Various (Watten, Barrett (Editor); Hejinian, Lyn (Editor); Tarn, Nathaniel et al.)

Poetics Journal No. 8 (Elswhere, June 1989)

Berkeley, CA: Poetics Journal, 1989. First Edition. Softcover. “The preeminence of a mechanistically determined information flow tends to result in a generalized dissolution of previous existential territorialities. In the first stages of industrial societies the demonic still continued to flourish everywhere but since then the mysterious has become an increasingly rare commodity. Here it should suffice to evoke the desperate quest of a Witkiewicz in order to grasp the ultimate “strangeness of being” which he felt literally to be slipping through his fingers. In these conditions, the poetic function is more than ever called upon to recompose artificially rarefied and resingularized universes of subjectivity. It is not a matter of its transmitting messages, empowering images as a ground for identification or formal patterns as a prop for design procedures, but of catalyzing existential agencies capable of gaining consistency and persistence at the heart of the actual, mass-mediating chaosmos.”--Felix Guattari, “Text For The Russians,” pg. 3. Offered today is the eighth number of the legendary avant-garde poetry magazine, Poetics Journal No. 8, June 1989. Edited by Language poets Lyn Hejinian (1941-2024) & Barrett Watten (b. 1948), Poetics Journal was not only influential in establishing many Language poets and their works, but also illuminated other sections of the literary avant-garde that were based in the San Francisco/Bay/Los Angeles areas, as well as around the world. Poetics Journal No. 8 features: the above quoted “Text For The Russians,” by Felix Guattari (1930-1992), French psychoanalyst, political philosopher, and screen writer; “Syn/Opis/Taxis” by Arkadii Dragomoshchenko (1946-2012), Soviet poet, writer, translator, and lecturer; “Dialogue” by Steve Benson (b. 1949) & Carla Harryman (b. 1952), both noted Language poets; “Exile Out Of Silence Into Cunning” by Nathaniel Tarn (1928-2024), French-American poet & essayist; “For a Biography of the Redeemed” by Inagawa Masato; and “Aaron Shurin’s “Elsewhere”” by Leslie Scalapino (1944-2010), Language poet, essayist, and playwright, among many other great contributions! From the collection of the aforementioned Barrett Watten, professor of Creative Writing at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan & foundational member of the Language Poets Movement, with whom we’re honored to be acquainted. Trade-format softcover. First & presumably only printing. In very fine condition with minor wear to fine edges, and slight smudging to front and back covers. Very Fine. [Item #9281]

Price: $50.00