Contemporary Olson

David Herd is Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Kent

• Introduction: Contemporary Olson – David HerdSection I: Knowledge1. Myth and document in Charles Olson's Maximus Poems – Miriam Nichols2. Discoverable unknowns: Olson’s lifelong preoccupation with the sciences – Peter Middleton3. ‘Empty Air’: Charles Olson’s cosmology – Reitha Pattison4. A reading of ‘In Cold Hell, In Thicket’ – Ian Brinton and Michael GrantSection II: Poetics5. From Olson’s breath to Spicer’s gait: spacing, pacing, phonemes – Daniel Katz6. Poetic instruction – Michael Kindellan7. Reading Blackburn reading Olson: Paul Blackburn reads Olson’s ‘Maximus, to Gloucester: Letter 15’ – Simon Smith8. From Weymouth back: Olson’s British contacts, travels and legacy – Gavin Selerie9. A fresh look at Olson – Elaine FeinsteinSection III: Gender10. Olson and his Maximus Poems – Rachel Blau DuPlessis11. ‘When the attentions change’: Charles Olson and Frances Boldereff – Robert Hampson12. ‘The pictorial handwriting of his dreams’: Charles Olson, Susan Howe, Redell Olsen – Will MontgomerySection IV: History13. The contemporaries: a reading of Charles Olson’s ‘The Lordly and Isolate Satyrs’ – Stephen Fredman14. Futtocks – Anthony Mellors15. Death in life: the past in ‘As the Dead Prey Upon Us’ – Ben Hickman16. ‘To Gerhardt, There, Among Europe’s Things of Which He Has Written Us in His “Brief an Creeley und Olson’’’: Olson on history, in dialogue – Sarah Posman17. ‘Moving among my particulars’: the ‘negative dialectics’ of The Maximus Poems – Tim Woods18. A note on Charles Olson’s ‘The Kingfishers’ – Charles BernsteinSection V: Space19. Transcultural projectivism in Charles Olson’s ‘The Kingfishers’ and Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri’s Warlugulong – Peter Minter20. The view from Gloucester: Open Field Poetics and the politics of movement – David Herd21. Why Olson did ballet: the pedagogical avant-gardism of Massine – Karlien van den Beukel22. On the back of the elephant: riding with Charles Olson – Iain SinclairEpilogue: Charles Olson’s first poem – Ralph MaudBibliographyIndex