I've posted a lot of follow-up notes about my review of Robert van Vliet's VESSELS. Let me just be clear : I would not change or retract ONE WORD of my review. My seemingly unhinged enthusiasm is a gauge, a measure, of the value, the potential impact, of that book.
My review of VESSELS does not achieve the level of actual critique, to be honest. It is my immediate emotional response, an invitation to readers. Future critics will want to explore more pointedly, for example, the underlying philosophical stance, & the allusive literary background.
One affinity/contrast I think worth exploring, for example, is that between VESSELS and the short, gnomic, brutally sardonic parable-poems of Stephen Crane.
Another field very much worth exploring would be the parallel between the social/personal landscape & the collage-like approach/technique of Eliot & The Waste Land, on the one hand, and van Vliet & Vessels, on the other. This would open a big door into the history of American poetry.
Finally, I refer to Stephen Crane & TS Eliot here, both for the inherent resemblances to van Vliet's book, and to emphasize that VESSELS might have – ought to have! – a COMPARABLE IMPACT on the current atmosphere of US poetry.
I didn't mention this in the review, because I didn't want to weigh in too heavily with literary allusions. But it seems to me that the poet's practical-psychological quandary, and the crisis-twisted world at large, and van Vliet's collage-like method of allusive quotations... all this reminds me very much of the genesis of Eliot's Waste Land.
I've posted a lot of follow-up notes about my review of Robert van Vliet's VESSELS. Let me just be clear : I would not change or retract ONE WORD of my review. My seemingly unhinged enthusiasm is a gauge, a measure, of the value, the potential impact, of that book.
My review of VESSELS does not achieve the level of actual critique, to be honest. It is my immediate emotional response, an invitation to readers. Future critics will want to explore more pointedly, for example, the underlying philosophical stance, & the allusive literary background.
One affinity/contrast I think worth exploring, for example, is that between VESSELS and the short, gnomic, brutally sardonic parable-poems of Stephen Crane.
Another field very much worth exploring would be the parallel between the social/personal landscape & the collage-like approach/technique of Eliot & The Waste Land, on the one hand, and van Vliet & Vessels, on the other. This would open a big door into the history of American poetry.
Finally, I refer to Stephen Crane & TS Eliot here, both for the inherent resemblances to van Vliet's book, and to emphasize that VESSELS might have – ought to have! – a COMPARABLE IMPACT on the current atmosphere of US poetry.
I didn't mention this in the review, because I didn't want to weigh in too heavily with literary allusions. But it seems to me that the poet's practical-psychological quandary, and the crisis-twisted world at large, and van Vliet's collage-like method of allusive quotations... all this reminds me very much of the genesis of Eliot's Waste Land.