), whereas Dove presents herself as upholder of a view and ethics rooted in civil rights-style inclusiveness (faulting Vendler\u2019s review for \u201cits condescension, lack of veracity, and the barely veiled racism\u201d; for more, see Honor\u00e9e Fanonne Jeffers\u2019s post about the history of white denial of black poetry<\/a>). But there are at least two wings on the left in American culture, hence the critique of Dove\u2019s anthology for what it leaves out.<\/p>\n

Considering this issue, one poster to the Buffalo Poetics List<\/a> remarked:<\/p>\n

Why worry about the nearly-unchecked perpetuation of bias for decades or who has been omitted from the canon \/ the publishing world down the years because of that bias (something Dove is cursorily addressing in the making of this anthology) when we can focus on the in’s and out’s of how Plath and Ginsberg have been left out in the cold ad nauseum…<\/p>\n

There has been a lot of detailed, micro-discussion over why Plath and Ginsberg were omitted and how to remedy that, AT THE EXCLUSION OF the very appearance & existence of this anthology and how it’s a drop in the bucket towards addressing (remedying?) a publishing \/ canonical history that has excluded numerous writers who were never supported \/ encouraged and only peripherally published, if at all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As I understand it, the point is that it\u2019s easier for us to complain about Ginsberg and Plath being \u201cexcluded\u201d because it keeps us from recognizing the canon\u2019s denial of certain ethnic and gendered identities\u2014and we have bigger ethical fish to fry. This is true, but I think aesthetic diversity is not only important, it plays a role in creating and maintaining social diversity, as well.<\/p>\n

In other words, diversity is more than simply a matter of biological fact. It is better\u2014from the p. o. v. of diversity as a good\u2014for the only black Supreme Court Justice to be Thurgood Marshall than to be Clarence Thomas, and any number of non-black judges could do more than Thomas to support the cause of diversity and inclusiveness in the American body politic. I don\u2019t want to deny Thomas his \u201cblackness\u201d (as this interview<\/a> discusses); nevertheless, the question is about culture and mentality more than it\u2019s about the skin we were born into.<\/p>\n

Along those lines, while most of the writers that comprise the list above, from Louis Zukofsky<\/a> to Elaine Equi<\/a> and Brenda Hillman<\/a>, are white (many are Jewish, which may complicate matters, and I think it\u2019s a bit over 2 : 3 :: male : female), it presents an aesthetic diversity and vision and ethic of American poetic openness that stands in favor of inclusiveness and equality beyond the biological racial makeup of its members. Also, because it is an example of certain writers left out of the Dove \/ Penguin anthology, it does not exist as its own table of contents, but rather as an addendum to that list to push it towards greater inclusivity and a higher level of diversity. Here in the wilds of Hongkong, I haven\u2019t had a chance to see Dove\u2019s anthology firsthand, so I can\u2019t make claims on how monolithic I find its aesthetic view to be\u2014and I wouldn\u2019t want a table of contents to represent aesthetic diversity while only presenting writers of one biological ethnicity, either\u2014nevertheless, I want to emphasize that just as a black Supreme Court Justice such as Thomas can do damage to the American black community, white American poets such as Clayton Eshleman, Jerome Rothenberg<\/a>, Rachel Blau DuPlessis<\/a>, and Rosmarie Waldrop<\/a> make American poetry more inclusive. They are on the side of Gwendolyn Brooks<\/a> and Nathaniel Mackey<\/a>, both of whom are in the Penguin anthology.<\/p>\n

This is where the issue ties back to anthologies of poetry translation, and not only because so many of these poets have been involved with translation in the narrow sense, but also because they have been involved with expansion, diversity, and internationalism in the larger sense. Like Zukofsky, Rexroth<\/a>, Corman<\/a>, and Eshleman, translation expands the possibilities\u2014and the vision, and ethics\u2014of poetry in the language. An anthology of American poetry can legitimately leave translations out, but insofar as they are also a part of the history of American poetry, I would like to see an anthology that could consider them central, primary, and put translations in.<\/p>\n

