Person of Letters: (In the Contemporary World): Literary Essays, 1985-2011

Brooklyn, New York: Autonomedia, 2013. Small quarto in glosst dark, color illus wraps; 289 pages; 23 cm; index Very fine (as new). Paperback. ISBN: 9781570272660

"I have been writing literary essays for nearly fifty years now. Since most of them appeared in modestly circulated periodicals, it becomes necessary for me to collect the most valuable of them into books. Earlier collections have been devoted to essays on poetry, fiction, visual art, music, culture, performance, and politics. Composed mostly of previously uncollected literary essays, written over the past quarter century, A Person of Letters in the Contemporary World becomes the first to emphasize literature and literary life in general. Since I am a contemporary writer, expanding my practice into the twenty-first century, it is scarcely surprising that my sense of literature, as both a creator and a critic, includes criticism of writing in new media, such as audio and video."--Back cover. Contents: LITERATURE. Higher modernism -- Later modernism -- Small-press writers -- Literary magazines & editors -- Critics & criticism -- Biographies -- Ghosts. LITERARY POLITICS. Prizes -- Institutions. MY WORK. Retrospectives -- Anthologizing -- Experience.American literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism. American literature -- 21st century -- History and criticism. English literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism. English literature -- 21st century -- History and criticism. American literature. English literature. Criticism, interpretation, etc. Essays. Essays. 1900 - 2099. Music, John Cage.