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Timothy Materer

Autor(a) de Modernist Alchemy: Poetry and the Occult

6+ Works 54 Membros 1 Review

About the Author

Timothy Materer is Professor of English at the University of Missouri.

Obras de Timothy Materer

Associated Works

Agenda : Wyndham Lewis special issue — Contribuinte — 6 cópias

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Sexo
male

Membros

Resenhas

This book got me motivated to read Joyce's Finnegan's Wake. Not that I am likely ever to embark on that voyage - I have yet even to read Ulysses! - but just to make me think that's a book that I could gain any insights from, that's an accomplishment!

I did read Kenner's Pound Era some years back, but by now that has faded well enough into oblivion. But I don't remember Kenner digging into the thinking of these characters with at all the depth that Materer does. Materer lines his subjects up on a battlefield, whose flags might be space versus time or classicism versus romanticism. Lewis, Pound, and Eliot were all on the side of classicism. Perhaps the core thesis here is the paradox that these architects of modern art and literature were actually trying to undermine modernity with its fascination with dynamism and progress.

Materer shows how these writers couldn't really fulfill their own objectives. I.e. classicism is an easier role to play as a critic. In creating original work... well, the very notion carries a romantic core. Materer didn't go that far. But isn't a curious question, to what extent does our concept of what a work of art or literature must be, to what extent does that determine the character of the work?

Materer tells us that Pound et al. were carrying on a debate in which Wilde was engaged. I recall that Wilde wrote an essay on Critic as Artist or something along those lines. Materer didn't bring up that essay of Wilde - he barely touched on those debates of the preceding generation. But just reflecting on what Materer did bring up, that's where my thinking takes me.

Joyce is a major character here, too. Probably the big contrast... well, there is a contradiction in Pound. Early in his career he seemed to advocate a somewhat detached role for the artist. But of course Pound got himself all too engaged. Joyce managed to tolerate antipathies, to avoid being driven to come down on one side or another of whatever raging battle. There is an interesting puzzle. Surely the vortex of Lewis, Pound, Eliot is a thing that stirs up passion. What could detached passion be?

Anyway I really liked this book because it places these characters in a fundamental and eternal struggle. Sure their work is characteristic of their time - these folks are so famous that their work almost defines their time! But they were grappling with timeless questions.
… (mais)
2 vote
Marcado
kukulaj | Oct 5, 2013 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
6
Also by
1
Membros
54
Popularidade
#299,230
Avaliação
½ 3.7
Resenhas
1
ISBNs
7

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