The New Criterion

THE NEW CRITERION’S PRECIS FOR APRIL, 2003:

The New Criterion has always taken a keen interest in contemporary poetry. We have published scores of essays on the work of contemporary poets and, since the spring of 1984, have published new poems or translations of poems in every issue. It is our judgment that the art of poetry is enjoying a vibrant renaissance. It seemed an opportune moment, then, to commemorate the life of contemporary verse. We asked David Yezzi, a former associate editor of The New Criterion, and now the director of the Unterberg Poetry Center at the 92nd Street Y in New York, to edit a special section on poetry. He has put together a splendid selection of essays and poems for the April issue.

Mr. Yezzi has also written a lead essay called "The Place of Poetry" for the section, an advance copy of which we have placed at a special section on our website.

There is much to lament in contemporary culture. David reminds us that, in the world of poetry, there is also much to celebrate. Eric Ormsby, Dick Davis, and Adam Kirsch contribute essays to this special section. Gyln Maxwell, David Barber, A. E. Stallings and Ben Downing present new poems.

CONTENTS:

* "Notes & Comments" (page 1). "Junk Mailer" on the naked and the dead: Norman Mailer and THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS; "Politics and Pedagogy" on protesting for extra credit; "Poets on poetry" on the special April section.

* "Lessons from Juvenal" (page 4). Roger Kimball finds honey in the vinegar of the great Roman Satirist:

"Kierkegaard observed that satire, to be useful, must emerge from a consistent view of life. In some respects, Juvenal is the least consistent of writers. As Peter Green noted, "if we try to pin down any coherent philosophy in Juvenal’s work, we soon find ourselves forced to admit defeat." Nevertheless, Juvenal does exhibit a consistency of attitude. At the center of this attitude are two things: courage and an allergy to euphemism."

* "Who was Simon Raven?" (page 9): Brooke Allen tracks down the late English novelist, journalist, television writer, and cult figure Simon Raven, who rejected "both enthusiasms and faiths, if only because of the ridiculous postures, whether mental or physical, which they require."

"I’ve always written for a small audience consisting of people like myself," he remarked, "who are well-educated, worldly, skeptical and snobbish (meaning that they rank good taste over bad). And who believe that nothing and nobody is special."

* "Poets on poetry: a special section":

-- "The place of poetry" by David Yezzi (page 17).

We have placed an advance, full-text PDF file of David’s article at a special address on our website. We invite you to download it now [270K-case sensitive]: http://www.newcriterion.com/yezzi.pdf

--"Shadow language" by Eric Ormsby (page 22)

"Is there such a phenomenon in poetry as a ’shadow language,’ that is, a concealed or tacit foreign language which exerts a strong and sometimes fruitful pressure on the native tongue of a poet?"

--"Poetry: a prognosis" by Dick Davis (page 28)

"Poetry has always been difficult--for the poet; a degree of difficulty is inherent in the mastery of any craft, and traditionally the poet did as Horace and Yeats both recommended, that is to hide the difficulty as well as he or she could. But now poetry is meant to be difficult for the reader. I think a contributory, and perhaps the primary, reason for this--although it’s obviously not the one Eliot was thinking of--is the appropriation of poetry by the academy."

--"Winters’s curse" by Adam Kirsch (page 32)

"Winters’s best criticism--it is collected in the volume IN DEFENSE OF REASON-- traces the effects of this Romantic error on modern American literature, that: ’Literature [has] become a form of what is popularly known as self-expression. It is not the business of man to understand and improve himself, for such an effort is superfluous: he is good as he is, if he will only let himself alone, or, as we might say, let himself go.’ . . . Control [rather] is the key word in Winters’s aesthetics"

* New poems by Glyn Maxwell, David Barber, A.E. Stallings & Ben Downing (page 37).

* Letter from Paris "Anglo-saxon attitudes" (page 44). "France is not the land of the airport novel," laments Theodore Dalrymple, and "one of the questions that always crosses my mind when I visit Paris is, What do unintelligent or uneducated people read there?"

* Theater: "Luck of the Irish?" (page 48). Irish independence has been a disaster for Irish drama, remarks Mark Steyn, and two current New York productions make the point with alarming clarity: the Pearl Theatre Company’s HEARTBREAK HOUSE by George Bernard Show and Lincoln Center’s OBSERVE THE SONS OF ULSTER MARCHING TOWARDS THE SOMME by Frank McGuinness.

* Art: Karen Wilkin reports on the sublime matchup of "Manet/Vel?quez" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (page 53):

* Art: "Gallery chronicle" (page 60). James Panero reclaims William Bailey from THE NEW YORKER, takes flight in the "Last Paintings" of Paul Georges, delights in the New Mexico landscapes of Marsden Hartley, and drains the riverscapes of Wayne Thiebaud.

* Music: "New York chronicle" (page 64). Jay Nordlinger reviews the Emerson String Quartet at Carnegie Hall, Ensemble Wien-Berlin at Alice Tully Hall, and the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie, and notes the anniversaries of Hugo Wolf, Hertor Berlioz, and Ned Rorem. "Concert note" (Page 68). Patrick J. Smith reviews David Robertson with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall.

* The media: "Rather not" (page 69). James Bowman records the unreality of Dan Rather’s interview with Saddam Hussein.

* Books: Donald Kagan THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR reviewed by Victor Davis Hanson (page 74);

--Keith Windschuttle THE FABRICATION OF ABORIGINAL HISTORY reviewed Geoffrey Blainey (page 79);

--John Derbyshire PRIME OBSESSION reviewed by James Franklin (page 82);

--Robert J. Stove THE UNSLEEPING EYE reviewed by Anthony Daniels (page 84).

* Letters (page 87). Peter Hitchens takes issue with John Gross’s "Two Tonies"; B. H Fairchild belabors William Logan’s review of EARLY OCCULT MEMORY SYSTEMS OF THE LOWER MIDWEST.

FORTHCOMING IN THE NEW CRITERION:

The fantasies of Noam Chomsky, by Keith Windschuttle; The achievement of Stephan George, by John Simon; The vocal recital today, by Patrick J. Smith; How good was Theodore Dreiser? by Jeffrey Hart; Fiction chronicle by Max Watman.

NEWS:

* Please join The New Criterion for a special Poetry Reading and Reception in recognition of National Poetry Month and "Poets on Poetry: a special section" from the April 2003 issue. Guest readers include David Barber, Ben Downing, Adam Kirsch, Eric Ormsby, and David Yezzi.

WHEN: April 17, 2003.

WHERE: The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture; 8 West 8th Street (Between 5th and 6th Avenues). New York, New York.

DETAILS: Cocktails at 6:30, reading begins at 7:00. RSVP: Dawn Steeves; Email: Steeves@newcriterion.com; Phone: (212) 247-6980.

* Read Bernard Chapin’s interview with Roger Kimball from the website enterstageright.com.

http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0303/030 3kimball.htm

* "Art in The New Criterion" from our December issue is now available in a special 52-page reprint. Copies of this important re-publication may be purchased directly through the website for $3 (+$2 S+H). Follow this link for an order form:

http://www.newcriterion.com/constant/art.htm

* For a free digital look at portions of the April issue, please do not forget to visit the website at http://www.newcriterion.com. The issue will post on the first of the month.