The Kinds of Poetry I Want - by Charles Bernstein (Paperback)

About the Book

"For more than four decades, Charles Bernstein has been at the forefront of experimental poetry, always wary of "Official Verse Culture," always reaching for a radical poetics that defies schools, periods, and genres, and always suspicious of any attempt at a single, master narrative contrived by the self-sanctioned journals of cultural opinion. The Kinds of Poetry I Want is a veritable celebration of invention: including short introductions to dozens of poets, extended reflections on the poetics of aesthetic possibility, briefs for new approaches to literary criticism, interventions into modernist and postwar literary history, interviews and biographical flashpoints, and a set of poems and aphorisms that echo themes in the essays and prose pieces. At once a grand dialogic novel (full of debates over language), or a long poem (including history, philosophy, memoir, and polemic), or a grand opera with a copious cast of characters who pepper the pages with comic riffs and alternate strains of literary history, The Kinds of Poetry I Want arrives at a time when both literary criticism and poetry are routinely vilified or given up for dead. In characteristic Bernsteinian style, he shows us that poetry, poetics, and literary criticism are still very much alive-and loved. This latest collection shows Bernstein at his polemic, humorous best, and promises, like his previous prose books, to become an instant classic"--

Book Synopsis

A celebration of the radical poetics of invention from Charles Bernstein.

For more than four decades, Charles Bernstein has been at the forefront of experimental poetry, ever reaching for a radical poetics that defies schools, periods, and cultural institutions. The Kinds of Poetry I Want is a celebration of invention and includes not only poetry but also essays on aesthetics and literary studies, interviews with other poets, autobiographical sketches, and more.

At once a dialogic novel, long poem, and grand opera, The Kinds of Poetry I Want arrives amid renewed attacks on humanistic expression. In his polemical, humorous style, Bernstein faces these challenges head-on and affirms the enduring vitality and attraction of poetry, poetics, and literary criticism.

Review Quotes

"This is a funny book. Bernstein is a funny writer. . . . the ability to repeatedly raise a smile in the reader in a book of such eminently serious intent is to be admired. Go read it."-- "Elliptical Movements"

"A month or so ago, having my thirteenth collection of poems in the designer's hands, I felt queasy about the possibility of writing new poems because of a fear of repeating myself and doubts about whether I could do anything different. Then I read Charles Bernstein's The Kinds of Poetry I Want: Essays & Comedies. . . . thanks to his cogent articulation of the most powerful reasons (beyond approval, for example) for writing poetry and poetic criticism as well as his comic and serious call for practitioners not to be influenced by perspectives that inhibit the flowering of inventiveness, of a vibrant exploratory poetics, I resolved to take further 'leap[s] of poetic faith' . . . The comedian with the letters CB -- that's one kind of poetry critic I want."--Thomas Fink "Jacket2"

"This is not so much a collection of poems, as conventionally understood, as a display of the possibilities for poetry. Each work here is not just in a different style or form but rather explores different aspects of poetry as a medium: resounding, re- vising, resonating, re- calling, re- performing, reimaginings."-- "Critical Inquiry"

"A tireless provocateur, Bernstein may be as known for his critical writing as for his poetry. His innovative, genre-bending essays . . . offer an inspired blend of contrarian polemic, acute analysis, and ironic humor as they confront the stifling rules and protocols of poetry and the institutions that underlie it."--Andrew Epstein, 'The Cambridge Introduction to American Poetry since 1945'

"Charles Bernstein has reintroduced a spirit of polemic into the world of American poetry. In the exhausted atmosphere in which so much of our writing takes place, Charles Bernstein has battled long and hard to make both writers and readers aware of the implications embedded in each and every language act we partake of as citizens of this vast, troubled country. Whether or not you agree with what Charles Bernstein has to say is less important than the fact that it has become more and more important to listen to what he is saying."--Paul Auster, from the foreword

"The book is an aesthetic event, an art object in a way analogous to a book of poems' existence as an art object, a poem, in toto. Baudelaire's Les fleurs du mal or Yeats's Tower come to mind."--Paul A. Bové, University of Pittsburgh

About the Author

Charles Bernstein, winner of the 2019 Bollingen Prize, is the Donald T. Regan Professor of English and Comparative Literature emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of many books, most recently two volumes of poetry, Near/Miss and Topsy-Turvy, also published by the University of Chicago Press.