When I refer to the discussion we need to have about anthologies of Chinese poetry in translation, I\u2019m thinking along the lines of asking: granted, most of the anthologies that have been published so far have had some big problems, but will another anthology make up for these problems or just make the whole situation worse? But the underlying question, I think, has to do with the place of translation in the system of American poetry as a whole: do anthologies of Chinese poetry at this point expand the field of American poetry, or exist at a sequestered, even ghettoized, remove? This is, of course, a different question from whether a given anthology is sufficiently representative of the breadth of American poetry, but at a fundamental level, it is the same: how broad, or how narrow, are our vision and ethics of American poetry going to be?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By this point I expect most readers in the American poetry community have heard something of the Rita Dove-edited Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry. I\u2019ve made remarks about the need for a discussion on anthologies of Chinese poetry … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[13,3,16],"tags":[50,273,61,268,271,264,224,267,272,266,269,263,265,270],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-7K","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":751,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=751","url_meta":{"origin":480,"position":0},"title":"Ernesto Livon-Grosman on Jerome Rothenberg’s anthologies","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"February 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Over at his Jacket2-hosted blog, Charles Bernstein has posted Ernesto Livon-Grosman's commentary on Jerome Rothenberg's anthologies, particularly Technicians of the Sacred. I've offered my criticisms of anthologies, particularly anthologies of contemporary Chinese poetry, but I wanted to post Livon-Grosman's points about the place of translation in Rothenberg's anthologies, as a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51204R38FZL._SL500_AA300_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2613,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2613","url_meta":{"origin":480,"position":1},"title":"Review of Han Dong’s A Phone Call from Dalian","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"May 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Modern Chinese Literature & Culture list has posted my review of A Phone Call from Dalian \u6765\u81ea\u5927\u8fde\u7684\u7535\u8bdd (Zephyr Press), by Han Dong \u97e9\u4e1c, edited by Nicky Harman. Here's a passage from the middle where I make a point about how having too many anthologies of contemporary Chinese poetry in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mclc.osu.edu\/rc\/pubs\/reviews\/handong2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2525,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2525","url_meta":{"origin":480,"position":2},"title":"MCLC Review of Jade Ladder","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Modern Chinese Literature & Culture has published Meng Liansu\u2019s review of Jade Ladder: Contemporary Chinese Poetry, edited by Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc and W. N. Herbert, with Brian Holton and Qin Xiaoyu \u79e6\u6653\u5b87. Here\u2019s how she begins her piece: Jade Ladder is a welcome addition to the handful of anthologies of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthologies"","block_context":{"text":"Anthologies","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mclc.osu.edu\/rc\/pubs\/reviews\/jadeladder.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4573,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4573","url_meta":{"origin":480,"position":3},"title":"Introduction to Chinese Poetry in Translation in SupChina","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"An introduction to Chinese poetry in translation: Five anthologies As part of SupChina's feature on poetry last month, translator Dave Haysom selected five books to introduce Chinese poetry in English translation: Chinese Poetic Writing\u00a0by Fran\u00e7ois Cheng (translated by Donald A. Riggs & Jerome P. Seaton), The New Directions Anthology of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Chinese-poetry-anthologies-1266x650.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Chinese-poetry-anthologies-1266x650.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Chinese-poetry-anthologies-1266x650.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Chinese-poetry-anthologies-1266x650.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Chinese-poetry-anthologies-1266x650.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3798,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3798","url_meta":{"origin":480,"position":4},"title":"Zero Distance Anthology of New Chinese Poetry","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Announcing Zero Distance | New Poetry from China, edited and translated By Liang Yujing--newly published by Tinfish Press. \"Another anthology?\" you're probably thinking--\"Just what we need! Put it on the shelf next to the other dozen or so anthologies of modern and contemporary Chinese poetry that have been published in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthologies"","block_context":{"text":"Anthologies","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tinfishpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/zero.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":187,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=187","url_meta":{"origin":480,"position":5},"title":"Jade Ladder: Contemporary Chinese Poetry","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"October 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I just received the press release for another anthology contemporary Chinese poetry, this one edited by Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc and William Herbert (with Brian Holton and Qin Xiaoyu \u79e6\u6653\u5b87 as associate editors) under the title Jade Ladder. 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