Unoriginal Arrière-Garde. Marjorie Perloff’s Concept as an Attempt at the Diagnosis of the State of Contemporary Poetry  Cover Image

Nieoryginalna ariergarda. Koncepcja Marjorie Perloff jako próba diagnozy statusu współczesnej poezji
Unoriginal Arrière-Garde. Marjorie Perloff’s Concept as an Attempt at the Diagnosis of the State of Contemporary Poetry

Author(s): Justyna Tabaszewska
Subject(s): Literary Texts
Published by: Instytut Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: Marjorie Perloff’; Contemporary Poetry; Postmodernism

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to present most important postulates of Marjorie Perloff, especially the notion of “unoriginality” as presented in her book Unoriginal Genius: Poetry by Other Means in the New Century. The crucial element of the article is a critical analysis of the notion of the arrière-garde defined as a formation which – despite heading towards experiment – does not aim at breaking off with the past, transforming the achievements of the 20th century avant-gardes. The strategy assumed by the arrière-garde enables the building of a bridge between the practices of the avant-garde, postulates of Modernism and Postmodernist aspiration for intertextuality. Accepting Perloff’s idea provokes to pose questions concerning the possibility of – and reason behind – a strict division between Modernist and Postmodernist practices, as well as provides an indirect answer to the dispute on the character of contemporary poetry.

  • Issue Year: 2012
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 197-213
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish