The Hatred of Speech and the Poetics of Silence

Gould, Thomas (2022) The Hatred of Speech and the Poetics of Silence. In: Silence and its Derivatives. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 199-213. ISBN 9783031065224

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

In this chapter, I look at the case study of the contemporary poet Robert Grenier, in addition to a constellation of influences, especially Charles Olson and Larry Eigner, to examine how John Cage’s conception of silence was modified by US poets associated with the Language writing movement. I will return, in particular, to Grenier’s 1971 essay “On Speech”, widely regarded as one of the most important theoretical statements of its milieu. In that essay, Grenier expresses a hatred of speech—where speech is understood both as an arrogation of the metaphysics of the subject, and as the grounding of meaning in intersubjective communication. This hatred of speech, I argue, inevitably leads Grenier to a graphic practice that intends to disrupt the readability of the poem, preventing it from being read-out-loud. I explore how this mode of silent reception—which is based on a slow, contemplative reading—disrupts the boundary between literature and art, reading and seeing, and recasts poetry as an art of silence as a notation of experience, rather than an art of sound as a notation of speech.

Item Type:	Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords:	arts and humanities(all),social sciences(all) ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1200
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Legible / Visible
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	18 Oct 2022 15:30
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2023 01:21
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/89156
DOI:	10.1007/978-3-031-06523-1_10

Actions (login required)

View Item