Shaking the Pumpkin - by Jerome Rothenberg (Paperback)

About the Book

Poetry. Native American Studies. In a preface to this new edition of his fabled anthology of Native American poetry, Rothenberg suggests that the translations should work "by analogy to contemporary, limit- smashing experiments (as with concrete poetry, sound poetry, intermedia, happenings, etc.)" As a result, the stylistic range represented in SHAKING THE PUMPKIN reflects the variety of poetic practices that existed among Native American cultures--noting that before the exploration of North America by Europeans over 500 distinct native languages were in use. Rothenberg translates, or co- translates, a large portion of the material; however, other translators represented in the anthology include Anselm Hollo, W.S. Merwin, and Nathaniel Tarn. Along with a thoughtful introduction, SHAKING THE PUMPKIN includes a breakdown of the works by region and tribe, and a large section of commentaries, which offer background information about each poem, placing the works within a cultural context. Rothenberg also uses the commentaries to discuss American Indian tribal poetry, philosophy, and history.

Book Synopsis

In the aftermath of Technicians of the Sacred (1968) the next step Jerome Rothenberg took toward the construction of an experimental ethnopoetics was an assemblage of traditional works and commentaries thereon focused entirely on one of the world's still surviving and incredibly diverse deep cultures. The resultant work, Shaking the Pumpkin: Traditional Poetry of the Indian North Americas, is the Mount Rushmore not only of literary archeology but also for understanding the forms, conditions and promise of being American, which Walt Whitman, among others, holds is being a poet.

About the Author

Author and translator of nearly 100 books of poetry as well as editor of numerous groundbreaking anthologies.